Life & Death
in the Wildlands

Your character’s health and the quality of his or her armor are represented by the use of Hit Points. They are distributed at check-in according to your class, level and the type of armor worn. Hit Points represent the amount of damage you can actually sustain before dying.

There are two types of Hit Points: Armor Points and Body Points.

Armor Points represent the additional protection that is gained from armor. These points are always lost first. The defensive spells Shield and Greater Shield provide additional armor points.

Body Points represent how strong and healthy your body is at that moment. The defensive spells Bless and Greater Blessprovide additional Body Points.

When in a battle, Armor Points take damage first and then Body Points. There are exceptions. Some spells and skills state that only body or only armor is affected.

You will be given tag representations of armor of any armor that you purchase in-game. It is the responsibility of every player to keep track of their current Hit Point total. Body Points do not regenerate from day to day but you will receive your full amount of Body Points at the start of each new NERO event.

Damaged Armor tags must be adjusted at the end of the battle, marking off a number of boxed equal to the number of times the armor was breached during the battle. Armor tags may not exceed the physical representation worn. You cannot use a tag representing 14 points of armor while your phys rep will only support 6 points.

Life and Death

Knowing the rules in this section can literally make the difference between life and death. Some of this will be confusing upon a first reading, as this section makes references to rules that have not yet been covered. If this is your first reading of the Wildlands rulebook, get the general idea of this section and then come back after you’ve read more.

Unconscious: If you are reduced to exactly zero Body Points, then you are unconscious. You will regain consciousness (at one Body Point only) after five minutes.  (This is a recent local chapter change to the NERO rules, and is different than the standard 10 minute count that previously existed)

You can make no sounds at all while unconscious or dying. If your party doesn’t notice you lying there, you can’t moan or say “Well, it looks like I’m unconscious.”

If you wish, your character may opt to stop struggling to regain consciousness and die. Upon being reduced to zero Body Points, you can declare that you are “choosing to die” (This is an out-of-game statement). At that point your Body Point total drops to -1 and you will begin dying. This option is to allow you to “choose to die” rather than be captured by an enemy.

Carrying the Incapacitated: To carry another character or creature who is incapacitated, you must place a hand near the torso and tell the other player “I am carrying you”.  The recipient must get up and stand in front of you.  Then, hold both hands over their shoulders to indicate you are carrying them.  You must walk at a normal pace.  You may walk forward or ‘drag’ them by walking with them backwards.  If you have Superhuman Strength or you use an Endow or Delayed Endow, both of you may run together for 10 seconds, without keeping your hands over their shoulders.  Whether walking or running you must wait for the person playing the body to get up and follow you.  You cannot “tag” them and sprint, claiming that you have the body.  The person must move with you.  You cannot carry bodies when in combat.  If a packet, weapon, or other game effect strikes you, or the body being carried, you must drop the body (if still able to drop it) that you are carrying until the attacker has moved on, or has been otherwise disabled.  The effect is applied to whomever it hit, following all normal NERO rules.  Likewise, all of the same rules apply if you use a game effect upon yourself, including Imprison, healing spells, or gaseous form. (If you cast Imprison upon yourself or go gaseous, the carried body must be dropped and hence cannot be included in the effect.)  Any items that were in the hands of the person being dragged are left behind.  You may not carry both items and a body at the same time. You may however place weapons in their sheaths or within the player’s belt and then drag the body.

Dying: Any time you are reduced below zero Body Points, you drop to -1 and no further, even if the last blow on you did 48 points of damage. Once you are reduced to -1, then your character is dying, or bleeding out. You will die unless givenFirst Aid or curing within one minute. This one minute is referred to as your “death countdown.”

First Aid takes a complete uninterrupted minute to be successful. Once First Aid has begun, the one minute death countdown freezes. After 10 uninterrupted seconds, your death countdown starts over again at zero.  To properly give First Aid, the person roleplays the actions of giving First Aid, followed by a soft statement to the target “Beginning First Aid”.  The person giving First Aid then counts in their head a full ten count, and then announces quietly to the target “Reset bleed out count”.  He then continues counting in his head to a full 60 seconds count, and then quietly states to the target “Stabilize”.  (This is a recent local chapter rules change, and different than the NERO rule.)  If you receive another hit at any time while in this condition, then the aid is considered to be interrupted and you will continue the death countdown from where it was interrupted by the First Aid.

If the First Aid is completed, then you will be at zero Body Points (unconscious) and will wake in five minutes with 1 Body Point. First Aid is not required if you are at 0. Curing that brings you to at least 1 Body Point will immediately bring you to consciousness without the minute needed for First Aid.

If you are at -1, then for all healing, it only takes 1 point to reach zero. So, for example, after a Cure Light Wounds spell, you would have 4 Body Points. After a Cure Wounds spell, you would have 9 Body Points (if you can handle that many!).

Dead: If you are reduced to -1 and you are not given either First Aid or some sort of healing within the one minute period, then you are dead. If you are given a Killing Blow at any time, you are dead. All of your active spells, alchemical substances, and other effects will immediately disappear. The only things that will remain are Gypsy Curse, Vampire Charm, Forget-it-Well, Forget-me-Not, Enslavement, Curse of Transformation,  Euphoria, Love, Paste of Stickiness, and Physical Pin/Bind/Web/Confine.

The only thing that can save you now is a Life spell delivered within five minutes. Even if a Life spell is given to you, all your active spells, alchemical substances and other effects (except those listed above) are lost. If the five minutes pass without aLife spell, then you must immediately become a spirit and can only be brought back by a resurrection.  Life spells are extraordinarily rare in Wildlands, and most characters will never witness the casting of one, much less benefit from one.

