Fragile is an exotic physical disadvantage, showing that a creature/character is susceptible to wounding affects that don't apply to normal humans. Attacks don't do more damage than usual (for that, see Vulnerability), but enough damage can trigger more catastrophic results than the usual stunning, unconsciousness, or bleeding.[1]
Types of Fragile[]
| Type | Cost | Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Brittle | -15 | This creature is brittle (like ice or crystal) or rotten (like a decaying zombie). Whenever an injury cripples a limb or extremity, it simply breaks off! A successful HT roll means it falls off in one piece; otherwise, it shatters, liquefies, etc. irrecoverably. Furthermore, any failed HT roll to avoid death means total destruction. |
| Combustible | -5 | This creature is more flammable than flesh--perhaps they're made of dry wood, or they're an alien with an oily exterior. Whenever hit with a major wound by a burning or explosive attack, roll HT to avoid catching fire. If such an attack inflicts 10 or more HP or injury, this creature catches fire automatically! Being on fire does 1d-1 injury per second until extinguished (such as jumping into water, or taking a few seconds to roll on the ground). |
| Explosive | -15 | This creature contains something unstable, like compressed gas, explosives, or similar. Critical failures on HT caused by major wounds cause them to explode. Likewise, they explode if they fail a HT roll to avoid death by 3 or more. Treat this as a 6dx(HP/10) crushing explosion. The blast reduces the creature to -10xHP (total destruction) regardless of the damage actually inflicted. |
| Flammable | -10 | This creature is particularly flammable, like gasoline or hydrogen gas. Any kind of attack that causes a major wound causes a HT roll to avoid catching fire, with -3 if it was burning or explosive, -3 if it hit the vitals, or -6 if both. Once burning, a critical failure on any HT roll to avoid death means this creature explodes, as per Explosive. Note that a creature can be both Combustible and Flammable, meaning they can be set ablaze from serious fire damage or from simply being hit particularly hard. |
| Tenuous[2] | -15 | This creature is gaseous or swarmlike (likely Diffuse) but not well held-together. A critical failure on a HT roll from a major wound (specifically, from an explosive attack) causes total destruction. The creature is reduced to -10xHP and perishes. |
| Unnatural | -50 | This creature is summoned, conjured, or otherwise not firmly bound to this plane. If reduced to -1xHP, this creature loses its ties to the force that keeps it on this plane. It effectively "dies" (if applicable), with no HT roll. |
Quotes[]
- Fragile can be combined with Supernatural Durability per Kromm in August 2005[3]
- Fragile can be combined with Unkillable 3 per PK in September 2005[4]
Other Versions[]
Magic: Death Spells[]
- Aggravated Injury describes an “enhanced” form of Fragile approximately twice as severe as Unnatural
- Double Unnatural
Classic Edition[]
Classic Fragile is Vulnerability (Crushing damage, x2) [-30]