Basic Genesys Mechanics
- Genesys Dice & Symbols
- Building the Dice Pool
- Character Stats
- Basic Character Creation
- Character Example
- Combat/Healing
The Genesys dice system is simple but unique in that it uses custom dice and custom symbols in order to convey what's happening during a check. The base system is very easy: whenever you need to roll a check you build up your dice pool and roll everything at once, then count out the results. You only ever need one 'success' in order to succeed at your check, but the dice may have rolled extra symbols that affect the nature of your result. Each dice also has at least one blank face as well, so if you roll no successes then the check counts as a failure.
First, let's learn the dice themselves. There are two sets of dice and symbols, one set for good effects and one for bad effects.
These are the symbols:
Let's break them down individually:
Success: The check succeeds. Multiple successes make the result that much more beneficial to the character.
Failure: The check fails. Multiple failures make the result that much worse for the character.
Advantage: Something slightly good happens as a result of the roll, regardless of success or failure. Multiple Advantages stack for greater effects.
Threat: Something slightly bad happens as a result of the roll, regardless of success or failure. Multiple Threats stack for greater effects.
Triumph: Essentially a 'Super Advantage'. Something truly amazing or spectacular happens as a result of the roll, regardless of success or failure. Also counts as one additional 'Success' result.
Despair: Essentially a 'Super Threat'. Something truly horrible or dangerous happens as a result of the roll, regardless of success or failure. Also counts as one additional 'Failure' result.
And these are the dice:
As you might have guessed from the names; Blue, Green and Yellow are good dice, and Black, Purple and Red are bad dice.
I'll post the number-result charts below for reference, so for now let's learn how these symbols work in practice.
The opposing top/bottom symbols on the symbol chart cancel each other out during a roll. I.E. One Failure cancels a Success, and one Threat cancels an Advantage. Triumph and Despair are the only exceptions to this, as their effects are particularly potent and cannot be mitigated through simple dice effects.
So, for example, say you rolled the dice and you got 2 Success, 1 Failure, and 2 Threat. The one Failure cancels out one Success, leaving you a net 1 Success from the roll. This means that you've succeed at the check, well done! But there are still 2 Threat to resolve, which means that although you've succeeded at your task, something bad still happens that you will have to deal with. An example of this would be if you were trying to pick open a lock and succeeded, but your lockpick broke in the process.
Another example is if you rolled 1 Failure, 2 Advantage, and 1 Triumph. The Failure technically cancels out the bonus 'Success' effect of the Triumph, so that leaves you with a net zero Successes for the check. However, you still have 2 Advantage and the almighty Triumph effect to spend. So while you may not have succeeded at what you were attempting to do, something else truly miraculous may have happened because of the Triumph that allows you to advance anyway through different means than you originally intended.
And that's the basics! The next tab will talk about how you build the dice pool using your character stats and through roleplay.
Building the dice pool for a check is also relatively straightforward and is largely determined by your character's stats. Much like games such as Dungeons and Dragons, your character will have base stats and derived skill stats to work with. Each check will usually choose one base stat and one related skill stat in order to determine your dice pool. When looking at these chosen stats, the higher number determines how many Ability dice you add to the pool, and the lower number determines how many of those dice you upgrade into Proficiency dice.
For example, say your character is trying to lift something heavy in order to save a friend from being crushed. The base stat would be Strength, and the skill stat would be Athletics. This example character is naturally strong, so we'll say they have Strength 3 and Athletics 2. This means that their dice pool is going to start off with 3 Ability dice, and 2 of those are going to be upgraded into Proficiency dice, giving you a total of 1 Ability and 2 Proficiency dice to throw. Another example would be a character trying to pick a lock. The base stat would be Cunning and the skill stat would be Skullduggery. We'll say this character is less of a natural thief but has several years experience, so their stats are Cunning 2 and Skullduggery 3. Even though the numbers are flipped, the dice pool would still be the same as the previous example.
