Here are the healing rules from Greg Stafford's brilliant Prince Valiant RPG (pp 25-26):
When I first read these rules, I wasn't sure about them. Most RPGs I'm familiar with have stricter rules for determining severity of injuries, recovery time and the like.
But in play these rules actually turn out to work very well. Injury and recovery just become more tools the GM can deploy in the management of consequences and pacing.
All physical damage is taken to Brawn, in increments of one or more coins lost. . . . If your Brawn is reduced, you throw that many fewer coins for Brawn until recovered. The loss represents damage: fatigue, cuts or bruises, a bad headache, etc. . . .
If Brawn is reduced to zero the results are more serious. The character is temporarily helpless and incapable of further successful action. He is out of the story, for a long time or a short time depending on the circumstances, and may have suffered a serious injury.
Usually being brought to zero means the character is simply stunned or exhausted, not seriously wounded, but the Storyteller decides this. Serious injuries should only occur when a deadly weapon has been used, or the character has taken severe damage (impaled by a lance, bitten by a scorpion).
The Storyteller is also in charge of determining the long-term consequences, if any, of injuries. Use common sense, and refrain from maiming characters. . . .
If a character has not been brought to zero, he has suffered only trivial injuries, even if stabbed or poisoned. He will recover all points of Brawn lost after a brief period of time determined by the Storyteller, usually a few hours. Any success with the Healing skill permits full recovery after a few minutes rest.
Characters brought to zero have taken more significant damage. The Storyteller determines the extent of the damage. They may be able to recover on their own, or they may need the Healing skill for any improvement to take place.
A use of the Healing skill in cases where a character has been brought to zero returns one Brawn point for each head thrown. . . .
If Healing is not available, resting can bring recovery from zero Brawn. Recommended recovery times from zero Brawn are: one week of game time, if the Storyteller feels the injuries are serious, or one hour; if the injuries are from bruising or other less permanently damaging effects, such as minor smoke inhalation.
The Storyteller may need to determine partial, progressive recovery from zero without Healing. Follow the usual rule of awarding half the character’s coins for partial recovery. Thus for serious injuries, restore half of the character’s initial Brawn after three and a half days. Restore half the character’s Brawn after thirty minutes for trivial injuries (rounding .5 Brawn up).
The Storyteller may reduce these times to keep the story going, or increase them for the sake of realism. For example, if the character refuses to rest, greatly increase the time needed for recovery. . . .
If the Storyteller feels it necessary, he may state that a character at zero Brawn is severely injured, not just exhausted or stunned. The character may even be dying. This is where the Healing skill becomes critical.
A character who is badly injured may be in danger of heart failure, suffocation, or bleeding to death, and is obviously at risk in terms of shock or infection. Normally any success with Healing will stop bleeding or infection, but the Storyteller must assign a Difficulty factor if the character has been lying on the field of combat for hours or days, or is in a hazardous environment, such as a filthy dungeon.
Seriously injured characters who gain no Healing may still recover. A Brawn throw with a Difficulty factor of at least 3 can be made to see whether the character dies or survives by nature of a hardy constitution. Bad conditions for recovery such as being left in the hot sun for days, ought to make the Difficulty Factor even worse. As in real life, only the strong will survive such an ordeal.
Death may be inevitable under certain rare occasions. For example, a fall from the highest tower of Camelot is fatal to any character. . . . The Storyteller always decides whether or not death occurs in a given situation (and it should only occur when absolutely necessary). If the Storyteller wishes to kill your Adventurer, he has the power to do so, but this sort of behavior violates the cooperative spirit of the game. Normally death is not an important part of Prince Valiant.
Being brought to zero Brawn in personal combat or battle never means death, but if a ruthless enemy is around and actively takes the trouble to finish the helpless character off, death logically results. Storytellers are advised to give enemy characters more important tasks than going about finishing off helpless Adventurers.
If Brawn is reduced to zero the results are more serious. The character is temporarily helpless and incapable of further successful action. He is out of the story, for a long time or a short time depending on the circumstances, and may have suffered a serious injury.
Usually being brought to zero means the character is simply stunned or exhausted, not seriously wounded, but the Storyteller decides this. Serious injuries should only occur when a deadly weapon has been used, or the character has taken severe damage (impaled by a lance, bitten by a scorpion).
The Storyteller is also in charge of determining the long-term consequences, if any, of injuries. Use common sense, and refrain from maiming characters. . . .
If a character has not been brought to zero, he has suffered only trivial injuries, even if stabbed or poisoned. He will recover all points of Brawn lost after a brief period of time determined by the Storyteller, usually a few hours. Any success with the Healing skill permits full recovery after a few minutes rest.
Characters brought to zero have taken more significant damage. The Storyteller determines the extent of the damage. They may be able to recover on their own, or they may need the Healing skill for any improvement to take place.
A use of the Healing skill in cases where a character has been brought to zero returns one Brawn point for each head thrown. . . .
If Healing is not available, resting can bring recovery from zero Brawn. Recommended recovery times from zero Brawn are: one week of game time, if the Storyteller feels the injuries are serious, or one hour; if the injuries are from bruising or other less permanently damaging effects, such as minor smoke inhalation.
The Storyteller may need to determine partial, progressive recovery from zero without Healing. Follow the usual rule of awarding half the character’s coins for partial recovery. Thus for serious injuries, restore half of the character’s initial Brawn after three and a half days. Restore half the character’s Brawn after thirty minutes for trivial injuries (rounding .5 Brawn up).
The Storyteller may reduce these times to keep the story going, or increase them for the sake of realism. For example, if the character refuses to rest, greatly increase the time needed for recovery. . . .
If the Storyteller feels it necessary, he may state that a character at zero Brawn is severely injured, not just exhausted or stunned. The character may even be dying. This is where the Healing skill becomes critical.
A character who is badly injured may be in danger of heart failure, suffocation, or bleeding to death, and is obviously at risk in terms of shock or infection. Normally any success with Healing will stop bleeding or infection, but the Storyteller must assign a Difficulty factor if the character has been lying on the field of combat for hours or days, or is in a hazardous environment, such as a filthy dungeon.
Seriously injured characters who gain no Healing may still recover. A Brawn throw with a Difficulty factor of at least 3 can be made to see whether the character dies or survives by nature of a hardy constitution. Bad conditions for recovery such as being left in the hot sun for days, ought to make the Difficulty Factor even worse. As in real life, only the strong will survive such an ordeal.
Death may be inevitable under certain rare occasions. For example, a fall from the highest tower of Camelot is fatal to any character. . . . The Storyteller always decides whether or not death occurs in a given situation (and it should only occur when absolutely necessary). If the Storyteller wishes to kill your Adventurer, he has the power to do so, but this sort of behavior violates the cooperative spirit of the game. Normally death is not an important part of Prince Valiant.
Being brought to zero Brawn in personal combat or battle never means death, but if a ruthless enemy is around and actively takes the trouble to finish the helpless character off, death logically results. Storytellers are advised to give enemy characters more important tasks than going about finishing off helpless Adventurers.
When I first read these rules, I wasn't sure about them. Most RPGs I'm familiar with have stricter rules for determining severity of injuries, recovery time and the like.
But in play these rules actually turn out to work very well. Injury and recovery just become more tools the GM can deploy in the management of consequences and pacing.
