I am going to use the vitality/wound system seen in the original Star Wars d20 and in Spycraft. I am going to add a parallel system for mental/emotional damage, called stress/sanity.
Vitality represents a heroes' skill and desire at staying alive. It is a blend of being able to roll with a blow, enduring the fatigue of battle, and more than a smattering of blind luck. Ordinary hits in battle deal vitality damage first. This represents bruises, scrapes, a mighty blow that stuns your arm as you block it. In an action movie, these are the hits, or the dodging of hits, that take the character from "fine" to dirty and winded. You can generally shake this off once you get a chance to rest.
When the hero takes a real injury, though, that comes off of wounds. This typically happens in one of two ways. First, once you run out of vitality, all further damage is subtracted from your wounds. You have simply been worn down to the point that you no longer have the energy to dodge. Second, a critical hit will bypass all of your luck and all of your defenses. One lucky blow can simply give you a very bad day.
On the mental side, you can also suffer stress damage. This is generally seen as getting frustrated, scared, angry, or just tired. The most common way for a character to suffer stress damage is from repartee attacks. When an opponent is lobbing taunts and insults at you, it can be very difficult to keep your cool. You might also suffer stress damage from either taking a particularly impressive blow (I.e., your opponent scores a threat) or dealing a particularly awkward blow (I.e., you score an error).
When you have taken more stress than a man can be expected to bear, you start losing your sanity. Sanity damage generally implies that you have lost your self-control. It may be an uncontrollable rage, a paralyzing fear, or hallucinations. It is important to note that this damage to your sanity is not necessarily permanent. This does not cover such things as phobias, delusions, or mood disorders.
Calculating these values for your character is easy:
Vitality: Add up the vitality values for each level of each class you possess. At each level, add your Constitution modifier.
Wounds: This is simply equal to your Constitution score. This value does not increase with level.
Stress: Add up the stress values for each level of each class you possess. At each level, add your Wisdom modifier.
Sanity: This is simply equal to your Wisdom score. This value does not increase with level.
When you take damage, you simply subtract the amount of damage from the current total. If the damage takes you to zero or below, you may suffer additional effects:
At 0 Vitality: When you are reduced to 0 vitality, you become fatigued. Your vitality can never be reduced below 0. Any additional damage you take is subtracted from your wounds instead.
At 0 Wounds: When you are reduced to 0 wounds, you become fatigued (this stacks with the fatigued condition from 0 vitality, if applicable). If you are at exactly 0 wounds, you are also dazed. If you are below 0 wounds, you are rendered unconscious. Note that this variant does not impose a bleeding condition at negative wounds.
At 0 Stress: When you are reduced to 0 stress, you become shaken. Your stress can never be reduced below 0. Any additional stress damage is subtracted from your sanity instead.
At 0 Sanity: When you are reduced to 0 sanity, you become shaken (this stacks with the shaken condition from 0 stress, if applicable). If you are at exactly 0 sanity, you are also dazed. If you are reduced below 0 sanity, you are rendered unconscious.
You may have noted that there is no mention of death. In line with the swashbuckling genre, your life does not come cheaply. A common fight with ruffians will, at worst, result in you being knocked out and being captured. However, certain scenes will be worth putting your life on the line. If your party and your GM agree that you are entering such a scene (e.g., the final confrontation with a lifelong nemesis), you may declare that the scene is "to the death". Each member of the party and the GM immediately receive three panache. No one in the combat may take the refresh action. If you are reduced below 0 sanity, you are put into a catatonic state from which you will never wake. If you are reduced below 0 wounds, you are simply dead.
You may also have noted that there is no mention of "subdual" or "nonlethal" damage. As even conventional damage will not typically result in death, the distinction is irrelevant. However, certain weapons and unarmed attacks are noted as having the "nonlethal" property. These weapons cannot deal wound damage, even on a critical hit.
A final note is that I referenced adding up the vitality and stress values from your classes. You are not going to be rolling up your hit points at each level. Because, honestly, I never found it to be fun. One crappy roll can undermine your character. A series of odd rolls can end up with the thief having more hit points than the fighter. When all of the other randomness has been taken out of the character creation process, continuing to have random hit points is just a matter of hanging on to tradition.
Healing is a fairly straightforward process. As soon as the current scene ends and you are able to catch your breath, you immediately recover one-half of the vitality and stress damage suffered in that scene. Each time you eat a proper meal, you recover an amount of vitality equal to your level (meals must be at least four hours apart to have additional benefits). Each time you pause to indulge in one of your interests, you recover an amount of stress equal to your level (again, each such indulgence must be separated by at least four hours to have an effect). Every eight hours of bed rest will heal one wound and one sanity. Each of these values can be increased through successful use of the Heal skill.
(Note: I need to nail down the mechanic for inflicting scars below 0 wounds or sanity. I also need to note what they do. Probably a penalty to Charisma based skills. Or maybe just attribute damage.)
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