!!New!! Skills relating to death and Resurection

[WayneO42]

Ok, here are the new rules governing death, dying, and dismemberment and what to do if you find yourself dead, dying, or missing a limb. Take a look and offer some critique.

Overall Changes

Change “Death and Dying” section to “Death, Dying, and Dismemberment”. Insert the below after the current text.

In addition to death, other perils can befall a character. One such peril is the loss of a limb. Limbs can be reattached by a healer (see page #) but such actions are risky and can result in permanent loss of the limb.

killing blow section will read:

A killing blow is an attack against a target that causes them to die instantly rather than slowly bleeding to death. If a target is unconscious (due to a negative LPs or being forced unconscious in some manner), forced unable to fight back (tied up, unable to move limbs for some reason), or chooses not to fight back (Feigning sleep or death) a player may touch them with a weapon or fist phys-rep and declare "I am killing you/ slitting your throat/ choking you/ etc." They then make a 5 count and say "You are dead.”. The target is then considered dead.

At some point, it may be necessary to remove a limb from another character or creature. If a target is unconscious (due to a negative LPs or being forced unconscious in some manner), forced unable to fight back (tied up, unable to move limbs for some reason), or chooses not to fight back (Feigning sleep or death) a player may touch them with a weapon phys-rep and declare "I am removing your (insert name of body part)." They then wait one minute and say "I have removed your (insert name of body part)." Heads and internal organs can be removed in the same manor. An uninterrupted one minute must be spent per limb or organ removed. The removal of the head or an internal organ constitutes a “Killing blow” and the character is considered dead at the end of the one minute.


Changes to reserection

Master Healer skill

Mend the Vessel
Sometimes the job of the healer is much more rigorous than making sure people stay alive, sometimes they may be called upon to mend the body of a person that has had a limb severed, organs removed, been decapitated or even to prepare the dead for resurrection. No matter how skilled the healer there will always be a chance of failure in these endeavors. It takes the healer ten minutes to reattach a limb. The limb must have come from the body it is being reattached to. At the end of the ten minutes, the character receiving the limb must draw two chips from the healer’s bag plus one chip for every hour that the limb was disconnected from the body. If a red chip is drawn, the operation is unsuccessful and the limb can never be reattached. If the character receiving the limb is dead, the limb reattachment may be performed before or after the resurrection process. If the character is missing a head or heart, follow the rules for resurrection below.

In order to bring a character back from the dead, the healer must first prepare the body for the reintroduction of the essence. It takes the healer five minutes to prepare a body for resurrection. The Empath then takes over after the body is prepared, however, the healer must stay with the body in order to keep it stabilized for the duration of the resurrection process. After all steps of the resurrection are complete, the patient must draw two chips plus one chip per hour the character has been dead. The chip draw can never be lowered below one. If the healer also has to reattach the patients head the chip draw is increased by four additional chips. If the heart needs to be reattached, the chip draw is increased by four additional chips. Chip draws by the patient at the conclusion of the resurrection process represent the overall chance of failure not just the chance of failure on the healer’s part.

Change master Empath Resurrect skill to:

Gather Essence
The Empath can re-insert the essence of life back into a body. This skill can only be used on a body that has been prepared by a healer (see Mend Body on page ##). It takes the Empath fifteen minutes to gather the essence of the departed and push it back into the body. At the completion of the skill, the character is brought back to 0 life points and is considered under the effects of starving (see page ##) for one hour. The Empath may use one other (and only one) person's life force in this skill by channeling the life force out of them and giving it to the dead person. Upon completion of the skill, the donor is reduced to negative 10 life points and the patient is brought to zero life points but is not under the effects of starving.

Changes to Reserection spells and potions

Call Essence
Level: 3

Time to Cast: 15 minutes

Range: Touch

Type: Rite

Component: 2 Magic, The body of the target dead.

Duration: Instant

Call: (see Below)

Description: This spell takes fifteen minutes to cast and it calls the essence of a dead character and ties it to their body. Though the essence may be tied to the body, it is not alive but rather awaits its awakening. An Empath MUST channel magic into the vessel to finish the spell. An Empath has 1 minute after the completion of this rite to START the gather essence skill (See Page ##). The casting of this rite may be started anytime after the healer has started preparing the body for resurrection. This spell reduces the number of chips that the patient must draw by one.

Cry to the Void
Level: +1

Time to Cast: 5 minutes

Range: Touch

Type: add on

Component: 2 Magic, The body of the target dead.

Duration: Instant

Call: (see Below)

Description: This spell is an add on to Call Essence and cannot be cast on its own. Upon completion of the Call Essence Rite, the Cry to the Void rite is cast to reach out further into the ether to call the essence of a dead character back to its body. An Empath MUST then channel the essence into the vessel to finish the spell. An Empath has 1 minute after the completion of this rite to START the gather essence skill (See Page ##). This spell further reduces the number of chips that the patient must draw by one.

Fortify the Dead

Level: 4

Type: Instant

Effect: This potion is given to the deceased to strengthen their body in order for the Healer to prepare the body for resurrection. The healer may administer this potion to reduce the number of chips the patient is required to draw by 1. Only one Fortify the Dead potion may be given to a patient. This potion is also a material component in some Arcane Rituals.

