Damage
Whenever an opponent hits you in combat, you are at risk of taking damage. Any damage taken in excess of your Armor Rating applies to your Health. Damage doesn’t reduce your effectiveness in any way unless it reduces your Health to 0 or less, at which point you are defeated.

Damage & Lesser Characters
Outside of player characters, only the most important Narrator characters accumulate injuries. Common soldiers, brigands, and the like don’t usually pick up injuries and are defeated once their Health is reduced to 0.

Reducing Damage
Although you have a small pool of Health, there are many of ways to remove damage, enabling you to avoid defeat. Reducing or removing damage in any of the following ways does not count as an action. Furthermore, you can reduce damage at any time, even if it’s not your turn. These methods are in addition to the Catch Your Breath action.

Injuries
An Injury is a minor, rarely fatal wound. Anytime you take damage, you can accept an injury to reduce the damage taken by an amount equal to your Endurance rank. Each injury you accept imposes a –1 penalty to the results of all of your tests. You cannot accept more injuries than your Endurance rank.

Wounds
Some attacks are so brutal and so deadly that the only way you can overcome them is by accepting a wound. A wound removes all damage taken from a single hit in exchange for taking –1D on all tests. If the number of wounds taken equals your Endurance rank, you die.

Recovery
The wounds you sustain in combat heal—eventually. The rate at which you recover depends on the type of injury you sustain. Damage to Health vanishes rapidly. Injuries take longer, sometimes as long as a week or more. Wounds can plague you for months, such are the perils of battle.

Damage
Damage is a minor injury, little more than a few cuts and scrapes. At the end of the combat, you remove all damage to your Health.

Injuries
Injuries are more significant than damage and, thus, take longer to heal. One day after gaining an injury, you may roll an Endurance test. The Difficulty depends on your activity level.

Wounds
Wounds are the nastiest injuries, the ones that take the longest to heal and can cause the most lasting harm. One week after gaining a wound, you may roll an Endurance test. The Difficulty depends on your activity level.