What does not kill you makes you stranger | Horizontal Injury Progression

Artwork is by Dan Scott from the MTG card "Grotesque Mutation"

Our hero rises from the crater, their open ribcage knitting together into a scorched breastplate, flames seething from gritted teeth. Their nemesis, the prismatic wizard of Tzan now had the misfortune of learning that:

What does not kill you...

Only makes you stranger

There comes a time when the nature of a PCs injuries are so extraordinary, their survival against all odds deserves commemoration. Use the below tables to get a gist for how their body has been twisted under the cruelty of both sword and sorcery.

Procedure

If a PC survives a battle, ravaged by magic and suffering permanent harm, consult the Injury table below. Find the appropriate injury they suffered, then roll an [Adjective] (if applicable) and finally map the [Element] to the closest suitable magic aspect they were victim of.

Injury

Pick the closest approximate injury the PC has suffered.

  1. Mutilation -> Grow a new limb of of [Adjective] [Element]
  2. Impalement/Gash ->  The wound now leaks [Adjective] [Element]
  3. Flayed/Exposed interior -> The exposed area is protected by a layer of [Adjective] [Element]
  4. Disembowelment 
    1. Liver -> Spit bile of [Adjective] [Element]
    2. Spleen -> Blood of [Adjective] [Element]
    3. Stomach -> Eats with teeth of [Adjective] [Element]
    4. Lung -> Exhales [Adjective] [Element]
  5. Crushed -> Body part is kept together by [Adjective] [Element].
  6. Sensory Damage 
    1. Eyes -> See through eyes of [Adjective] [Element]
    2. Nose -> Smell through nostrils teeming with [Adjective] [Element]
    3. Tongue -> Talk to [Element] with your tongue of [Adjective] [Element]

Adjective

  1. Shrieking
  2. Expanding
  3. Invisible
  4. Giant
  5. Smoking
  6. Intelligent
  7. Ethereal
  8. Erratic
  9. Floating
  10. Glowing
  11. Heavy
  12. Volatile

Element

Choose the closest type of magic to the one the PC was subjected to, then choose or roll a D4 for the aspect of that magic.
  1. Fire: Flames, Ashes, Smoke, Calcified Flesh.
  2. Lightning: Electricity, Suspended Thunderbolt, Thundercloud, Spasming Flesh.
  3. Water: Ice, crustaceans, Water, Steam.
  4. Earth: Rock, Metal, Plants, Subterranean life.
  5. Unholy: Darkness, Brass, Brimstone, Blood.
  6. Holy: Light, Holy Water, Solidified Rainbows, Silver.
  7. Psychic: Grey matter, Brainstems, Force fields, Psychedelic mushrooms.
  8. Eldritch: Tentacles, Slime, Maws, Dark Matter.
  9. Illusion: Illusionary substance, Solidified colors, Solidified Emotion, Iridescent Crystals.
  10. Radiation: Ever-shifting mass, Random body parts, Radioactive stone, Tumors.
  11. Alteration: Gold, Wool, Scales, Chitin
  12. Necromancy: Undying flesh, Souls, Bone, Teeth.
  13. Nature: Bark, Leaves, Thorns, Vines.
  14. Catch all: Magic runes, Sparkling energy, Solidified Magic, Liquid Magic.



Notes:
Inspired heavily by Die Trying's horizontal progression. This is my first mini-implementation of a system I've been mulling over for a while, the idea is that future implementations are able to handle non-magical injuries and allow the players to change through narrative consequences and rewards rather than a Level Progression Table. It's a long way there, but if you got any idea for how to get there, please let me know!

Biggest current challenge is mapping everything to appealing system-specific mechanics rather than off-loading everything to the DM.

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