Armour Value Leather armour 1 point Thick leather (5mm minimum) 2 points Leather with metal studs 2 points Ring mail/bezainted 3 points Chainmail 4 points Brigadine 4 points Plate 5 points

Metal armours, (4 points or greater), have an added advantage, against improvised weapons, knives, sticks, tools, etc, they double their armour value. A set of chain mail will count as 8 points of armour against a man with a knife. Against weapons designed to weapons, spears, swords, axes, etc they have no specific advantage.

Armour  Repair
Two skills are involved in armour repair: Craft: Armourer and Craft: Leather-worker

Armourer This craft skill covers the repair of rarer Metal armours such as chain and plate Leather-worker This craft skill covers the repair of common leather and fur armours. Due to the comparatively simple nature of the materials used in these types of armour it takes half as long to repair. E.g. For a level two leather-worker it will only take one hour to repair  two points of leather or fur armour. Armour repair times are as follows: Rank Time/point 1 2 2 1 3 1/2

 

Note: Because you only have one pair of hands you can only repair one piece of armour at a time.

SHIELDS Shields are free to use with no points cost but still come under the category of armour. This means that anyone of Freeman status or lower without guild membership or a 'Letter of Mark' from a noble is in danger of braking the law. There are two types of shield:

Bound

Bound shields are 'bound' in iron or steel re-enforcing their structure. Bound shields are proof against all but the most powerful martial and ranged attacks. Larger black powder weapons can be used to destroy even bound shields, these however are very rare. A call of strength used with an appropriate martial two handed weapon will destroy a bound shield.

Unbound

Unbound shields are made solely of Wood or Stretched-hide. Unbound shields are proof against normal martial attacks however they will not stop black powder shot or Algundian Longbow arrows, these punch through the shield hitting the arm behind the shield, knocking the target down (and in most cases out.) A call of strength with a one handed weapon will destroy an unbound shield. The unbound shield is the choice of almost all low ranking and savage peoples.

SHIELD REPAIR
All shields can be destroyed as stated above. When this happens you might want to get it fixed. All shields are considered to have 5 armour points for the purposes of repair. Using the table under armour repair you can repair your shied with one of these three skills:

Bound shields:
Armourer. As stated on armour repair table.

Unbound Wooden Shields:
Carpentry. Half all repair times due to the simplicity of construction.

Unbound Stretched Hide:
Leather Worker. Half all repair times as with leather armour.

BLACK POWDER
A recent invention, black powder weapons are loud, messy and occasionally devastating. Caps obtained from the referees power all black powder weapons, each powder charge or cap is individually wrapped in tin foil to keep it dry and to slow down the reloading process. Caps without such a wrapping should be considered to have been used and should be discarded. Unwrapping caps at any point beforehand is considered cheating as the unwrapping is part of the point.

Black powder can be obtained prior to game from the referees, or can be found/stolen/bought in game from players or from NPCs. Initially a player with an appropriate weapon starts with 10 shots.

A man portable black powder weapon does 1 point of damage and ignores all armour; it will literally kill an ordinary man outright if they are shot in the chest. Even a person or creature with multiple hit points will be knocked off their feet and remain prone for 20 seconds by the impact and noise of an Aquebuse or Flintlock.

A character with at least Grade 2 in alchemy can produce shots for a weapon. They must be a member of the Alchemists Guild as its recipe is a guild secret. At grade 2 the character can make one shot per hour of work at a cost of 2 pennies per shot for raw ingredients.

At Grade 3 the greater knowledge of the alchemist allows the production of 2 shots per hour of work at a cost of 1 penny per shot for raw ingredients.

At grade 4 a character can produce 4 shots per hour of work at a cost of 1 penny per shot for raw ingredients.

Weapon Range Derringer style weapon 5 feet Flintlock pistol 10 feet Arquebuse 20 feets Cannon 50 feet (see referee for damage) Bombard Siege ranges (see referee for damage)

N.B. Over Loading...

Or 'proofing' as it is known in the trade is the method by which a firearm is tested for safety. To proof a firearm you load twice as much powder into the shot as normal and fire it, preferably from a safe distance.  This double load when used in the field will give you half again as much range.  However overloading the weapon makes it much more likely to blow-up.  Call double load in the field and talk to ref.

HEALING
Wounds and injuries are the unavoidable consequence of combat. Healing unassisted is a slow perilous business, wounds take months to knit, bones may heal crooked, and more commonly death follows from the wound going bad resulting in blood poisoning. For these reasons healing with assistance is the path of choice for most people.

Herbalism
The most common form of healing is that practised by the herbalist, every community has someone who has some knowledge of the healing properties of plants. By applying herbs to a wound and bandaging the affected body part the natural process of healing can be accelerated.
Herbs quickly lose their potency after gathering, herbs used for healing that are more than a day old cause the herbalist to be treated as a rank lower in the skill than they actually are, grade 1 herbalists cannot store herbs in this fashion and must gather daily.  Herbalists would be wise to carry a writ from their lord stating that they are medical professionals and not travelling poisoners.