After you've determined what the players stats add to the dice pool, it's time to add the 'difficulty' dice to the pool. Each check has a certain level of difficulty determined by the GM. For each level of difficulty, the GM adds one Difficulty dice to the dice pool. The base difficulties range from 1 to 5, with 1 and 2 being the most common types of difficulties being presented.
Going back to our lifting example, let's say the thing currently pinning the hapless friend is a large, empty bookshelf. Sure it's big, but it's not overly heavy. So for an average person this would be a 1 or 2 difficulty challenge at most, so the GM decides to add 1 Difficulty die to the dice pool to represent that. However, let's say that instead a jack-stand broke and the friend's leg is now trapped under a pickup truck. Well now that difficulty can easily be ranked at a 3 or higher since it's an entire truck and not a simple bookshelf anymore.
It's important to note that the Difficulty dice in a dice pool can be upgraded into Challenge dice at the GM's discretion. This is often a rare occurrence though, and will most likely be the result of the GM spending a Story Point in order to do so.
The final dice that can be added to the pool are Boost and Setback dice. These are added to the pool to account for small events that are separate from the task at hand. They can be added either through circumstance or through player preparation. As an example, the character is trying to climb a cliff face. But it also happens to be raining, so the GM would add 1 Setback dice to the pool to account for the slippery rocks. However, the character happens to be wearing spiked shoes and climbing gloves which give them a much better grip, so that would add 1 Boost dice to the pool as well. Neither the Boost or the Setback dice would cancel each other out, so the player would have to roll both into the dice pool and hope for the best. Usually no more than one or two of either of these D6's will be added to a check.
And that's it! The next tab will go over the basic statistics so that you're informed enough to begin character creation.
In Genesys there are two basic statistics that govern most every dice roll: Characteristics and Skills. Characteristics are the six base stats that are derived from your character's innate, natural ability. Whereas Skills are the skills and tricks that your character has learned through study and practice. Skills are derived from Characteristics, and are each linked to a specific Characteristic for the purposes of skill checks.
Typically Characteristics will range from 1 to 5 during the game. A stat of 2 is what an average person would have for any particular Characteristic. A 1 is considered below average, and a 3 is considered above average. 4 is considered highly advanced, and 5 is practically legendary.
Below are each of the six Characteristic skills and a brief description of what they govern.
Brawn:
A character's Brawn represents a blend of brute power, strength and overall toughness, as well as the ability to apply those attributes as needed. Characters with a high Brawn are physically fit and hardy, rarely get sick, and have strong constitutions. Brawn is used for a number of physical skills, such as Athletics and Melee. Brawn is also used to determine your character's starting wound threshold.
Agility:
The Agility characteristic measures your character's manual dexterity, hand-eye coordination and body control. Characters with high Agility have flexibility, a good sense of balance and deft hands. Agility is used for a number of physical skills, such as Coordination, and it is key in ranged combat.
Intellect:
The Intellect characteristic measures your character's intelligence, education, mental acuity and ability to reason and rationalize. Characters with a high Intellect can extrapolate and interpolate data, can recall details and draw from previous experience, and can think of long-term strategies and envision the ramifications of present actions. Intellect is used for a number of mental skills, including Knowledge, Medicine, Mechanics and Computers (if such skills are present in your setting).
Cunning:
Cunning reflects how crafty, devious, clever and creative your character can be. Characters with a high Cunning are savvy, quickly pick up on vital social and environmental clues, and can more readily come up with short-term plans and tactics. Cunning is used for a number of mental skills, including Deception, Perception and Survival.
Willpower:
The Willpower characteristic reflects your character's discipline, self-control, mental fortitude and faith. Characters with a high Willpower can withstand stress and fatigue, remain composed during chaotic situations, and exert influence over the weaker willed. Willpower is used for skills such as Coercion and Vigilance. Willpower is also used to determine your character's starting strain threshold.
Presence:
A character's Presence characteristic represents their moxie, charisma, confidence and force of personality. Characters with a high Presence make natural leaders, draw attention when they enter a room, can easily strike up a conversation with nearly anyone, and are quick to adapt to social situations. Presence is the key characteristic for interpersonal skills such as Charm and Leadership.
