Aspect-Based Damage

Aspect-Based Damage is a damage system based on Fate's Aspects.  Instead of tracking individual wounds, certain thresholds on an attack assign a Wound Aspect to the player.  Wound Aspects come in four Ranks.  In order, they are Scrapes, Injuries, Mortal Wounds, and Death.  When a Wound Aspect is assigned, it should be given a name, such as "Torn Ear", "Twisted Ankle", or "Collapsed Lung".  If a Character gets a Death Wound Aspect, they are dead.

These Aspects cause penalties to the player that make causing more severe Wound Aspects easier. They can also be invoked like any other Apsect when the flavour of the specific wound aspect is relevant to a test being made.

Wound Aspects should not be flavoured as permanent injuries, though in-setting factors should be taken in to account.  In a setting where a leg can be magically or mechanically replaced, a "Severed Leg" Injury or Mortal Wound Aspect is perfectly permissible.  Would such an injury essentially 'kill' the character, the GM and Players should find something else to fluff the Aspect as.


Wound Aspects are created by an attack against the player.  After the attack, a 1d12 is rolled with penalties or bonuses applied due to the nature of the attack or for existing wound conditions against the player.  The higher the roll on the 1d12, the worse the possible result. As a default initial white-room attack, the 1d12 roll will have a -6, meaning that the highest Wound Aspect that can be assigned is an Injury.  An attack made from stealth, on the other hand, completely removes the penalty.  There will be additional bonuses for the injuries already on the target, with every Injury giving a bonus to the damage equal to the Rank of the Injury [Technically this means that a dead person gives you a +4 to kill them].