Players + Judges Books + Ultimate Powers Book (TSR6876)
Health
Health is the pool that absorbs physical damage. It has no rank or rank number — it's the sum of the rank numbers of Fighting, Agility, Strength, and Endurance.
Health is lost through combat, accidents, attacks, and life-threatening situations. It's recovered after damage is taken, starting 10 turns after the last damage.
If Health is reduced to 0, the character becomes unconscious and may begin losing Endurance ranks (see Life, Death, and Health below).
Damage By Attack Type
Blunt melee (bare hands): attacker's Strength rank number in damage.
Blunt melee (weapon): up to the weapon's material strength. If the weapon's material strength is greater than the user's Strength rank, the user's Strength is increased to the lowest value of the next rank for damage purposes. (Example: Aunt May, Feeble (2) Strength, swings a lead pipe of Excellent material — she inflicts 3 points (Poor minimum), not her usual 2.)
Edged melee: minimum damage = the weapon's stated damage. A character who can inflict higher damage may inflict damage up to their Strength or the material strength of the weapon, whichever is less. This higher damage may not be reduced.
Shooting / Thrown: weapon's damage rank, minus armor. Thrown blunt items use the higher of weapon or thrower's Strength.
Energy attacks: the power's rank number, minus any specific resistance the target has against that energy type.
Force attacks: the power's rank number, minus Force Resistance if any.
Charging: Strength rank shifted up by speed band; Endurance FEAT determines exact damage.
A character using bare hands or a blunt weapon may always choose to inflict less damage than maximum (a "pulled punch") or choose a lower color result (yellow instead of red).
Body Armor & Resistances
Body Armor reduces damage from physical attacks by its rank number on every hit. Resistance powers (Resistance to Fire, Cold, Magic, Energy, Mental, Toxin, Disease, Aging, etc.) work like specialized armor against a specific attack type.
Critical interaction: if a resistance's rank is higher than the attack's rank, the attack does no damage at all. If lower, the difference is the damage taken.
Body Armor vs. Energy Attacks (Canonical)
Energy Powers reduce Body Armor by 20 points when defending against them. The Body Armor rank number is dropped by 20.
Body Armor of Excellent (25) → reduced to Typical (5) vs. Energy.
Body Armor of Monstrous (87) → reduced to Monstrous (67) vs. Energy.
Body Armor of Good (10) → provides no protection at all against an Energy attack.
This is why energy-projecting villains are so dangerous — typical Body Armor doesn't stop them.
Force Fields
Force Fields differ from Body Armor:
Protect as Body Armor against all attacks, AND...
Protect at the FULL listed level vs. Energy attacks (no −20 reduction).
Protect at −10 against all OTHER attack types.
The Force Field takes the damage instead of the hero.
Overload: Damage exceeding the Force Field's Power rank treats the rank as the wall's material strength. What happens next depends on the type of Force Field:
Personal Force Field: system switches off or overheats. Excess damage affects the hero.
Projected Force Field: may collapse entirely; hero must roll to maintain.
Recovery vs. Healing
The Advanced Set distinguishes two separate concepts. Both can apply, in sequence.
Recovery
Ten turns (one minute) after a character takes damage, they regain Health equal to their Endurance rank number, PROVIDED they have not been knocked unconscious AND have not been further damaged in that 10-turn window.
If damaged again before Recovery, the 10-turn timer resets — Recovery is lost; only Healing applies.
Recovery may take place only ONCE per day.
Healing
A character heals Endurance rank number in Health per HOUR (600 turns) following the last damage taken. If the character is damaged again during that hour, the timer resets from that point.
Rest: Endurance rank number per hour, in the normal rate.
Bedrest + medical supervision (doctor/hospital): double the normal rate.
Special abilities: Regeneration, Recovery powers heal more or faster (see Ultimate Powers).
Life, Death, and Health
What happens when Health reaches 0?
At 0 Health
The character becomes unconscious for at least 1-10 rounds. The player rolls an Endurance FEAT and consults the Kill column of the Effects Table:
Result: No effect — Stunned for 1-10 rounds. May regain consciousness (see below).
Result: Endurance Loss — character begins losing Endurance ranks. One rank is lost per turn (the loss is temporary, but for further checks, treat the rank number as the highest in that rank).
Result: Stagger (Yellow) — character is reeling but not actively dying yet.
Losing Endurance Ranks
If a character is losing Endurance ranks, one is lost per turn. The character keeps losing ranks until they reach Shift 0. Below Shift 0 = dead. Deceased. Pushing up daisies. Beyond the mortal ken. (Fold up the character sheet and put them in the Hall of Fame — unless they have the Immortality power.)
How to Avoid Dying
Spend 50 Karma. Stabilize Endurance for one round. A stopgap; doesn't fix anything. (This is changed from the Original Set.)
Spend 200 Karma. Gain another Endurance FEAT when slipping a level. If you succeed, you become unconscious instead of dying.
Help from friends. If a friend, ally, enemy, or passerby provides aid (first aid, summoning help, pulling to safety, applying medical attention), the Endurance loss halts. Character is unconscious for 1-10 more hours.
First Aid + Medicine Talent. A character with First Aid and Medicine talents can aid individuals who have reached Shift 0 Health.
Regaining Consciousness
From a Stun: unconscious 1-10 turns, then act normally.
From 0 Health (no Endurance loss): unconscious 1-10 turns, then Endurance FEAT. Failure = still unconscious; check again in 1-10 turns. Success = regain consciousness with Health equal to Endurance rank.
From Endurance Loss (saved by aid): unconscious 1-10 hours.
Robots and Reactivation
Robot PCs and NPCs at 0 Health with all Endurance ranks lost are not "dead" in a conventional sense — they may be rebuilt.
Repairing a deactivated robot requires a Reason FEAT of intensity equal to the highest Ability or Power rank of that character. (Example: Vision deactivated = Unearthly intensity FEAT.)
The repaired character returns to play but has no Karma.
Reactivation time = a number of days equal to the highest Power rank (Vision = 100 days).
Reactivated robots may suffer Disabilities (see below).
Impaired Abilities
A character who has lost Endurance ranks suffers −2CS to all FEAT rolls until Endurance is returned to original levels.
Normal action: heal 1 Endurance rank per week.
Hospital / doctor's care: heal 1 Endurance rank per day.
Endurance cannot heal above the original rank number.
Disabilities (Shift 0 Survival)
A character who slips to Shift 0 in Endurance is in danger of permanent impairment. For each physical ability above Good, roll a Green FEAT. Failure = that ability is permanently reduced to the next lowest printed rank number (Monstrous(61) → Amazing(50)).
These reduced abilities may be raised again only through normal advancement (Karma cost — see Karma).
Karma & Damage
Karma can be spent in several ways related to damage:
Damage reduction: 1 Karma per 1 point of damage reduced, declared after the hit is rolled, before damage is applied.
Stabilize Endurance: 50 Karma to stabilize for one round (see above).
Endurance FEAT retry: 200 Karma when slipping a level.
Falling damage: 1 Karma per 1 point reduced.
Resist mental attacks: Karma can boost Psyche FEATs against mental damage.