Next up are Skills. Since Genesys is meant to be played with any setting, the Skills have to be determined before play begins. A lot of common skills will work across all settings, such as Charm or Athletics, but some skills are specific to a setting such as Computing or Alchemy. Skill ranks also range from 1-5 just like Characteristics, and they follow the same general pattern. 1-2 is amateur levels, 3-4 is skilled, and 5 is masterful. As explained earlier, a small Characteristic stat can be made up with a large Skill stat, and vice versa. So it's really up to you on if you want to generalize or specialize.
The last major thing that affects your character are Talents. Talents are similar to Feats from DnD, in that they are special abilities that can act passively or be activated in specific moments to give you significant bonuses. They add a lot of flavor to your character, and can sometimes be the edge that turns a bad situation into a last-minute win.
And that's about it! Next tab will go over the basic steps of character creation and give you an idea of what you're looking for.
Character creation is a rather simple process as well, involving only seven steps.
Step 1: Choose your Background
This is just roleplay fluff and has no bearing on your character's stats whatsoever. But it is arguably the most important step, so it comes first.
Decide who your character is and where they came from. Figure out their history and a few of the key events that shaped them into who they are today.
Step 2: Choose your Archetype
This step is where you determine what your character's physical Characteristics are, and the first step where numbers are involved. Settings that have multiple races will label their Archetypes as 'Species', so really the names are interchangeable in that regard. Moving forward though, I'm going to refer to them as Archetypes because it's easier that way.
Your Archetype determines your base Characteristic stats and gives you a few other numbers to play with, including your starting Wound and Strain Thresholds, your starting Experience Points (XP), your staring Skills, and usually one special Talent-like ability that is inherent to your Archetype. Think of your Archetype as your body composition, what you were inherently born with and have the natural capacity to do. Once you've set your Archetype it cannot be changed.
Most settings will provide pre-made Archetypes for you to choose from, but like all good RPGs there is always room for homebrew. If you have an idea and want to run it by the GM then by all means do so, they should be doing everything they can to help facilitate you making the character that you really want to play.
Step 3: Choose a Career
Your Career is basically your class or role within the group. Your Career is equal parts narrative and mechanical, because it determines which Skills are easier for you to upgrade with your XP. Once you've chosen your Career it also cannot be changed, however homebrew Careers are also allowed if the available Careers aren't to your taste.
Step 4: Spend XP
Using the starting XP given by your Archetype you can upgrade or buy three different things: you can increase your Characteristics, increase your Skills, or buy new Talents. XP will be earned throughout the adventure and can be spent the moment it is earned if you like, or can be saved for later.
Step 5: Determine Derived Attributes
After you've solidified all your stats and other numbers it's time to do some simple math to figure out what your derived attributes come out to be. These attributes are your Wound Threshold, Strain Threshold, Defense and Soak Value. We'll go over them in detail in the next tab during char-gen.
Step 6: Determine Motivation
This step is mostly fluff but it does have a small mechanical application as well. Your character's Motivation is determined by four things: Desire, Fear, Strength and Flaw. You will need to define what those four things are for your character in order to help shape them as an individual.
Mechanically speaking, if you play to your character's Motivations then you can earn extra XP or maybe even earn some extra boost dice for a check. Usually this is the result of a difficult choice that might have forced the character to do something uncharacteristic of them. But they prevailed and maintained who they were, and now have an extra boost dice to show for it. Or if you play into your character's fears and are reluctant to do something based on that, the good roleplay may earn you some extra XP as a prize.
Step 7: Choose Gear, Appearance and Personality
This is the final, mostly cosmetic step in setting up your character. Figure out what they look like and what their personality is like. Give them some context and flavor for the setting that they're in. Then use whatever starting currency the GM has allowed to buy any items or gear that you think is appropriate.
And that's it! The next tab will go through a mock character creation, which will also double to show you how XP is typically used once you've earned it.
Let's go through the steps individually.
Step 1: Background
This is a no-brainer for long-time roleplayers. Moving on!
