Fudge: Hit Point Track

Some Fudge gamers prefer a bit of crunchiness to their Fudge, and some don't. For those who don't, the "vanilla" Fudge wound tracking is a perfect solution. For those who do, the "vanilla" track leaves a bit to be desired. With that in mind, those who prefer a bit more crunchiness in their game can use the hit point track instead of the wound track.

As with "vanilla" Fudge, the hit point track assumes some sort of damage capacity attribute. This could actually be Damage Capacity, or it could be something else, such as Health, Constitution, Endurance, or another attribute. Further, using the hit point track, the "vanilla" Fudge wound track is replaced with a "standard" level track as shown below.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	Fair	Good	Great	Superb

On the character sheet, the level of the character's damage capacity attribute is circled - this indicates the maximum damage that the character can take. Further, a number of check-boxes (or hash-marks, or circles, or whatever) is filled in below each level on the hit point track, according to the table below.

Level	Checks
Superb	4
Great	4
Good	3
Fair	3
Mediocre	2
Poor	2
Terrible	1

Following that table, a character with a fair damage capacity attribute would have three checks per level. The complete hit point track would appear as below.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes damage, a number of checks are marked on the hit point track, starting from Terrible and moving up through the circled level on the hit point track of the character's damage capacity attribute. This indicates how much damage the character has taken. During game play, as with any other Fudge attribute, skill, or even the "vanilla" wound track, it can be referred to with words - "Wow, my character has taken a Poor amount of damage".

An example of this follows - should a character take two points of damage, the first two points of the hit point track would be checked off, as shown below. This character has taken a Terrible amount of damage.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes enough damage to move their total damage taken into the next level, that character is stunned and is at -1 to all actions for an amount of rounds equal to the new level of damage taken.

For example, if the character with the hit point track above took two more points of damage, his hit point track would appear as below. That character has taken a Poor amount of damage and is at -1 for two rounds - one for the Terrible, and one for the Poor.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

When a character takes enough damage to completely skip a level, the character is incapacitated. An incapacitated character is effectively unconscious.

As an example, if the character with the hit point track above took 6 more points of damage, his hit point track would appear as below. The character would have then taken a Fair amount of damage, and would be incapacitated. Further, the character would be extremely close to death.

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X X X	X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

Finally, when a character takes enough damage to place his hit point track at the same level as his damage capacity attribute, that character is at -2 to all actions. When a character takes enough damage to place his hit point track at the level prior to his damage capacity attribute, the character is at -1 to all actions. These penalties are cumulative with other penalties for wounds.

So, a character with a hit point track as below, having just taken two points of damage - giving him a Mediocre amount of damage - would be at a net -2 for three rounds (-1 for being one level below his damage capacity on the hit point track and an additional -1 for reaching Mediocre damage) and -1 thereafter. (for being one level below his damage capacity on the hit point track)

Terrible	Poor	Mediocre	(Fair)	Good	Great	Superb
X X X	X X X	X O O	O O O	O O O	O O O	O O O

Under normal circumstances, one level of hits on the hit point track is healed naturally every game week. 

Designation of Open Game Content: the text of this post is designated Open Game Content as outlined in section 1(d) of the Open Game License.