A physical Injury marked as bleeding is losing blood in a life-threatening way. Left unchecked, a bleeder will likely kill the character within 10–15 minutes unless the bleeding is staunched.
Blood Loss Advance Test
Every 5 minutes after acquiring a bleeder, the injured character makes a Blood Loss Advance Test for each bleeding injury. The test is made against the character’s Strength Mastery Level:
| Success Level | Blood Loss Points |
|---|---|
| CF (−1) | +3 |
| MF (0) | +2 |
| MS (1) | +1 |
| CS (2) | 0 (no blood loss) |
Shock State
Blood loss worsens the victim’s Shock: each Blood Loss Point (BLP) accrued advances the shock state one step, from No Shock up toward Dead.
| Steps | Shock State |
|---|---|
| 0 | No Shock |
| 1 | Stunned |
| 2 | Incapacitated |
| 3 | Unconscious |
| 4+ | Dead |
So a character who is Incapacitated and accrues 1 BLP becomes Unconscious; accruing 2 BLP instead would kill them. (This is the ordinal counterpart of the Shock State Index that injuries drive.)
Anemia
Each Blood Loss Advance Test also inflicts 5 points of weakness fatigue per Blood Loss Point accrued, representing the anemia of ongoing blood loss. This fatigue is applied every time the test is made.
Stoppage comes first
The chance to staunch comes first. Before each Blood Loss Advance Test, a physician at the bleeding character’s side may attempt a Blood Stoppage Test. If none is attempted by the end of the round, the Blood Loss Advance Test proceeds as though a Blood Stoppage Test had been a Critical Failure — the bleeding continues.
Blood Stoppage Test
A character with the Physician skill may attempt to staunch a bleeding injury once every 5 minutes with a Blood Stoppage Test — a Physician Success Tests naming the specific injury to treat:
| Success Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| CF (−1) | Bleeding continues. |
| MF (0) | Bleeding continues; +10 to the next Blood Stoppage Test on this injury. |
| MS (1) | Bleeding stops after the next Blood Loss Advance Test. |
| CS (2) | Bleeding stops immediately. |
A Blood Stoppage Test names the one injury it treats, and its result applies to that injury alone. A character bleeding from more than one wound must have each bleeder staunched separately.
See also
- Healing Test — periodic recovery of injuries and restoration of lost blood once the bleeding has stopped.
- Success levels — the CF / MF / MS / CS scale used throughout.