I was reading the “Explorer's Edition” of Savage Worlds, the new, compact $10 rule book, and found one major change in the rules we should talk about.

In the old rules, when you took your “4th wound” you had to check a complicated table to see whether you were just stunned, incapacitated, bleeding out or dead, and this was entirely dependent on how many wounds you took on the hit that took you over 3 wounds. It basically meant that it was really, really hard to “nickle and dime” someone to death, in fact it was really, really hard to kill a wild card at all.

In the new rules, when you take your 4th wound, you must make a vigor roll (with a -4 penalty for all those wounds). If you get a raise, you are just stunned. If you succeed, you are incapacitated. If you fail, you are “bleeding out”. And if you critically fail, you are dead.

This new rule is much, much simpler, and clearer to understand, but is also far more deadly.

THOUGHTS???

Andrew » I like it. Easier and cleaner. Deadly? Yes, but that's what bennies are for! If you fail, throw the bennie to get the free success to switch to incapacitated. Case closed.

Dave» but be careful, Bennies are a bit more limited in SW than we've been playing with in C&C lately. A benny just gets you a re-roll (and you've probably already thrown a benny to try to “Soak” the hit and failed. I agree that I like the change, but a lot more characters are going to end up dead. Unless you are suggesting that we house rule a benny spent changes “dead” to incapacitated. I might be ok with that, but it would have to be spelled out.

Andrew » You should still be able to throw the benny for the re-roll though, right? All you have to roll is a '4' on two rolls. I'm still more in favor of a more lethality than less.

Dave» yes you can spend a benny for a re-roll, and you only have to roll a 4, but you have a -3 penalty on that roll, because you have 3 wounds. So you really have to roll a 7. I'm in favor of the new rule too, but think we should all understand the consequences.

Andrew » I was thinking that “bleeding out” was the number to shoot for, since it is “not quite dead”. What exactly is “bleeding out”? As I recall you start rolling each round to see if you succumb.

Dave» it looks like if you are “bleeding out” you have to make another Vigor roll every round (with the -3 penalty). If you get a 1 or less, you die, if you get a success (a 7 or better, if you include the -3 penalty) you stabilize, but remain unconscious until healed. I reckon that's a doable situation.