A Vital New Statistic for Heroes

Introduced by Thomas Reid

One of the things the design team wanted to keep in mind as we worked on the Star Wars Roleplaying Game was to make sure we captured the cinematic feel of the movies during play. While it is a d20 game, and thus has a lot of the same features as the Dungeons & Dragons game, we had a fair amount of leeway in how our mechanics would work, and we did some things differently to keep that heroic, cinematic theme.

For example, instead of utilizing D&D's standard hit-point system, we opted for a dual track of vitality points and wound points. In this way, we can easily recreate situations reminiscent of the movies: The heroes (and main villains) are in a desperate firefight but still manage to survive unscathed, suffering only a loss of vitality points (as Luke and Leia did swinging across the chasm on board the Death Star while Stormtroopers peppered them with a deadly barrage of blaster fire). At the same time, we wanted combat to be dangerous and any attack to be potentially critical for the heroes suffering wound-point loss from a critical strike (such as Leia at the entrance to the shield generator bunker or Qui-Gon in his duel with Darth Maul).

Of course, not every villain in the movies benefited from the heroic feel of the cinema; instead, they suffered at the hands of the heroes, dying in droves. By the same token, grunts in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game don't gain the benefit of vitality points. Attacks that they suffer go straight to their wound points, and very often, the first time they're plugged, they go down.

This excerpt from Chapter Three: Classes in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game introduces the concepts of vitality and wounds:

Vitality: The type of die used by characters of the class to determine the number of vitality points gained per level.

1d6                   Noble, scoundrel

1d8                   Force adept, Jedi consular, fringer, scout

1d10                 Jedi guardian, soldier

A player rolls one die of the listed type each time his or her character gains a new level. The character's Constitution modifier is applied to the roll. Add the result to the character's vitality-point total. Even if the result is 0 or less, the character always gets at least 1 new vitality point. A 1st-level character gets the maximum vitality points rather than rolling (although you still apply your Constitution modifier).

For example, Rorworr the Wookiee scout gets 1d8 vitality points per level, plus his Constitution modifier. At 1st level, he gets 10 vitality points instead of rolling (8, the maximum for the die, plus his Constitution modifier, +2).

A Character's wound point total equals his or her Constitution.

Chapter Eight: Combat offers a few more details about how to use these two new statistics:

Vitality and Wound Points

Your vitality and wound points tell you how much punishment you can take before dropping. Your vitality points are based on your class, your level, and your Constitution modifier, while your wound points are based solely on your Constitution score. In addition, most creatures' wound points are based on their Constitution and size.

When your vitality points reach 0, you're fatigued. In addition, you must make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10) or be stunned for 2d6 rounds.

When your wound points reach 0, you're unconscious and dying. You immediately make a Fortitude saving throw to see if you die from your injuries. Even if you succeed, you must make a Fortitude save every hour until you are stabilized or you die.

Injury and Death

Your vitality and wound points measure how hard you are to kill. While exotic aliens and monstrous creatures know a number of special ways to hurt, harm, or kill their victims, you usually just take damage and lose vitality (or wound) points. The damage from each successful attack and each fight accumulates, dropping your vitality or wound point total until you reach 0. Then you're in trouble. Luckily, you also have a number of ways to regain vitality and wound points. If you have a few hours (or days) to rest, you can recover lost vitality (or wound) points on your own. Technology provides faster ways to restore lost vitality or wound points.

Vitality points represent your character's ability to avoid the nastiest effects of being hit in combat, turning a lethal hit into a near miss. Losing vitality points from a blaster shot doesn't necessarily mean the blaster hits you, but rather that you just barely dodged taking significant damage from it. As you lose vitality points, you can become fatigued and less able to avoid potentially deadly attacks. A high-level character has a much greater pool of vitality points, since he or she is much better able to avoid deadly damage.

Wound points represent your character's capacity to withstand physical trauma. Losing wound points from a blaster shot means the shot hit you in some way, from a graze to a kill shot.

