Damage & Death
Beamrazors
and blasters, the ubiquitous weaponry of the setting, lead to especially grisly
and traumatic (if not fatal) wounds. The critical
hit table that follows should be used in place of the one found in the X-Plorers rulebook (adjust for PHY as
normal):
ROLL 1D8*
|
RESULT
|
1 or less
|
Instant Death!
|
2
|
Mortal Wound
|
3 to 4
|
Grievous Wound
|
5
|
Incapacitated
|
6 to 7
|
Beaten
|
8 or more
|
Adrenaline Surge!
|
*Add PHY adjustment; if damage sustained is from
unarmed attacks, treat all results of 5 or less as Incapacitated.
Instant Death! Just what the result says.
Mortal Wound: Character will die in D6 rounds (adjusted for PHY)
unless intervention is provided in the form of a psychic talent (for example, resist
death or vitality transfer).
Grievous Wound: As Incapacitated,
but the character has been permanently maimed and/or scarred and will probably
require cybernetic reconstruction to
fully recover.
Incapacitated: The character is incapacitated with pain and will
fall unconscious (for D6x10 minutes) unless she succeeds at a PHY saving throw.
A conscious character can take one action (psychic or otherwise) per round, but
all dice rolls are made at a -2 penalty and the only movement possible is very
slow crawling.
Beaten: The character knows her luck has run out, but suffers
no other ill effects. If wounded again, subsequent critical hit rolls are made
at a cumulative -1 penalty.
Adrenaline Surge: As per the X-Plorers
rulebook.
Star
Knights are taught to revere life and act in its preservation whenever possible, though sometimes the greater preservation of life means ending the life of
another (especially when it comes to Shadow
Lords and other corrupt psychics). When using a beamrazor, a Star Knight
may choose to Grievously Wound an
opponent instead of killing it at 0 hit points, usually slicing away an
opponent’s weapon hand or arm. If the target is a Shadow Lord roll 1D4 to see
how many limbs are severed as dictated by “the will of the Star Force” (on a
roll of “4” the Star Knight cannot
help but cut the villain in twain, causing Instant
Death).
Cybernetic Reconstruction
Cybernetic
replacement in KWN is not a matter of improvement, but rather one of
expedience: with the ubiquity of cyborgs (see Chapter 2), why take the time to grow a cloned organ for transplant
when a borg limb is more cheaply installed (and without the threat of host
rejection)? Due to the number and diversity of sentient species, the study of
cybernetic installation is much easier to master than the medicine and biology
of a million life forms spread across the galaxy; skilled surgeons in the KWN
setting are more akin to a mechanic than a family practitioner.
Characters
that sustain a Grievous Wound may
require reconstruction as part of their healing process; roll on the following
table:
ROLL 1D8
|
RECOVERY
RESULT
|
1 to 4
|
Cybernetic reconstruction needed
|
5
|
No cybernetics, but -1 to INT*
|
6
|
No cybernetics, but -1 to AGI*
|
7
|
No cybernetics, but -1 to PHY*
|
8
|
Full miraculous recovery!
|
*Attribute permanently reduced.
A
character requiring cybernetic reconstruction has to put in time in a capable
medical facility, either shipboard or planet-side; until she does she cannot recover more
than one-half her lost hit points.
Receiving
cybernetic replacement diminishes a person’s sense of self, as they become less
organic, more machine. For every incident of reconstruction, the character’s
PRE score is permanently reduced by one point, reflecting the blow to the
psyche. Because of the attribute’s importance, this can be a tremendous loss to
a Star Knight or psychic character.
A
character can elect to forgo cybernetic reconstruction even when indicated
(she still requires a medical facility to fully recover). Doing so means
permanently lowering the character’s max HPs by one point per level of
experience. In addition, a character will suffer other challenges depending on
the nature of the injury (damaged vision, loss of locomotion, missing hand/arm,
inability to speak due to a missing jaw, etc.). Such effects will need to be
adjudicated by the Referee.
An
individual purposefully maimed by beamrazor (see Damage & Death above) always requires cybernetic
reconstruction to replace the lost limb(s).
Vehicle Combat
Vehicle
combat with atmospheric craft isn’t much different from normal combat: standard
vehicles have hit points (not hull points) and AC just like PCs, and if
brought to 0 hit points the vehicle ceases to function. All cycles have 10 hit points
and AC 12, while cars have 20 hit points and AC 14. The pilot of a vehicle adds any AGI
adjustment to AC (to reflect their maneuvering) and psychics may add their psychic defense bonus (PRE) as well. At
high speeds, opponents have an additional penalty of -2 to hit a moving vehicle
(individuals firing from such a moving vehicle receive the same penalty).
Explorer
vehicles are a little less maneuverable and don’t receive AC bonuses from their
pilot, but they are fairly sturdy with an AC 16 and 40 hit points.
[to be continued]
[Kloane War Knights is copyright 2013 by Jonathan Becker and
Running Beagle Games. The X-Plorers rpg is copyright 2009, Dave Bezio &
Grey Area Games. The X-Plorers trademark is used under the X-Plorers Trademark
License]