KLOANE WAR KNIGHTS - C.3 P.3

Damage & Death

Beamrazors and blasters, the ubiquitous weaponry of the setting, lead to especially grisly and traumatic (if not fatal) wounds. The critical hit table that follows should be used in place of the one found in the X-Plorers rulebook (adjust for PHY as normal):

ROLL 1D8*	RESULT
1 or less	Instant Death!
2	Mortal Wound
3 to 4	Grievous Wound
5	Incapacitated
6 to 7	Beaten
8 or more	Adrenaline Surge!

*Add PHY adjustment; if damage sustained is from unarmed attacks, treat all results of 5 or less as Incapacitated.

Instant Death! Just what the result says.

Mortal Wound: Character will die in D6 rounds (adjusted for PHY) unless intervention is provided in the form of a psychic talent (for example, resist death or vitality transfer).

Grievous Wound: As Incapacitated, but the character has been permanently maimed and/or scarred and will probably require cybernetic reconstruction to fully recover.

Incapacitated: The character is incapacitated with pain and will fall unconscious (for D6x10 minutes) unless she succeeds at a PHY saving throw. A conscious character can take one action (psychic or otherwise) per round, but all dice rolls are made at a -2 penalty and the only movement possible is very slow crawling.

Beaten: The character knows her luck has run out, but suffers no other ill effects. If wounded again, subsequent critical hit rolls are made at a cumulative -1 penalty.

Adrenaline Surge: As per the X-Plorers rulebook.

Star Knights are taught to revere life and act in its preservation whenever possible, though sometimes the greater preservation of life means ending the life of another (especially when it comes to Shadow Lords and other corrupt psychics). When using a beamrazor, a Star Knight may choose to Grievously Wound an opponent instead of killing it at 0 hit points, usually slicing away an opponent’s weapon hand or arm. If the target is a Shadow Lord roll 1D4 to see how many limbs are severed as dictated by “the will of the Star Force” (on a roll of “4” the Star Knight cannot help but cut the villain in twain, causing Instant Death).

Cybernetic Reconstruction

Cybernetic replacement in KWN is not a matter of improvement, but rather one of expedience: with the ubiquity of cyborgs (see Chapter 2), why take the time to grow a cloned organ for transplant when a borg limb is more cheaply installed (and without the threat of host rejection)? Due to the number and diversity of sentient species, the study of cybernetic installation is much easier to master than the medicine and biology of a million life forms spread across the galaxy; skilled surgeons in the KWN setting are more akin to a mechanic than a family practitioner.

Characters that sustain a Grievous Wound may require reconstruction as part of their healing process; roll on the following table:

ROLL 1D8	RECOVERY RESULT
1 to 4	Cybernetic reconstruction needed
5	No cybernetics, but -1 to INT*
6	No cybernetics, but -1 to AGI*
7	No cybernetics, but -1 to PHY*
8	Full miraculous recovery!

*Attribute permanently reduced.

A character requiring cybernetic reconstruction has to put in time in a capable medical facility, either shipboard or planet-side; until she does she cannot recover more than one-half her lost hit points.

Receiving cybernetic replacement diminishes a person’s sense of self, as they become less organic, more machine. For every incident of reconstruction, the character’s PRE score is permanently reduced by one point, reflecting the blow to the psyche. Because of the attribute’s importance, this can be a tremendous loss to a Star Knight or psychic character.

A character can elect to forgo cybernetic reconstruction even when indicated (she still requires a medical facility to fully recover). Doing so means permanently lowering the character’s max HPs by one point per level of experience. In addition, a character will suffer other challenges depending on the nature of the injury (damaged vision, loss of locomotion, missing hand/arm, inability to speak due to a missing jaw, etc.). Such effects will need to be adjudicated by the Referee.

An individual purposefully maimed by beamrazor (see Damage & Death above) always requires cybernetic reconstruction to replace the lost limb(s).

Vehicle Combat

Vehicle combat with atmospheric craft isn’t much different from normal combat: standard vehicles have hit points (not hull points) and AC just like PCs, and if brought to 0 hit points the vehicle ceases to function. All cycles have 10 hit points and AC 12, while cars have 20 hit points and AC 14. The pilot of a vehicle adds any AGI adjustment to AC (to reflect their maneuvering) and psychics may add their psychic defense bonus (PRE) as well. At high speeds, opponents have an additional penalty of -2 to hit a moving vehicle (individuals firing from such a moving vehicle receive the same penalty).

Explorer vehicles are a little less maneuverable and don’t receive AC bonuses from their pilot, but they are fairly sturdy with an AC 16 and 40 hit points.

[to be continued]

[Kloane War Knights is copyright 2013 by Jonathan Becker and Running Beagle Games. The X-Plorers rpg is copyright 2009, Dave Bezio & Grey Area Games. The X-Plorers trademark is used under the X-Plorers Trademark License]