A subtle question of Magic and Death

Fred Brackin · 04-08-2008, 07:33 PM

Suppose you have this healthy chap with an adjusted HT roll of 16.

Suppose he is severely injured and rolls a 17 on a Death Check. He has failed but not failed by more than 1 or 2 so it's a Mortal Wound rather than instant death. With the 17 we are also avoiding questions of Critical Failure and religious questions (Hierokybocracy "rule of sacred cubes") involving whether you always die when you roll an 18.

So he's in the Mortally Wounded condition and may even be conscious. That's left to the GM's decision (see B. 423).

Now let us suppose that he has the Enchanted Item for the Stop Bleeding Spell. The Item part is important. The Spell itself would only stabilize his Mortal Wound. The Item _prevents_ Mortal Wounds.

So, he's at least -1x HP and he's failed a HT check but he's not Mortally Wounded (and has not met any other conditions for automatic death). What is he?

In an actual game situation (and this could come up in a game I'm running) I would simply say 'Unconscious" and move on but I am academically curious as to what the "correct" answer should be as Gurps sees this thing.

04-08-2008, 07:33 PM	#1
Fred Brackin Join Date: Aug 2007	A subtle question of Magic and Death Suppose you have this healthy chap with an adjusted HT roll of 16. Suppose he is severely injured and rolls a 17 on a Death Check. He has failed but not failed by more than 1 or 2 so it's a Mortal Wound rather than instant death. With the 17 we are also avoiding questions of Critical Failure and religious questions (Hierokybocracy "rule of sacred cubes") involving whether you always die when you roll an 18. So he's in the Mortally Wounded condition and may even be conscious. That's left to the GM's decision (see B. 423). Now let us suppose that he has the Enchanted Item for the Stop Bleeding Spell. The Item part is important. The Spell itself would only stabilize his Mortal Wound. The Item _prevents_ Mortal Wounds. So, he's at least -1x HP and he's failed a HT check but he's not Mortally Wounded (and has not met any other conditions for automatic death). What is he? In an actual game situation (and this could come up in a game I'm running) I would simply say 'Unconscious" and move on but I am academically curious as to what the "correct" answer should be as Gurps sees this thing. __________________ Fred Brackin