The Lure of Death

The lure of death represents a fading character who has taken lethal damage in combat. When a player is reduced to 0 health he falls prone and enters the lure of death as explained below:

* The player falling into the lure rolls a d6 (lure dice). This is the number of turns the player has to stabilize and get the number on the lure dice to 6. If the number reaches 0, the character dies.

* Each round the player makes a “lure roll” or “lure of death check” with a d10 to determine if the number on the dice goes up or down. Check the lure chart below for specific numbers.

* While in the lure of death, a player can take no actions other than to roll lure checks.

* While in the lure of death, a player who is dealt damage goes down one number (step) in the lure. On a critical hit, the player instead moves down two steps.

* If the player rolls a high enough number to pass the lure check based on their current position in the lure, they go up one step. Rolling a 10 on the lure check increases their standing by two. Rolling a 1 decreases their standing by 2.

* A player who rolls a 6 on the initial d6 roll is automatically stable at 1 health and can act normally on their turn.

On the chart below, the number on the left represents the roll on the d6. The number on the right indicates the number that must then be rolled on a d10 on the player’s next turn to move up one step in the lure of death. Atrophy damage is dealt to players who enter the lure of death more than once. On their second lure roll, the player takes a number of atrophy damage indicated by the chart. This is further explained below.

**Lure of Death Chart**
 2
 3
 4
 5
 6

*Note: In order to roll a lure of death check, your character must be in a stable condition. A stable condition is one without extra or progressive damage such as wounding or burn. A character who takes damage after entering the lure of death is not stable and can only become stable after one round of taking no damage.*

## **Falling into Lure Multiple Times**

Even though a player cannot technically die from taking damage directly except through massive damage (see below), entering the lure of death more than once in a combat causes the player to take atrophy. A player who falls the first time and rolls a 6 to recover takes no atrophy. Upon falling a second time, even if the player rolls another 6 he still takes 1 atrophy damage. Each time after the first the player falls, they will take atrophy damage equal to the number amount listed by the roll on the chart above. A player who has 0 maximum health remaining as a result of atrophy dies as normal.

## **Atrophy**

Atrophy happens when your character falls into the lure of death more than once in a single combat. One atrophy reduces your character’s maximum health by one. Atrophy damage is not the same as reduced fortitude and is calculated separately.

## **Massive Damage**

The lure of death is meant to simulate what happens when a player is knocked down, and dying, but not completely dead. There are times when even the lure of death may be out of the question, however. If a player takes damage equal to his maximum health from a single blow he automatically begins the lure at 1. If this same player did not have health enough to stave off the blow he instead dies from massive damage.

*Example: A player has 24 health and is attacked and downed by a critical hit totaling 30 damage. His armor absorbs 6 damage because it is heavy. The player falls to 1 on the lure of death.*

*That same player is healed back to full health by his party member. The next turn the monster deals 32 damage to the player. Even though 6 damage is absorbed by the player’s armor, it still deals 26 damage which goes over the player’s total health by 2. This player has already entered lure once this combat, so he instead dies from massive damage rather than enter the lure. This is called a “crushing blow.”*

*Note: Massive damage can only be triggered if the player has entered the lure of death in the same combat the crushing blow is delivered. In this way, the player has a small leeway for experimentation when dealing with more powerful foes and won’t immediately be “gimped“ because a powerful creature hit them once.*