Step 2: Archetype
So as discussed before, your Archetype is where you determine what your character's physical stats are based at. For this tab, we'll use the 'Laborer' archetype since it follows the general structure and shows a bit of diversity on its own.
Laborer
Characteristics - Brawn 3, Agility 2, Intellect 2, Cunning 2, Willpower 1, Presence 2
Wound Threshold - 12 + Brawn
Strain Threshold - 8 + Willpower
Starting Experience - 100
Starting Skills - A laborer starts with one rank in Athletics during character creation for free.
Tough As Nails: Once per session, your character may spend a Story Point as an out-of-turn incidental immediately after suffering a Critical Injury and determining the result. When used, the character counts the result rolled as '01'.
So let's break a few things down. First, remember that these starting Characteristics are not set in stone. You can increase your Characteristics during char-gen using your starting XP in Step 4, but it's important to note that you CANNOT increase your Characteristics after char-gen using XP. You can only increase Characteristics after char-gen by buying the Tier 5 Talent 'Dedication', which is pretty difficult to get but not impossible. So it's often smartest to increase your Characteristics during char-gen, then work on Skills and Talents.
The other thing to be aware of is that your Archetype Ability (specifically 'Tough As Nails' in this case) is not technically a 'Talent', and therefore doesn't take up any of your Talent slots for your character. Keep that in mind when you're looking to buy new Talents moving forward.
Step 3: Career
Choosing your career is an important step and should be considered carefully before moving forward. I'll list the Scoundrel career as an example so you can see what careers can offer.
Scoundrel
The Scoundrel's business is crime in all forms. Whether swindling, burgling or running a complicated con, the Scoundrel has the skills needed to separate marks from their money and valuables. A Scoundrel could be a cat burglar, con artist or quick-draw specialist, or just a smooth-talker who cheats at cards.
Career Skills - Charm, Cool, Coordination, Deception, Ranged, Skullduggery, Stealth, Streetwise
Before spending XP a Scoundrel chooses four of their career skills and gains one rank in each.
You'll notice that the description for Scoundrel is intentionally vague. Most Careers are meant to be general ideas instead of hard classes that a character gets slotted into. This is so the player has more creative liberty on how to portray their character. But because there are numbers involved, choosing your career can either be a mechanical or a narrative decision. And once it's picked you can't change it, so choose carefully.
Step 4: Spend XP
Now we come to the fun part. Here I'll list off each thing that you can spend XP on and give their basic rules and costs.
Characteristics -
Characteristics cost 10x the rank you want to buy. So if you're at Brawn 2 and want to go up to Brawn 3, it'll cost you 30XP to buy that next rank.
As stated before, Characteristics can never go above rank 5. And once char-gen is over, you cannot increase Characteristics through XP without buying the appropriate Talent first.
Skills -
Skills cost 5x the rank you want to buy. However, buying a rank in a non-career skill costs an additional 5XP on top of the base price. So if you're a Scoundrel and want to buy rank 2 in Skullduggery, it'll cost you 10XP to do so. But if you're a Soldier and wanted the same rank, since Skullduggery isn't a career skill for a Soldier, it would cost 15XP.
Skills cannot be upgraded past rank 2 at char-gen, but they can be upgraded afterwards.
Talents-
Talents cost 5x the talent's tier. Talents are ranked in tiers ranging from 1 to 5, and are structured in a 'pyramid' system. How it works is like this: if you want to buy one talent of a higher tier, you need to have at least one more talent in the next lower tier. I.E. In order to buy a Tier 2 you need at least two Tier 1's. As an example, in order to buy a Tier 5 you would need two Tier 4's, three Tier 3's, four Tier 2's and five Tier 1's. There is no limit to how many talents your character can have, but unless a talent states that it is 'ranked' you cannot buy the same talent twice. If you do buy a ranked talent at, say, Tier 1, then it would become available as a Tier 2 talent the next time you went to buy it and would increase in cost accordingly.
And that's all that you can spend XP on. Whatever you don't spend during char-gen is banked for later, and can be spent at certain times as ruled by the GM.
