Coma

A coma is a Mortal Condition caused by serious trauma, often to the brain. In game terms, it is a more severe form of Unconsciousness. It can be caused by a number of sources:
* Mundane Things
** Hypoxia / Poor reactions to particularly thin atmospheresBasic Set, p.429
** Depressants
*** Extreme levels of intoxication (see Alcohol)
*** Overdoses from multiple depressants.Basic Set, p.441
** Severe Lead PoisoningHigh-Tech, p.33 (yikes!)
* Mental Strain
** Absurdly high Fright ChecksBasic Set, p.361
** Reaching 0 FP from the Nightmare spell
* Bio-Tech and Transformations
** The Metamorphosis NanovirusBio-Tech, p.187
* Magic Shenanigans
** Mummy CursesHorror, p.92
** Supernaturally Nocturnal creatures during daytime
** Sapient Magic Items when in a No Mana AreaThaumatology, p.119
** Caster's body during Astral ProjectionThaumatology, p.159 (presumably this is fixed afterwards)
** Drinking too much Essential Wine (still better than regular wine)Thaumatology: Urban Magics, p.31
== Get Treated ==
If a character is in a coma, they collapse (as if wounded to -1xHP). This counts as a mortal wound.Basic Set, p.423 They get a single HT roll to awaken after 12 hours. On a failure, they won't recover without medical treatment (or a miracle). Until they receive treatment, roll vs HT every 12 hours. On any failure, they die.Basic Set, p.429
* Characters with Hard to Subdue get a bonus to resisting Afflictions that cause Coma (as well as Sleep and Unconsciousness)
== Recovering ==
See Stabilizing a Mortal Wound!
* Just like with unconsciousness, characters with the Recovery advantage also divide coma times by 60. Although, see Recovering below.
== Gameplay Considerations ==
Entering and recovering from comas is often a question of dramatic timing rather than die rolls. No one likes effectively losing a character for an undefined amount of time, although it's often preferred to outright dying (for instance, being "True Named" by a witch, causing coma instead of heart attack).
== High Strangeness ==
"Standek! Standek! Standek!" -- various patients, The Librarians
* Sapient creatures in comas are more susceptible to ghostly possessionHorror, p.80
== See Also ==
* Not to be confused with the Japanese farming sickle, the kama. 
== References ==
* Basic Set, p.429