Resolve

This broad skill represents a character’’s inner strength of will. It is the capacity to endure physical hardship, resist mental strain, and stand firm in one’’s convictions regardless of pressure or temptation. Training in Resolve allows a character to stabilize their mind during high-stress situations and recover more efficiently from the initial shock of bodily trauma. It is used to defend against mental stress or attacks, to stand up to physical damage, and to stick to his own mind and convictions.

Mental resolve

This specialty skill is used to determine a character’s ability to cope with emotional or mental stress of all kinds. The higher the rank, the more resistant the character is to emotional trauma, fear, panic, madness, insanity, mind control techniques, and mental powers. When a character is confronted with debilitating effects, they can make a Mental Resolve check to set the trauma aside and act without hindrance.

Results

• Critical Failure: Character collapses in mental anguish; cannot act or flees for d4 rounds.
• Failure: Character freezes and loses 1 action; receives a +1 penalty to all actions for 1 round.
• Ordinary / Good / Amazing: Character can act without penalty. (Still may have to deal with trauma later).

Rank Benefits

⊗ Rank 4, 8, 12 [Resistance Modifier] At higher ranks, the Mental Resolve skill provides an improvement to a character’s Will resistance modifier, which makes it more difficult for opponents to successfully use encounter skills or mental powers against the character. The modifier improves by +1 at Rank 4, +1 at Rank 8, and +1 at Rank 12.

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Physical resolve

Physical Resolve is used to determine a character’’s ability to cope with physical trauma of all kinds. It represents a character’’s determination to resist physical torture, to press on though tired or in great pain, and to bounce back from physical damage.

Withstanding Torture

When a character is confronted with physical torture, he can make a Physical Resolve check to determine his reaction. The greater the level of torture, the higher the situation die penalty.

• Critical Failure: The character breaks immediately and reveals everything.
• Failure: The character breaks and reveals at least one important fact.
• Ordinary: The character withstands the torture for d4 time units (then makes another check).
• Good: The character withstands for d6+2 time units.
• Amazing: The character withstands for 2d4+3 time units.

Knockout Recovery

A character who falls unconscious due to knockout remains in that state for all of the round in which it occurred and all of the next round. After that, he makes a Physical Resolve check to regain consciousness once per round. Success indicates he awakens with an amount of stun damage recovered depending on success (Ordinary: 2, Good: 4, Amazing: 6).

Avoiding Exhaustion

When all of a character’s fatigue points are used up, he can attempt a Physical Resolve check to stay conscious. If the check succeeds, he can perform actions for a number of rounds (Ordinary: 1, Good: 2, Amazing: 3).

Fatigue Recovery

The result of a Physical Resolve check determines how many fatigue points a character recovers after a sufficient amount of rest.

• Ordinary: 1 point.
• Good: 2 points.
• Amazing: 3 points.

Natural Healing

A character who has suffered damage may have to heal naturally due to a lack of medical assistance or because medical science has done all it can for the patient.

Stun Damage

Natural healing of stun damage occurs automatically and immediately at the end of a scene. All stun damage disappears, and characters who were knocked out because of stun damage regain consciousness.

Wound Damage

A character naturally recovers a certain number of wound boxes according to the result of a Resolve—physical resolve check. A check is made once per week (at the end of the week), with the following results:

• Critical Failure: Patient somehow aggravates his condition and suffers 1 additional wound.
• Marginal: Character recovers 1 wound box.
• Ordinary: Character recovers 2 wound boxes.
• Good: Character recovers 3 wound boxes.
• Amazing: Character recovers 4 wound boxes.

Note: A character without the Resolve broad skill makes an untrained Will check with a +d4 situation die.

Mortal Damage: Mortal damage cannot be healed naturally; only the application of the Medical Science—surgery skill can repair mortal damage.

Activity Modifiers

During natural healing, all checks are considered to be made while the character engages in minimal activity.

• Total Rest: If the character confines himself to a hospital bed or remains in a state of total rest for the period, the check receives a -2 step bonus.
• Normal Activity: If the character engages in normal activity, the check receives a +2 step penalty.

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