Step 5: Derived Attributes
Now we do the math to figure out what your Derived Attributes are.
Wound/Strain Thresholds - These are your health stats. Wounds relate to physical injuries, and Strain relates more to stress and fatigue. Strain typically comes and goes, but Wounds are almost always serious, and take time to mend. Your Thresholds are determined by your Archetype and whatever your Brawn and Willpower ranks are at.
Defense - Pretty straightforward. Defense determines how hard it is to hit your character in combat, which not only includes armor and gear, but also incorporates the battle map and if you're currently in a defensive position, such as taking cover. Characters have a Melee and Ranged defense stat, but unless stated otherwise your Defense rating is the same for both. All characters start with a Defense of 0 until they buy gear or talents that modify it.
Soak - Soak is how much damage your character can endure before taking real physical harm. You subtract Soak from any incoming Damage your character receives, then what's left is the actual damage taken. Your Soak is equal to your Brawn rating, but can also be increased through gear and certain talents. Any increases to your Brawn rating after char-gen also increase your Soak.
Step 6: Motivation
Your Motivations can be as simple or as detailed as you like, but it helps to keep at least some of them intentionally vague and nebulous to give your character more opportunities to address their Motivations during play. Also, your Motivations don't have to be set in stone. If your character develops as a person through play these Motivations may change to reflect that. It's also fun to note that these Motivations don't have to be made public. If you like you can easily keep these Motivations a secret until such time as they are revealed by your character or through circumstance during play.
Below I'll list off a description of each Motivation and give the examples the game provides for each Motivation to help give you some ideas.
Desire - What your character wants most out of life, what drives them forward and guides most of their decisions.
Ex: Ambition, Belonging, Expertise, Fame, Justice, Knowledge, Love, Safety, Vengeance, Wealth
Fear - What your character fears most out of life, the one thing they want to avoid happening to them.
Ex: Change, Commitment, Death, Expression, Failure, Humiliation, Isolation, A Nemesis, Obscurity, Poverty
Strength - Your character's single best attribute, the personality trait that they or others would consider their best quality.
Ex: Adaptable, Analytical, Courageous, Curious, Idealistic, Independent, Patient, Spiritual, Wise, Witty
Flaw - Your character's single worst attribute, the personality trait that they or others would consider their worst quality.
Ex: Anger, Compulsion, Deception, Greed, Laziness, Ignorance, Intolerance, Pride, Recklessness, Timid
Step 7: Gear, Appearance, Personality
Again this is a no-brainer for long-time roleplayers. The Gear I'll address in the actual character sheet for this setting, but the rest can easily be filled in.
Be memorable, be plain, be whatever you want to be. It's your character!
And that's it! You've now made a character for Genesys. Well done! Next post will go into Combat rules and how to heal from injuries.
So combat in Genesys is a little different that what you might be used to from other systems. But basically, it comes down to five steps.
Step 1: Determine Initiative
A standard to most combat systems is the Initiative system, and Genesys is no different. However there are two skill that determine initiative in a Genesys fight: Cool and Vigilance. Cool is used when the characters are aware and ready for the action that's about to happen, while Vigilance is used when the characters have no time to prepare and must act instinctively. There can be some flux on which skill is used, but when in doubt Vigilance is the standard skill to fall back on. Checks are ranked from highest to lowest based on the number of 'successes' rolled, with 'advantage' being the tie breaker for any ties that might occur.
Step 2: Assign Initiative Slots
Another feature unique to Genesys is the 'initiative slots' system. Rather than simply have the player who got the most 'success' rolls on their initiative check go first, instead the results are ranked on a board as potential slots to be filled. There are PC slots and NPC slots, and when a PC slot is up the players collectively choose which character takes that slot and performs their turn. This gives a bit more agency to the players and allows them to work more as a team. But the door swings both ways, because when an NPC slot comes up the GM can decide which NPC takes that turn. Which means it's just as legal for me to use the biggest, baddest dude the first chance I get. *evil laughter*
Step 3: Participants Take Turns
This is when players start filling in those initiative slots and taking their turns. Typically a turn consists of three things: incidentals, maneuvers and actions. Incidentals are things that take practically no time at all, such making a statement, dropping an item or making a hand gesture. Maneuvers are things that aren't complicated enough to require a check, but still take some time and effort to complete. These include aiming a weapon, opening doors, moving one 'range band' (more on that later) closer or farther away from an opponent, or ducking behind cover. Actions are the things that vital to a character accomplishing their goal and have an inherent risk of failure, thus they require a check. Actions include all of your standard attack options, but they also include things like climbing over difficult terrain, jumping across a wide gap, and performing first aid.
