Life & Death
Hyperlite is about taking big risks for big rewards. The biggest risk in the game is the death of your character. Death can come from two places: injury & age (which is a form of injury itself).
Injury
When receiving an injury, the damage is expressed in number of dice. Damage dice are applied to the STR, AGI & END of the victim, temporarily reducing the score. If one ability reaches 0 the character becomes wounded. If two reach 0, they fall unconscious and cannot be revived during the scene without medical attention. If all three reach 0, the character is dying and will die on the following round without medical attention.
Applying Damage
The first damage that a character receives in a fight is first strike damage. On first strike, all damage dice must be applied to 1 ability until exhausted, then to the next in sequence (STR, AGI, END, and back to STR), until all dice are applied. The player may choose which ability starts the sequence. This represents the initial shock of injury.
On subsequent injuries, they may apply the damage as they wish, but must use whole dice values. If an ability is reduced to 0 before all the pips on the die have been applied, remaining pips must be applied to the next ability in the sequence.
Injured
An injured character has lost STR, AGI or END points to damage during the scene, but none of those abilities has been reduced to 0.
Wounded
A wounded character gets only one move per round (see Moves). Wounding also applies a flat -2 to all abilities for purposes of tests of self and tests of competition.
Unconscious
The character is out cold. Revival requires medical attention.
Near-death
A near-death character had STR, AGI and END all reduced to 0, but was saved from dying by medical attention.
Medical Attention
This can be attempted only by a character/NPC with at least Medic-1 or applying an appropriate techno-gadget.
Medical Attention is a move, and a test of self -- though some techno-gadgets elide the check, some the move, and some both.
Success restores one of an unconscious character's 0 ability scores to 1, returning them to consciousness. It restores one of a dying character's 0 ability scores to 1, preventing their imminent death.
Further medical attention after preventing death or restoring consciousness provides no benefit in the scene. Near-death characters cannot be restored to consciousness, and wounded characters cannot be restored to healthy during the scene.
Recovery
When the scene is over, each character immediately recovers some of their ability score losses.
Injured characters who aren't wounded immediately roll 1D and restore those points to injured abilities.
Wounded characters may set any abilities at 0 to 1, and restore 1D points to injured abilities, as injured, above.
Unconscious characters require further medical attention before they can be restored to consciousness. They receive no immediate recovery (beyond the restoration to 1) and cannot begin to heal until they are treated.
Natural Healing
Injuries heal naturally for injured and wounded characters at 1D points per week of normal, adventuring activity.
If a character chooses rest & recuperation, they recover 2D points per week. You must eat, avoid stress, maintain a low activity level and in general, convalesce.
Active injured and wounded characters recover 1D points per week.
Medical Care
Under the care of a medic, a character will recover an additional 1D per skill level of the medic caring for them, per week.
Hospitals and medical facilities can restore up to 6D of injury per week, but the character must remain in the hospital.
Aging
Characters make aging tests every four years, starting at age 34. Roll 2D for each ability listed at your age threshold. If the roll doesn't beat the target, apply the point loss to the ability. It's permanent. Aging can be harsh.
| Aging Tests (beat on 2D, every 4 years) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Age | STR | AGI | END | INT |
| 4 | 34 | 7 / −1 | 6 / −1 | 7 / −1 | — |
| 5 | 38 | 7 / −1 | 6 / −1 | 7 / −1 | — |
| 6 | 42 | 7 / −1 | 6 / −1 | 7 / −1 | — |
| 7 | 46 | 7 / −1 | 6 / −1 | 7 / −1 | — |
| 8 | 50 | 8 / −1 | 7 / −1 | 8 / −1 | — |
| 9 | 54 | 8 / −1 | 7 / −1 | 8 / −1 | — |
| 10 | 58 | 8 / −1 | 7 / −1 | 8 / −1 | — |
| 11 | 62 | 8 / −1 | 7 / −1 | 8 / −1 | — |
| 12+ | 66, 70, 74… | 8 / −2 | 8 / −2 | 8 / −2 | 6 / −1 |
Anagathics
Anti-aging drugs can be had for a price. These come in a range of delivery methods and side effects, but the end-result is the same: you can ignore aging tests as long as you keep taking them. If you ever stop, or even miss a dose, you must begin to make any and all aging tests you avoided at a rate of one per week until you can get treatments started again.
Death
A character whose STR, AGI and END are permanently reduced to 0 has died. Mourn their passing -- or ridicule it. It's your character, so make it memorable. Drop a dying gift on the group (one of your contacts, your faithful robot servant, etc.) and let the crew argue over who gets your stuff. Reminisce about a cool thing they did that one time.
Then, make a new character and introduce them to the crew. They will appear to be a trustworthy fellow.