How to die properly

Which is to say, in pieces.

Every PC has HP equal to their constitution. Fighters have double. NPCs have whatever the GM decides.

If HP drop below 0, compare the damage to the table below. From then on you may sit at 0 with no adverse effects.


1-3 - Flesh wound
4-5 - Serious injury
6+ - Mortal blow


Every flesh wound imparts a -1 to all physically based rolls.

A serious injury rolls on the following chart:

D6

1. Staggered, lose your next action as you recover
2. Random arm incapacitated, drop anything held
3. Random leg incapacitated, save vs. something or fall over unable to get up unassisted. Otherwise you can still limp about, but you are easier to hit (+4 to hit you)
4. Disembowelment. If you don't commit one hand to holding it in, save vs. death each turn to suffer a protracted and unpleasant death on the ground.
5. Internal injury. Treat as a flesh wound until that evening or dramatically appropriate "go on without me" moment. If it has not been healed by said time, save vs. death; if successful it is just a flesh wound, if unsuccessful it was worse than it looked and you die.
6. Mortal blow, roll below

Mortal blows are rolled on the following table:

D6 and lose...
1 ... D3 fingers (permanent -1 to hit with that hand after 1 finger is lost, useless for fighting after 3)
2 ... an eye (-1 to hit)
3 ... an arm/hand
4 ... a leg/foot
5-6 ... your life (heart or head probably)


Healing

All HP are restored at the end of a fight, -1 per flesh wound. Magical healing can remove all flesh wounds or a single serious injury. An evening's rest will remove all flesh wounds. Serious injuries require a week


NPCs

Instead of the above, NPCs rolls on the following table unless they have their own monster critical table or doing otherwise would be fun:

D6
1 Staggered (as above)
2-3 Incapacitated (if being conscious or unconscious is important, roll for it)
4-6 Dead







All this has the potential to end fights very quickly, or have them turn into blood soaked hackathons. Both are far more entertaining that watching those numbers decay.