Ingredients: Gunnweed, Vartilion, Veiled Moon (plant), Dung Root, Borlin Root, Pixie Moss, Gnats wings (seed)

Ingredient Time: Fresh Dung Root is needed (10 minutes).

Mixing Time: 20 minutes

Brewing Time: 18 hours

Mixing Instructions: Mash the Dung Root and add to boiling water. Boil for 15 minutes. Add all other ingredients and continue to boil for 5 minutes. Strain the mixture and pour into an earthen jar. Seal the jar and bury in the soft earth for 18 hours.

Mend The (Insert Race Name) Body
Level: 3

Effect: This potion is given to the deceased to strengthen their body in order for the Healer to prepare the body for resurrection. The healer may administer this potion to reduce the number of chips the patient is required to draw by 1. Only one Mend the Body potion may be given to a patient. In order for the potion to work, the potion must have been made for that patient’s particular race.

Ingredients: Gunnweed, Vartilion, Veiled Moon (plant), Dung Root, Borlin Root, Pixie Moss, Gnats wings (seed), Blood from a person of the appropriate race (1 LP). 1 Magic component.

Ingredient Time: The careful removal of blood is required (10 minutes).

Mixing Time: 5 minutes

Brewing Time: 12 hours

Notes: The potion only works on a character of the race the potion was made for. The potion effect label must list the race the potion was made for


Misc Skills affected by changes

Surgery

This skill is restricted to medium armor.

The surgery skill only works on a target that is critically injured (i.e. below zero life points). The healer can heal up to 10 points in negatives with this skill (their choice as long as the total does not push the target beyond 0). It takes one minute to use this skill. While performing surgery the target does not bleed to death. Upon completion, the target is unconscious until brought to a positive life point total.

A surgeon can heal an additional 9 points but there is a risk of death. To heal these aditional 9 points, the healer must first have a "Healer's bag". The healers bag is an out of game pouch that contains 10 red and white markers or chips. The bag must contain at least one red chip and at least one white chip. The healer's bag is also used in the reserection process (see page $$). For surgery, Chips are taken from the bag at a rate of one per minute. A white chip heals 1 damage while a red chip instantly kills the wounded patient. Up to 3 additional surgeons can assist. When a surgeon assists they can offer their bag to the injured person. The injured subject must pick the chips from the bag offered to him. The bags of chips are meant to simulate the effects of a very critical and delicate surgery. Once a chip is drawn, it is not returned to the bag until the surgery is completed. For each chip drawn a surgeon may also administer one additional potion to the dying character.

Finally, if the surgeon can reach an individual within 15 seconds of that person dying, they can resuscitate them. The victim will be at –15 life or the total they were at when they died, whichever is lower. This is true even for those who were given a killing blow.

Eater of the Dead
Level 4: Consume Heart
If the Eater of the Dead comes upon some poor unsuspecting victim when they are unconscious but before they die, they can eat the victim’s heart and gain either their racial ability or their highest-level Discipline ability. This ability lasts until the end of the event or until another heart is eaten and does not count as an enchantment. It only takes the Eater of the Dead an uninterrupted minute to remove and consume the heart but the count must be started before the victim has bled to death.

[Amagus]

Can multiple healers aid in a Mend the Vessel operation as they can in Surgery?

At the completion of a Gather Essence ritual, it says the subject is brought back at 0 life. I assume the subject should instead be returned at some negative life value.

Surgery states a limit of 9 additional LP may be healed with chips. Can this number be increased when multiple healers are performing the Surgery?

[GM_Chris]

nope to all

[Amagus]

Then what's the point of this:

The Empath may use one other (and only one) person's life force in this skill by channeling the life force out of them and giving it to the dead person. Upon completion of the skill, the donor is reduced to negative 10 life points and the patient is brought to zero life points but is not under the effects of starving

If the dead person is brought back at zero life all ready?

[Trevor Owen]

brought back not starving.

[GM_Chris]

LOL you know trevor we really should have made the recipient be like neg 13

[Amagus]

Why the set limit on Surgery? It’s just one more thing to remember and track. Much easier to just keep on doing surgery so long as you have white chips. If a limit MUST be set, how about a nice, round number like 10?

[cole45]

So a killing blow may not be administered to a character who's player is sleeping?

[WayneO42]

good point. We will have to look at this.

[GM_Chris]

ERRR the surgery skill allows the healer to heal 10 points and then use the bag to heal 9 more. The reason why it is 9 is because you can only have 10 chips in a bag one of which MUST be red so the max you can ever get is 9 or in other words you do draw until you are out of white chips

[Lambic]

Surgery

For each chip drawn a surgeon may also administer one additional potion to the dying character.

Just checking but does this mean that more than 2 potions can be taken in negatives?

[GM_Chris]

Yes if someone with surgery is there

[Corbyn]

Nice job with those rules. Death is scarier now, but if you have the right tools and personnel, it no longer takes PCs out of commission for hours. I think this system will work well.

[Amagus]

ERRR But with multiple Healers performing Surgery, you have more than just nine white chips. I believe there're also craft items that may add more white chips to your bag.

[Corbyn]

What about attaching limbs/heads, and reinserting organs from sources other than the original? If I want to put Ka's head on Arthos' body, or Robin's arm where Ka's head used to be, is that possible? Maybe that was covered and I missed it...