Every character (and in fact, every living thing) has HP – Health Points. As a player character, you use a specific formula to determine the amount of HP you have: add all your STATS together and multiply by 2.
That’s it.
If you have BODY: 1, MIND: 3, WILL: 2, you have 12 HP.
You are considered fine until you hit HP 0, at which point you are KNOCKED OUT.
You cannot have more HP than your maximum, however you can have shields. Shields will almost always deplete before your HP is touched, unless the power or effect says otherwise.
KNOCKED OUT
You are KNOCKED OUT when you hit 0 HP. You remain KNOCKED OUT until the end of the encounter or someone uses RESUSCITATE on you.
If someone uses RESUSCITATE on you, you wake up immediately with all status effects cleared and 1 HP.
If you stay KNOCKED OUT past the end of the encounter (no one can RESUSCITATE you in time), you are RING DEAD.
RING DEAD
This status occurs when you die and no one can use RESUSCITATE on you. In this state, you have no control over your character and are treated as dead for all intents and purposes…at least until one of your Rings is brought back to Hope.
RESURRECTION
Once within the boundaries of Hope, you will resurrect at full health with all the belongings you were carrying at the point of death unless someone stole something from your corpse.
NOTE: Rings cannot be stolen off a corpse. If a Ring is brought back to Hope for resurrection, all other Rings belonging to the Hand will disappear and reappear on their owner’s resurrected self.
There are no other penalties for death aside from having to make the trip back. Hope you didn’t make any enemies along the way!
TOTAL TEAM RING DEATH
If every member of the team and all their allies who can RESUSCITATE are KNOCKED OUT, the team’s emergency beacon will immediately activate (should they have one), calling anyone with Guild credentials to come help. This may take some time depending on how remote your location was when you died, however assuming no one or nothing moves your corpses/Rings, you will eventually make it back to Hope and be resurrected.
A TOTAL TEAM RING DEATH fails your current Mission barring the most exceptional circumstances. Too much time has passed for you to tackle the escalated challenges.
TRUE DEATH
Sometimes you die and your Rings can’t be retrieved. This mostly occurs in the Outer Light or other areas outside the Cluster which is part of what makes them so dangerous. Over time, your Rings forget who you were and their memories of you fade. If this happens, you die a TRUE DEATH and cannot be resurrected in any known way.
Your Rings will remember you for one month per LEVEL – it takes a long time for the memories of an Upper Hand to fade. This may seem like a lot of time, but for those who travel the vast depths of the Threads, go up against the Ounen, or wind up in the belly of a Legend, it can still be not enough time.
Guilds will do what they can to rescue Hands who have died, but there simply aren’t enough to cover every scenario, especially if someone has lost their Emergency Beacon or their corpse has been moved between Worlds.
OPPONENT HEALTH POINTS
Opponents will have a predictable amount of HP…to an extent. More powerful opponents possess LAYERS, additional segments of Health Points you have to get through to defeat them. You won’t know how many LAYERs an opponent has unless you EXAMINE it or use a similar power. Each LAYER represents the same value in HP – the fourth LAYER of a boss’ health will contain the same number of Health Points as the first.
Typically, opponents will have twice the team’s HP per LAYER, but this may differ depending on their powers and/or strength.
You cannot destroy more than one LAYER per turn no matter how much damage you do.
As an opponent loses LAYERS, it becomes more dangerous to fight. It could gain a bonus to attack or defense or – in rare cases – both.
HEALING
As a Hand, you have a wide array of options when it comes to healing. Each Origin specializes in different methods of in-combat and out-of-combat healing. There are also a number of Wonderworks, Ring powers, and reality distortions that can be used to heal.
Each method will have different rules around it, so please consult those relevant sections.
You may also heal via REST.