Damage

Detailing damage is necessary in order to measure the fallout of combat, and damage is of course always relative to one's health. Both are outlined below.

## Health

Health is an indication of how hearty a character is and how much damage will be needed to render them incapacitated or worse. Merits can affect one's size, and stamina can be increased through the acquisition of stamina dots or Fortitude discipline dots if a character is Kindred.

* Health = Stamina + Size Rating
* Maximum health is dictated by trait maximums in conjunction with any applicable merits, particularly those affecting size.

## Damage Types

1. Bashing = Superficial or blunt force trauma resulting in bruises, cuts, abrasions, mild fractures, and/or mild burns or poisoning.
2. Lethal = Tearing, shredding, severely broken bones or compound fractures, strong poison, 2nd and 3rd degree burns, or gun shots.
3. Aggravated = Catastrophic levels of damage to tissue such as crushed bones, pulverized flesh, severed limbs, extreme chemical burns/poisoning, or any supernaturally potent damage.

## Experiencing Damage

Damage is experienced differently depending on whether a character is human or Kindred. Other supernaturals, will either heal like humans or have their own damage rules. Some types of damage can be soaked, that is absorbed or avoided, in spite of a body experiencing physical force against it. Merits can impact how one receives, deals, or heals damage.

### Soaking Damage

A character can roll their stamina + Fortitude rating in an attempt to soak damage according to their race. Each success reduces the points of damage taken by one.

### Human Damage

* Full bashing renders humans unconscious unless they succeed on a stamina roll each round.
* Full lethal damage kills humans unless they receive aid instantly.
* Human bodies cannot easily withstand force strong enough to cause aggravated damage.
* Humans can only tolerate a maximum of 2 aggravated damage without dying, and only if the injury is treated immediately.
* Humans can only soak bashing damage.
* Humans heal in line with Masquerade rules, excepting that aggravated damage takes a month to heal.

### Kindred Damage

* Full bashing renders Kindred incapacitated.
* Full lethal torpors Kindred unless they succeed on a stamina roll each round.
* Full aggravated damage causes Final Death.
* Decapitation renders a Kindred instantly torpid.
* All bashing damage is halved and rounded down for Kindred.
* Standard bullet wounds from the neck down are bashing damage to Kindred.
* Standard bullet wounds to the head are considered lethal damage for Kindred.
* Kindred can heal 2 bashing or 1 lethal per point of blood.
* Kindred an heal 1 aggravated with 5 points of blood on the night the damage was incurred; any further aggravated damage must be healed the next night or requires 5 blood + 1 willpower for each point healed on the same night as the first.
* See also:
	+ Fire
	+ Final Death
	+ Sunlight
	+ Torpor

## Recording Damage

Characters have as many health boxes as they have health points and mark damage as outlined on page **182 of VtR 2.0.**

* All damage is marked from left to right.
* The most severe damage is indicated first with all lesser damage being pushed to the right.
* Bashing damage is indicated by a back slash in the box.
* Lethal damage is indicated by an X in the box.
* Aggravated damage is indicated by a 3 line asterisk (an X with a vertical line through the middle).
* Damage rolls over, meaning that if your track is full of bashing, any further bashing or lethal damage upgrades that box to lethal.
* Any further damage to a box already filled with lethal upgrades it to aggravated.
* Damage is healed *from right to left, the opposite order in which it was marked.*

## Damage Conditions

* Injured = A character has taken damage, but not enough to incur penalties or affect mobility.
* Wounded = A character has suffered enough damage to incur penalties. Their mobility is impacted, which may reduce them to a walk or crawl.
* Incapacitated = A character is no longer mobile and can only heal of fall into unconsciousness or torpor.
* Torpor = A dormant, death-like state for Kindred. When entered due to damage, a Kindred remains in this state for a period of time dictated by their BP and Humanity unless woken by another Kindred.

## Damage Penalties

Difficulty Increase as Determined by Health Boxes Marked
 Kindred

Source: House Rules, Masquerade, and VtR 2.0