Damage doesn't slow you down until your vitality points or wound points reach 0.

At 0 vitality points, you're fatigued. Characters that are fatigued can't run or charge, and they suffer an effective penalty of –2 to Strength and Dexterity. Also, any further damage you suffer from this point on is applied directly to your wound points. Furthermore, you immediately make a Fortitude saving throw (DC 10) or be stunned for 2d6 rounds. (A stunned character loses his Dexterity bonus and can take no actions.) After 8 hours of complete rest, fatigued characters return to normal.

At 0 wound points, you're unconscious and may die (see below).

Even if you have lots of vitality points, a blaster in the face is still a blaster in the face. Sometimes a character can't avoid damage or deflect blows. While he's helpless, he's in trouble.

Unconscious and Dying (0 Wound Points)

When your wound points drop to 0, you're unconscious. You can't take any action until you regain 1 or more wound points. You must immediately make a Fortitude saving throw with a DC of 10. If the save fails, the character dies. If the save succeeds, the character remains unconscious and dying.

A dying character must make a Fortitude save every hour (DC 10 + 1 per hour of unconsciousness). If a save fails, the character dies. If the save succeeds, the character remains alive and unconscious, but must make another check in 1 hour. (If the check succeeds by 10 or more, or if the roll is a natural 20, the character stabilizes.)

Note that it is possible to become unconscious without losing all of your wound points.

An unconscious and dying character (one with 0 wound points) stabilizes naturally if his or her Fortitude saving throw succeeds by 10 or more, or the roll is a natural 20. Other methods for stabilizing an unconscious and dying character are described below:

Successful use of the Treat Injury skill, DC 15

Using a medpac (which stabilizes the character but doesn't heal any wounds)

Successful use of the Heal Another Force skill (which stabilizes the character but doesn't heal any wounds), DC 10

A stabilized character doesn't need to make Fortitude saving throws every hour to avoid death.

A stabilized character still has 0 wound points, but regains wound points at the normal rate (1 wound point per day of rest). However, if a stabilized character suffers any additional wound damage, he or she must resume making a Fortitude saving throw every hour as noted above.

Healing that raises a character above 0 wound points makes the character regain consciousness, though the character will be fatigued. A character that is fatigued from two different sources (such as recovery from unconsciousness and loss of vitality points) is exhausted. (Exhausted characters move at half their normal speed and suffer an effective penalty of –6 to Strength and Dexterity. Exhaustion is reduced to fatigue by 1 hour of rest.)

Healing

After taking damage, you can recover vitality and wound points through natural healing (over the course of hours or days), by using medical equipment (the rate varies), or by Force healing (nearly instantly). In any case, you can't regain vitality or wound points above your maximum total.

Natural Healing

You recover 1 vitality point per character level per hour of rest, and 1 wound point per day of rest. For example, a 5th-level soldier recovers 5 vitality points per hour of rest and 1 wound point per day of rest. You may engage in light, nonstrenuous travel or activity, but any combat prevents you from healing that hour (or day).

Higher-level characters recover lost vitality points faster because they're tougher and also because a given number of lost vitality points represents less fatigue for a higher-level character. A 5th-level soldier who has lost 10 vitality points isn't seriously fatigued, but a 1st-level soldier who has lost 10 vitality points is.

A trained healer can double the rate at which a fatigued or injured person recovers lost vitality or wound points. Using the long-term care option of the Treat Injury skill, a healer can increase the rate of recovery to 2 vitality points per character level per hour and 2 wound points per day.

Certain items can restore lost vitality or wound points. Medpacs are good for stabilizing a dying character or restoring lost wound points. A bacta tank treatment restores both wounds and vitality points at an advanced rate.

Jedi and other Force-using characters are capable of healing vitality or wound damage through the use of the Heal Another or Heal Self Force skills.

You can never get back more vitality or wound points than you lost. Even Force healing won't raise your vitality or wound points higher than your maximum total.