Typically one turn will allow a character to perform one maneuver, one action, and a few incidentals as long as they don't go overboard.
Step 4: Round Ends
Once all the initiative slots have been filled and all actions resolved from all turns, the round ends. The GM then decides if the encounter has been resolved or if it requires additional rounds. If the encounter continues then play repeats at Step 3 until the encounter is declared finished.
Step 5: Encounter Ends
Once the last action has been resolved the GM may end the encounter and continue the story. Any abilities with the 'once per encounter' caveat are available for use, and any abilities that last 'until the end of the encounter' expire.
As explained in the spoiler, during your turn there's a few things you can do. Maneuvers and Actions are the bulk of what you'll be allowed to do during a combat scenario, and there are predetermined things that each can accomplish. I'll list those off later in the references section.
For now let's break down the actual Combat Check so you know what to expect when you want to inflict damage. The Combat Check essentially functions just like any other skill check, but has a few extra steps involved. They are:
Step 1: Declare Attack, Select Targets
Pretty self explanatory, you declare your intent to attack and pick your intended target/s.
Step 2: Assemble the Dice Pool
The character assembles the dice pool based on the combat skill used, its attached characteristic value, and any applicable talents or other abilities. Difficulty die are then added as well. Melee attacks are always Average difficulty, but ranged attacks can vary depending on the distance the attacker is from their intended target. Defense affects the dice pool as well. For each point of Defense a target has, they add one 'setback' die to the attacker's dice pool. This applies for both PCs and NPCs.
Step 3: Pool Results and Deal Damage
After you've rolled the dice pool tally up the results. As with any check you need at least one 'success' to make a successful attack. That initial success counts as 1 damage done to the target. And additional successes add +1 damage to the total. And if the attack affects multiple targets, the additional damage is added to each target.
Step 4: Resolve Advantage and Triumph
After counting up successes, the player then decides how to spend any Advantage or Triumph they earned from the dice pool. However, in combat there are only certain things that these can be spent on. The full list will be provided in the Reference Tables section, but that list can be deviated from if the players and GM determine a solution that they all agree on. The most common uses for Advantage and Triumph is inflicting Critical Injuries or activating an item's quality.
Step 5: Resolve Threat and Despair
Then it's time for the GM to determine how to spend any Threat or Despair that came up after the roll. The same rules apply here as they did in Step 4.
Step 6: Reduce Damage, Apply to Wound Threshold, Apply Critical Injuries
First, the total damage inflicted is reduced by the target's soak value. Any damage leftover is applied to the target's wound threshold.
If a critical injury was inflicted, the player rolls a percentile die (d100) on the Critical Injury table to determine the result. Any additional critical injuries that were inflicted in the same attack add +10 to the critical injury roll.
The last major factor of combat is the Range Band system. There are five ranges to be aware of, and they're left intentionally vague to allow for more freedom of action during combat.
Engaged: This is a special range status that indicates when two or more targets are engaged in melee fighting. This is as close as you can be to a target when fighting with them, and it may affect certain maneuvers or actions that you wish to perform. Engagement also indicates you are close enough to an object in order to interact with it directly, such as a switch. It costs a maneuver to move in or out of engagement.
Short Range: Short range indicates up to several meters between targets. Two people within short range can talk to each other comfortably without raising their voices. Moving around inside short range is simple and only requires one maneuver.
Medium Range: Medium range can be up to several dozen meters away. Two people within medium range need to talk loudly to hear each other. Moving from short to medium range takes littler exertion and generally only requires one maneuver.
