Characters recover lost Health through rest, medical treatment, and other effects that restore Health.
Rest and ordinary medical care restore Health without removing Critical Injuries. Critical Injuries recover separately according to their listed Recovery duration and the Critical Injury Recovery rules.
The following rules describe how characters recover Health, receive treatment, stabilize life-threatening injuries, and recover from Critical Injuries.
Natural Recovery
A character recovers Health through rest.
A rest requires 7 hours of uninterrupted rest. At the end of the rest, make a Vigor Attribute Check. Each positive Hit restores 1 Health.
A character may make only one recovery check for each completed rest. If the rest is meaningfully interrupted, it provides no Health recovery.
Field Treatment
Field Treatment represents immediate medical care applied soon after a character is injured.
Field Treatment normally takes 1d6 minutes. Make a First Aid test. Each positive Hit restores 1 Health.
Field Treatment can only restore Health lost within the past hour, and cannot restore more Health than was lost during that time.
If the healer lacks appropriate tools and supplies, apply −10 to the First Aid test. The GM may rule that treatment is impossible when the necessary care cannot reasonably be performed.
On a failure, no Health is restored. A Complication may consume supplies, prolong treatment, aggravate an injury, or cause another appropriate medical setback.
Field Treatment cannot remove a Critical Wound or reduce the Recovery duration of a Critical Injury.
Assisted Recovery
A character providing sustained medical care may assist another character during a rest.
The patient adds the caregiver’s Medicine Skill to their Vigor Success Target for the recovery check.
Assisted Recovery requires appropriate medical supplies, regular access to the patient throughout the rest, and conditions that allow the caregiver to monitor and maintain treatment.
Only one caregiver may assist a patient during a rest. A caregiver may assist several patients when time, supplies, and circumstances reasonably allow it.
Stabilization
Stabilization prevents an Unstable Critical Injury from causing immediate death.
Stabilizing a character costs 3 AP and requires physical access to the patient. Make a First Aid test.
If suitable medical supplies are unavailable, apply −10 to the test. The GM may rule that stabilization is impossible when the necessary intervention cannot reasonably be performed.
On a success, one Unstable Critical Injury is stabilized and its current death timer ends. Remove 1 stack of Bleeding, plus 1 additional stack for each positive Hit.
On a failure, the injury remains Unstable and its timer continues.
Each Unstable Critical Injury must be stabilized separately.
If the injury requires Advanced Treatment or Extraordinary Treatment for survival, stabilization replaces its current death timer with 1d6 hours.
Repeated stabilization cannot extend this deadline.
Treating Critical Injuries
Critical Injuries may require treatment before they can begin recovering.
If an injury is marked Treatment Required, make a Medicine test using appropriate medical tools and supplies. Treatment normally takes 1d6 × 10 minutes, though the GM may adjust this for particularly simple or difficult procedures.
On a success, the injury is treated and may begin recovering normally.
A failed treatment attempt does not worsen the injury by itself, but another attempt requires additional time. A Complication may consume supplies, aggravate the injury, or create another appropriate medical setback.
An injury only needs to satisfy Treatment Required once unless something later causes the treatment to fail, such as removing a splint, reopening a wound, or suffering further trauma to the same area.
Advanced Treatment
Advanced Treatment represents surgery or another specialized medical procedure used to prevent permanent consequences or treat injuries beyond ordinary care.
Advanced Treatment requires appropriate medical equipment and a suitable environment. Make a Medicine test. The procedure normally takes 1d6 hours, though the GM may adjust this based on the injury and available facilities.
On a success, the Advanced Treatment succeeds and prevents any consequence the injury specifically states can be avoided through Advanced Treatment.
On a failure, the treatment does not succeed. Another attempt may be made if enough time remains and the necessary resources are still available.
A Complication may consume supplies, extend the procedure, worsen the patient’s condition, or create another appropriate medical consequence.
Extraordinary Treatment
Extraordinary Treatment represents exceptional medical intervention beyond ordinary surgery or clinical care.
It requires specialized facilities, equipment, and an appropriate medical Expertise for the procedure being attempted. The exact requirements depend on the injury and may include organ replacement, neural reconstruction, extensive tissue regeneration, or similar treatment.
Make a test using the appropriate medical Expertise. Extraordinary Treatment normally takes 1d6 × 4 hours, though particularly extensive procedures may take longer.
On a success, the treatment succeeds and prevents or restores any consequence the injury specifically states can be addressed through Extraordinary Treatment.
On a failure, the treatment does not succeed. Another attempt may be made if the patient survives and the necessary time and resources remain available.
A Complication may consume rare resources, extend the procedure, worsen the patient’s condition, or create another appropriate medical consequence.