Death and Mortality

The reaper of death is a Hydra who’s infinite heads bare the face of peril calling the damned to walk the road of Solemn Souls. In Echelon, death is much like a monster lurking in the shadows. Unseen, yet ever present in the depth of any sea sparsely traveled, cave mouth unexplored, sewer tunnel beneath the city.When death rears its horrific faces and beckons the walk of Solemn Souls, so too do a Character’s unfulfilled destinies and unseen possibilities as they fade into the endless emptiness. For death is but a swell of experience pontificated by a singular moment signifying the end of a journey.

Becoming Unconscious

The hazards of adventure can lead to catastrophe. Often the first step on that path comes when a character can no longer withstand the wounds incurred,or surrenders to the stresses endured on the adventure trail.

When a character has been sapped of their ability to continue the adventure they become unconscious. This can happen in two ways:

1. A character has sustained enough damage to deplete their Hit Point Total. [A character has sustained enough damage to meet or exceed their hit point total]
2. A character has endured enough stress to deplete their Resolve Point Total. [A character has sustained enough stress to meet or exceed their resolve total]

A character that has fallen unconscious is no longer capable of continuing their journey and suffers the following until they regain consciousness:

1. The character is unable to perform any action
2. The character is incapable to see or hear
3. The character is unaware of their surroundings
4. The character suffers an automatic failure for any Challenges issued against them
5. If the character receives any damage they must roll a mortality save

While unconscious, the character receives damage as normal but cannot be reduced below zero hit points and/or resolve points. If an unconscious character were to receive damage that would reduce their hit points or resolve points to zero that character must roll on the Mortality Table.

A character that is unconscious remains unconscious until a Rest & Recover Scene where their wounds can be tended to and their body has been able to recover successfully from the wounds received, mental and/or physical. Alternatively, a character’s recovery may be hastened with the aid of medicines,salves, tinctures, or magic. When a character is treated in such a way they will regain consciousness and regain Hit Points equal to their Vitality tier and their Resolve Points equal to their Intelligence Tier.

If a Character is not capable of performing a Rest & Recover Scene in the Scene immediately following conflict that character dies without rolling on the Mortality table.Alternatively a Character suffering a Wound that does not perform a Rest & Recover Scene in the Scene immediately following their trauma permanently gains their Wound.

Incapacitated

Some Conditions impose a form of Unconsciousness called Incapacitation. Or some characters may learn the ability to narrowly escape a physical blow that would render most Unconscious.A character that is reduced to zero Hit Points but escapes Unconsciousness due to a trained ability or suffers a specific Condition becomes Incapacitated instead.

A character that becomes Incapacitated has a better chance of withstanding the effects of a Critical Condition, and thus, may be more effective when they’re able to get back on their feet than an Unconscious companion may be able to.

A character removes their Incapacitated Condition the moment their current Hit Points or Resolve Points are increased by at least one.

While Incapacitated a character is limited to one action per turn and their movement speed is reduced to 5ft. If an Incapacitated character ends the Sequence with 0 Hit Points or Resolve Points that character enters Critical Condition.

Stabilizing

The adventure trail is hazardous, it’s always a good idea to keep a few companions on your side when taking on a journey. Particularly those who know their way around a healing salve or some equivalent. When a party member goes down, your chances for survival might go tumbling next. The quicker you can get a downed companion on their feet the better chances are they’ll be able to return the favor.

When a character’s Hit Points or Resolve Threshold are between one and their max total they are considered to be in a Stable condition. When a character is reduced to zero Hit Points or meets their max Resolve Threshold they become either unconscious. When a character is unconscious they are considered to be in an unstable condition. A character that is unconscious maybe stabilized by receiving healing to either HP or RT that returns their totals to Stable condition.

Critical Condition

When a Character must perform a Mortality Roll they enter into a state known as Critical Condition. The effects of Critical Condition persist until the end of the Scene whether the Character suffering from Critical Condition is conscious, unconscious or have resolved their Hit Point/Resolve Point deficiency. Critical Condition can only be resolved in a Rest & Recover Scene.

A character may remove their Critical Condition by taking the Resting Activity, ‘Recovery.’ If a character attempts to perform this Resting Activity in a Resting Scene they are Unavailable to other characters.Being Unavailable means that the character in recovery may not participate in any Resting Activity aside from their ‘Recovery’ activity. Additionally, the character may only take the ‘Recovery’ activity during a Resting Scene.

While in Critical Condition

1. All Challenge Rolls are performed without any bonuses provided by items, equipment, class, training, or specializations  
   A character in critical condition does  not receive the benefits of any bonuses granted through items, equipment, class, training or specializations.  
2. Cannot gain Hit Points in excess of their Vitality Tier  
   A character in critical condition does not receive Hit Points higher than the rank of their Vitality Tier (T1 = 1 Hit Point, T2 = 2 Hit Points, T3 = 3 Hit Points, etc..) until they complete the ‘Recovery’ Resting Action.  
3. Cannot reduce Resolve Points in excess of their Intelligence Tier  
   A character in critical condition does not increase Resolve Points until they complete the ‘Recovery’ Resting Action.

Mortality Table

Sustaining damage while unconscious may prove traumatic if not deadly. When a character sustains damage while unconscious they are exposed to a number of perilous possibilities.

To perform a mortality save, a character rolls the die associated with their Vitality Tier and compares their result against the below table.

If the source of damage matches the result of the Mortality roll the target suffers an associated Wound type that is selected by the aggressor. If the source of damage does not match the result of the Mortality roll there is no effect. Eg. An unconscious character that suffers a physical attack cannot incur a Stress Wound.

If a character needs to make a consecutive roll on the Mortality Table,they cannot suffer the same wound. If no more Wounds can be sustained the result is considered to have No Effect on their state. Eg. If a character were to roll a Physical Wounds of “Lacerated limb,” the a second instance does not worsen or improve the character’s condition or impact their ability to recover from it. Instead an alternative Wound must be chosen.

Death

Death is permanent and a reminder that though a challenge may be performed alone, it may be performed with more care when tackled together. A character that has died may not return from in existence.

Wounds

When a creature becomes unconscious there is a chance they may succumb to a critical wound. The wound is determined by the effect or attack that has subdued the character by reducing their hit points to zero, reducing their stress level to zero.

Physical Wounds

Critical wounds table rolled when falling unconscious to physical strain. VIT (Resolve) is the base stat to determine tier when attempting to recover from critical physical wounds.

Core strain

STR - Tier reduction to STR and all related STR based skills

Lacerated limb

AGI - Tier reduction to AGI and all related AGI based skills

Winded

VIT - Tier reduction to VIT and all related VIT based skills

Stress Wounds

Critical wounds table rolled when falling unconscious to stress strain. CHA (Relief) is the base stat to determine tier when attempting to recover from critical stress wounds.

Short term memory loss

INT - Tier reduction to INT and all related INT based skills

Gains the shakes or a tremor

DEX - Tier reduction toDEX and all related DEX based skills

Becomes frightened of the type of damage that felled them

CHA - Tier reduction to CHA and all related CHA based skills