Long Range: Long range is father than a few dozen meters. Two people within long range of each other need to yell loudly to hear each other. Moving from medium to long range requires two maneuvers, as it's a greater distance and takes more time to do so.
Extreme Range: Extreme range is the farthest range at which two targets can feasibly interact. Two people at extreme range may not be able to hear each other even if they screamed. Moving from long to extreme range is daunting and time consuming, and thus requires two maneuvers.
Now let's talk about damage a little bit. Your character has two 'health bars', their wound and strain thresholds. The main difference between the two is that wounds are physical injuries, whereas strain is more linked to stress of the physical and mental variety. The rules-as-written state that if either of these thresholds reach 0 then the character is incapacitated and can no longer function autonomously until they are healed by at least 1 point above their depleted threshold. The rules also state that a character who reaches wound threshold 0 is in danger of instantly dying, and this may be the case in certain situations but I've added my own take to the rule to keep things more structured. See below for my AAO version of death rules.
The last way a character can be damaged is through Critical Injuries. During combat you may roll well enough to trigger a Critical Hit on your opponent, or they onto you, and in either case you would roll a d100 on the Critical Injury table to find out what injury what inflicted. Some injuries are small and only have temporary effects, but others can have debilitating, long lasting effects that require time and proper medical care to heal from. If you roll badly enough on the Critical Injury table you may even suffer instant death, though that is only possible by achieving numbers higher than 100 through talents, abilities or by retaining multiple untreated injuries. Because Critical Injuries remain with the character until they're properly healed, even if the effects of the injury have already passed. Each critical injury the character still suffers from adds +10 to any rolls on the Critical Injury chart, so even a bunch of small injuries can lead up to devastating results if left untreated.
Now let's move on to healing. The first and easiest form of healing is from rest. For each full night's rest, the character automatically heals 1 wound regardless of the character's current state of health. Additionally, at the end of each full week of rest the character may attempt a Resilience check to heal one critical injury. The difficulty is equal to the injurie's severity rating. On a successful check, the character recovers from the injury and is no longer affected. On a failed check, the character retains the injury but still heals one wound. A Triumph result means the character can heal one additional critical injury.
Characters may also attempt Medicine checks to help a character heal wounds and critical injuries. Each character may only receive one Medicine check each encounter, as there is only so much good first aid can do. The difficulty of the check is based on the target's current state of health. The check is Easy if the wounds are equal to or less than the character's wound threshold, Average if its more than half, and Hard if they exceed the threshold. On a successful check, the target heals a number of wounds equal to the number of Success generated by the Medicine roll and heals an amount of strain equal to the number of Advantage generated. A character may also attempt to heal a critical injury with a Medicine check with its difficulty equal to the severity rating of the injury. A character may attempt this once per week per critical injury. Lastly, characters may attempt to heal their own wounds or critical injuries with Medicine checks, but doing this themselves increases the difficulty of the Medicine check by two. In addition, attempting a Medicine check without proper medical supplies increases the difficulty of any Medicine check by one.
The last means to heal wounds is through Painkillers, which is the Genesys catch-all term for any kind of consumable auto-healing items within the specific setting. Regardless of the setting, they all work the same way. The first painkiller used on a character automatically heals 5 wounds. The second painkiller administered in the same encounter only heals 4, the third 3, and so on. The sixth painkiller has no effect, as the target is too oversaturated with medicine/magic to benefit from anything else. Administering a painkiller requires one maneuver, and the character doing the administering must be engaged with the target to treat them. This also means that a character with a free hand can administer a painkiller to themselves by spending a maneuver. But it's important to note that painkillers can never heal critical injuries.
Thankfully recovering from strain is easy. Taking a moment to catch one's breath, eating a good meal, and spending time relaxing with friends are all ways a character might recover from strain. At the end of an encounter, each character can make a 'Simple' Discipline or Cool check. Each Success recovers 1 strain. Additionally, a good night's rest generally removes all strain a character has suffered.
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