Example one: Dreyfus has a total of 14 points counting his Armor Points, Body Points and all protective spells. He is in a fierce battle and takes exactly 14 points of damage. He falls to the ground unconscious. Nobody gives him any curing, so he awakens in ten minutes with only one Body Point.

Example two: Dreyfus takes 20 points of damage in the battle and falls to the ground. He is now dying. He begins counting down in his head the minute before his death. Before he gets to “60” he is reached by Chelsea the healer who gives him First Aid. After a complete minute of receiving First Aid, he will no longer be “dying” and will now merely be “unconscious.” In five minutes, he will awaken at one Body Point.

Example three: Dreyfus takes 20 points and falls to the ground. He begins the death countdown but almost immediately is hit with a Cure Light Wounds spell (worth 5 Body Points) from Chelsea. He jumps back up and runs back into battle. He now has 4 Body Points.

Example four: Dreyfus takes 20 points of damage and begins the death countdown. A minute goes by and no one gets to him with First Aid or any curing. He now begins a five minute countdown in hopes that someone happens by with a Life spell. If no Life spell arrives within the five minutes, he is dead and must be resurrected.

Example five:  Darius the fighter is bleeding out and 35 seconds into his count.  Elias the healer comes over and starts first aid.  After 10 seconds Elias says “reset your bleed out count.”  Elias then leaves Darius, thus stopping first aid.  Darius begins his count again at zero.  Elias jumps over to Atropos who is bleeding out and 40 seconds into his count.  5 seconds into the first aid an enemy hits Elias which drops Elias to 0 body points.  The first aid is interrupted and Atropos resumes his count at 41.

Note that in even though there was no mention of reducing armor tags, it is imperative that all armor tags be adjusted after a battle.

Spirits

When your character dies (after the point at which a Life spell will no longer work, and your body dissipates), you must become a spirit. You must put on a white headband and head immediately and directly to a resurrection juncture to register your death. If you are unsure as to where to go, ask a marshal.

The spirit is completely invisible to the world around it and may not interact in any manner with other characters (no noises, no charades. . .nothing!). Spirits travel only as fast as the player walks—no running to the resurrection juncture.

The five minute time period for a Life spell continues to elapse even if you are raised as an undead after being given a Killing Blow. If you are raised, you cannot then “choose to die.” If during the five minute period you are “killed” as the undead and then given a Life spell, you will reawaken alive but with no knowledge of your time spent as an undead. If the five minute period expires and you are still an undead, you will remain an undead until destroyed, at which point your spirit will immediately head to the resurrection juncture.

For example: Poor Dreyfus falls fighting against a necromancer and his undead abominations. He is at -1 Body Points. He lies there for a minute but no one comes to him with First Aid. (Dreyfus is keeping track of the time.) At the end of the minute, he is now dead and all of his Spell Protectives gone. The necromancer sees Dreyfus and then casts a Create Undead spell on him. Dreyfus rises as a zombie. He attacks his party, and the battle lasts more than two minutes. During this period, they throw Life spells at him, but they have no effect because he is a zombie. Finally, they knock him back down to zero body points. He is no longer a zombie and is merely a dead body. Since the five minutes since the time of his death are not up, a Life spell will still save Dreyfus, but since the one minute period forFirst Aid has expired, he can lo longer be saved by First Aid or a curing spell.  The countdown did not stop when Dreyfus became a zombie.

Resurrections

Upon entering the resurrection juncture, the spirit remains unable to interact with characters other than the juncture spirit, who will handle the details of their resurrection and then announce to any other players present the name of the character waiting to be resurrected.

When you show up at the resurrection juncture, the juncture spirit will update your Death Total and then will ask you to choose from the Bag of Chance.

If you pick a Death Stone, then your character has permanently died. At this point, your character’s body reforms exactly where it dissipated. The body will remain there until someone finds it, takes it and disposes of it by burial, burning, etc.

If you pick a Stone that is acceptable for resurrection, the spirit there will allow you to proceed to resurrect.  Once your draw is complete and your character sheet has been updated, your spirit then awaits resurrection by another character. Any living character may attempt to call a spirit back from death. They must concentrate and call out to the dead spirit. The individual spirit can require as much coaxing as they desire to return to life. The dead character’s spirit can see and hear the person calling them and may choose not to return to life if they do not trust the person calling them. The resurrecting spirit may not communicate with the living in any fashion. They may simple choose to resurrect or wait for someone else to call them.

When the spirit appears at the resurrection juncture, it appears intact and whole, even if the body had been hacked to bits and separated. All body parts remaining will disappear when the resurrection is completed.

It is impossible to tell how someone died from looking at their spirit. Once the resurrection begins, though, there is only a spirit, and all of this evidence is no longer discernible. Determining the method of death at that point is no longer possible.

The spirit will normally go to the closest resurrection juncture (that your character has previously visited) to resurrect. A spirit can choose to go to a different juncture than the closest one if the closest juncture is hostile, but the character, once resurrected, will not be aware of this decision.

If your character decides to go to another juncture other than the designated in-game juncture during a weekend event, you must go to the resurrection point out-of-game to record the death and let them know what you are planning. You may be required to stay out-of-game for a period of time to represent the amount of time it would take for your spirit to travel to the next closest juncture and for your body to then travel back.  This may preclude you from playing in the rest of that current event.

A newly resurrected character has his or her maximum Body Points and will awake from resurrection without any game possessions at all (unless, of course, the character’s friends have brought the character’s possessions). All remaining spells and elixirs that were present on the character will be gone, including Vampire Charm, Enslavement, Euphoria, Paste of Stickiness, Physical Pin/Bind/Web/Confine. Curse of the Wanderer is one of the few effects that persist through death.  Note that the lost memories from Forget-it poisons are not restored by resurrection. No other game effect is active after death.