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Since how hit points work a little differently in Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells and as there are no Clerics in space, I thought this section of the rules might be interesting to present as preview.
Damage
Being cut by a sword, shot by a rifle, crushed by a maul, all of this hurts a lot, and in game terms, cause damage. Damage reduces Vitality points, which if reduced to zero, can lead to death. Besides attacks, many other things may cause characters and NPCs or creatures to lose Vitality points, such as falling from a cliff, burning in a building on fire, starving in a wasteland desert and any other thing that could wound, hurt of rob the character of his health.
Being shot by a pistol causes 1d6 points of damage, being shot by a rifle, causes 1d6+1 points of damage, the same amount as being cut by a two handed axe.
Lethal and Nonlethal Damage
Usually, when we talk about damage, we are talking about lethal damage. So if we say that the bite of the Hound of Yadalo does 2d6 of damage, we can imagine these animals to be very dangerous and their bite deadly. However, some attacks and effects can inflict nonlethal damage, which can lead to unconsciousness instead of death. Hitting someone with the blunt side of a swords, with the butt of the gun, or firing at them with an ion gun.
In game terms, both lethal and nonlethal damage reduce Vitality points, but if a character’s Vitality is reduced to zero and the total of lethal points is below the Vitality score, the character is unconscious. He will wake up after an hour if conditions are good enough (and he is not suffering further damage).
Normally, if the reason the character took the nonlethal damage is no longer affecting him, nonlethal damage goes away after 1 hour of rest.
When Kaylia was in that wasteland planet, she accrued several points of nonlethal damage due the lack of food and water. This nonlethal damage didn’t go away until she ate and drink something.
Death
Nothing last forever, and even stars die. Normally, all NPCs and other creatures die once their Vitality score reaches zero. However, player characters are another breed of adventurers. Their destiny maybe greater than of the rest of the people around them.
Once a player character’s Vitality reaches zero, they are knocked down and are dying. If someone heals them within a number of rounds equal to their Level, they may regain Vitality points normally. After this time, they will rely on his destiny. If someone tries to help them before 1 hour has passed, they may make a Luck Roll and, if lucky, they have survived his wounds, but permanently loses 1 point of either Physique or Agility, as they chooses, and receives a Negative Die on all actions for 1 hour. On the other hand, if unlucky, the character is dead.
Rhiar was Kaylia’s friend. On one of their dangerous adventures, he was gravely wounded by a Void Beast. His companions managed to drag his unconscious body to the starship before 1 hour have elapsed. Using their medkit, they tried to reanimate him, allowing a Luck Roll. Unfortunately, Rhiar’s player rolled a 6, making him unlucky. Rhiar died on his companion's arms.
Healing and Resting
Adventurers can be injured in a variety of ways, but with proper care and some resting, they can get well again. In game terms, characters can take either short rests or long rests.
Short rests can be taken after a combat or action scene in which characters have taken damage. Resting for 10 minutes, in which the character recovers his breath, drinks from his canteen and binds his wounds, the player makes a Physique test with a Difficulty equal to the total number of short rest taken in that day. If successful, the character recovers a number of Vitality points determined by his Recovery Die (which varies according to the character’s Archetype). Failure means the character didn’t have the constitution to recover any of his health.
After a combat, Kaylia stops and check her injuries. The are not so grave, so she binds them and drink some water. After 10 minutes she makes a Physique test to recover 1d6 Vitality points, according to The Smart’s Recovery Dice.
On a long rest, the character rests in a comfortable and safe place for about 8 hours. If these conditions are fulfilled, he automatically recovers an amount of Vitality points determined by his Recovery Die, and 1 point of a damaged Attribute. Alternatively, if the character receives proper medical care in this period, he recovers 2 Recovery Dice worth of Vitality points and 2 points of a damaged Attribute during the long rest.
At the end of the last adventure, Kaylia had only 3 Vitality points left. She was really beaten up. Luckily, she had friends in a nearby planet that could help her and even provide some medical care for her. Thus, everyday she could regain 2d6 Vitality points automatically. If no proper care was available, she would only regain 1d6 points.
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