Chapter 16: Lingering Injuries

During their tenure as dungeon delvers and monster hunters, it is not uncommon for adventurers to retain serious and permanent – or at least long-lasting – injuries. Such injuries can be caused by any one of the following or something else entirely, at the GM’s discretion:

badly failing Fortitude or Reflex saves;
losing more than half your Health in a single blow;
close brushes with death, such as Enduring or dying and being resurrected/resuscitated;
being maimed, especially while restrained.

The difference between a normal injury and a lingering one is just that: a lingering injury lingers and handicaps the victim in some way. If a character suffers a lingering injury, that should impact their abilities somehow, such as disadvantage on certain checks, a reduced walking speed, or some other detriment. A lingering injury can be cured by certain healing spells or special potions, such as exceptional Potions of Healing.

Given here is a list of sample lingering injuries and the negative effects they have. When a character suffers such an injury, the GM can use this table or come up with their own.

Lingering Injuries

d20	Injury	Effect	Cure
1	Lost Eye	You have disadvantage on Perception checks to determine distance; losing both eyes results in you becoming permanently blinded.	A prosthetic eye or specialized arcane healing, such as the Restore the Body spell.
2	Burst Eardrum	You have disadvantage on hearing-based Perception checks; losing both eardrums results in you becoming permanently deafened.	Specialized arcane healing, such as the Restore the Body spell.
3-9	Broken/Severed Limb	Detailed here. A severed limb also causes the External Bleeding injury.	Also detailed here.
10-13	Internal Bleeding	Every time you attempt an action in combat that is not movement or speech, you must make a DR 14 Fortitude save to perform the action.	An amount of arcane healing >10% of your Maximum Health or a night's or day's rest.
14-16	External Bleeding	You lose 1 Health per second, applied at the end of each second of your turn.	Any amount of arcane healing, a successful DR 8 Medicine Kit check, or a successful DR 12 Medicine check to make a tourniquet with on-hand materials.
17-20	Infected Wound	Your maximum Health is temporarily reduced by 20% (rounded down to the nearest half) every 24 hours (e.g. from 100 to 80 to 60, etc.). If your Health reaches 40% of its original maximum, you become sickened.	A Potion of Cure Disease, an amount of arcane healing >25% of your Maximum Health, or a successful DR 20 Medicine Kit check.