Game mechanics:
The base time for healing without assistance is one month per point of damage, more serious wounds such as those from a two handed weapon may take longer.
To use the skill effectively the person doing the healing must apply the herbs to the wound and bind them there, usually this is done with a cloth wrap in the form of a poultice. The wounded person must then rest for the appropriate amount of time in order for the wound to heal properly. Any vigorous movement (such as walking) that puts strain on the wounded area will reset the healing time, player character healers should make a note of their patients movements to help the refs keep track of this.
For example, someone with a wounded arm could quite easily walk with the arm strapped down and have it heal as they travelled, however they could not lift anything or fight with it without resetting the healing time. If on the other hand it was a leg or the torso that was injured then while the poultice would prevent the injury from becoming more serious, it would not start healing again until the character stopped moving and got some rest. Also, the healing time would become reset and fresh herbs may need to be applied.
The healing time for the wound is dependent on the level of the herbalist's skill:

Grade Healing Ability Grade 1 herbalist Healing time is 4 hours per point of damage. Grade 1 Herbalists cannot prepare dried herbs. Grade 2 herbalist (Restricted unless you have Mentor Advantage) Healing time is 2 hours per point of damage. They can also prepare dried herbs which will heal as per the grade 1 skill (4 hours). Grade 3 herbalist (Restricted unless you have Mentor Advantage) Healing time is 1 hours per point of damage. They can also prepare dried herbs which will heal as per the grade 2 skill (2 hours). Grade 4 herbalist (Restricted unless you have Mentor Advantage) Healing time is 1/2 hour per point of damage. They can also prepare dried herbs which will heal as per the grade 3 skill (1 hours).

If two herbalists of the same level cooperate to gather and then subsequently apply herbs to patients then the level of their skill may be treated as one higher than it actually is. See below to learn how to get the best use from your herbalism.

Churgery
Although herbs are amazingly useful in the healing process, they cannot set bones, nor will they greatly reduce the chance of infection or permit the removal of an arrow fragment from deep within a lung. To achieve these and other miracles of healing, the new science of Churgery must be used. Taught in Medical schools and the newly founded Universities, this is the scientific approach to healing, or wounding someone more in order to heal them.
Churgery introduces the idea of cleanliness into dealing with injuries, it will reduce the chance of initial infection and once stitched will also greatly lower the possibility of any secondary infections. Cleaning a wound carefully is important because the continued presence of Shot, shrapnel, arrowheads or quite simply dirt in a wound can lead to life long and indeed life limiting complications. The benefits of each skill grade are shown below but Churgery is a science still very much subject to circumstance.
Churgans would be wise to carry a writ from their lord stating that they are medical professionals and not travelling necromancers.

Game mechanics:

In simple rules terms the Churgeon’s skill offsets or eliminates your bead draw for nasty injuries. 
If more than one Churgeon of the same skill grade works simultaneously on the same patient then they may treat it as if they have an operating skill one grade higher. For example, two journeymen churgeons collaborate to try and remove a pistol shot from the chest of their companion, they both only have grade 2 Churgery but that gives them an effective grade one higher, greatly improving their companion’s chances of escaping this potentially fatal wound unscathed. 
Unfortunately a Black bead is ALWAYS a black bead and is always lethal.
A week later one of the journeymen is left alone with two apprentices for the day and a man is brought in with a broken arrow in his back, he gathers the apprentices (grade 1) and they all make an effort to do what they can. Sadly though the skill of the journeyman (grade 2) plus that of the apprentices (both grade 1, which does make a 2nd grade 2) is not enough, since the grade does not scale up again, to meaningfully improve the victim’s chances of a full recovery.
Note: Without the co-operation of a Churgeon with Grade 2 Churgery or higher then broken bones will begin to set but may not be set correctly leading to lifelong crippling injuries.

Grade Healing Ability Grade 1 churgeon This basic level teaches cleaning, treatment and stitching of an injury. Can remove foreign bodies such as shrapnel, arrows and bullets within body (without this an additional point of damage is caused removing item in addition to bead draw if negative hit points) Grade 2 churgeon (Restricted unless you have University Educated Advantage) Broken bones can be set and dislocated limbs mended as well as removing foreign bodies. Also reduces the chance of infection meaning healing bead draws are one stage better. Grade 3 churgeon (Restricted unless you have University Educated Advantage) Effects as level 1 and 2 but in addition better practice further reduces the chance of infection meaning bead draws are two stages better. Grade 4 churgeon (Restricted unless you have University Educated Advantage) The churgeon’s almost godlike ability allows the attempt to heal wounds to the head and delicate wounds to the body.  The master churgeon can almost achieve modern surgical feats (consult ref for extreme cases) and due to expertise Infection is eliminated.

The science of Churgery is so new that few people have experimented; many of the procedures player characters will perform will be never have been performed before. A good living can be made lecturing or publishing once enough skill has been developed and once the character is famous for that skill.

Non-physical wounds such as those caused by the uncanny powers of the forces of Evil cannot be treated with churgery. No, you can’t cut out spiritual corruption with a knife, no matter how sharp it is, not that people haven’t tried.

MAGIC
All magic in the game world has its origins in Evil.

To practice magic all that is required is knowledge of the ritual and a familiarity with the words and gestures required to active the spell. A spell requires no magic points, it could be cast thousands of times per day with no loss of power. Instead whenever a spell is cast, the caster draws a bead from the Magic Bag, (in the possession of the referee), depending upon the colour of the bead drawn is the effect on the caster. Some beads will have no effect, others might result in temporary nausea or similar detrimental effect, a few may lead to permanent changes in the character, mutations altering appearance or behaviour.

Once drawn the effects of the bead are immediate with the exception of physical alterations which require the use of prosthetics or props, these can be assumed to have taken effect by the next game.

None of the magic in the game is instantaneous, it relies instead on gathering energies and the correct performance of ritual. Once you have decided to perform a spell either inform a referee who will advise you as to the results, (and provide the Magic bead bag), or failing the presence of a referee, perform the ritual and advise a referee at the soonest possible convenience.

Please note that magic isn't a precise science, on some days the energies flow easier than on others, a certain colour of bead drawn on one day could have a better or worse interpretation the following day.