Health

Health, measured in Health Points (HP), is one of the main indicators of a character or creature's physical well-being. It is independent of any wounds someone may have. HP can be lost by being hit in combat, or gradually when bleeding, diseased, or poisoned. Loss of HP is commonly referred to as "blood loss" regardless of the actual source. Characters with substantial HP loss will suffer reduced effectiveness in combat, and if someone's HP drops to 0, they will die. It is possible to die even with positive HP if suffering a sufficiently severe critical injury or from spirit loss.

HP is generally shown in clients as a red bar, and can be checked with the HEALTH verb.

Health Points

Base HP

A level 0 character starts with a small amount of HP determined by their Strength and Constitution. Unlike most formulas, the statistic values of Strength and Constitution are used instead of the statistic bonuses and Base HP does NOT increase as the character gains levels. Only the Strength and Constitution statistics values at level 0 matter.

Base HP = trunc(Strength statistic + Constitution statistic) / 10

Maximum HP

Training in Physical Fitness will increase the character's maximum HP until reaching the maximum attainable by the character's race. Constitution bonus adds directly to maximum HP. For example, Dark Elves have a natural maximum of 120 HP, so a Dark Elf character with a Constitution bonus of +15 would have a maximum health value of 135. The amount of HP granted per PF rank is determined by the character's race and their Constitution bonus.

HP per PF rank = Race HP gain rate + trunc(Constitution bonus / 10)

If a character's Constitution bonus increases enough while gaining levels, it is possible to see a sudden jump in maximum health.

Health Point gain rate (per skill rank) based on Race

Aelotoi	Burghal Gnome	Dark Elf	Dwarf	Elf	Erithian	Forest Gnome	Giantman	Half-Elf	Half- Krolvin	Halfling	Human	Sylvan- kind
5	4	5	6	5	5	4	7	5	6	4	6	5

Maximum hitpoints based on Race

	Aelotoi	Burghal Gnome	Dark Elf	Dwarf	Elf	Erithian	Forest Gnome	Giantman	Half-Elf	Half- Krolvin	Halfling	Human	Sylvan- kind
Base	120	90	120	140	130	120	100	200	135	165	100	150	130
+CON Bonus	145	125	140	180	155	155	135	235	160	200	135	175	155
+Health Bonus	195	175	190	230	205	205	185	285	210	250	185	225	205

The maximum HP attainable from enhancive items, spells, or combat maneuver training is the racial maximum + 50. For example, Dark Elves can have up to 170 HP (120 racial max + 50 bonus) from enhancing their HP or Constitution.

Health Regeneration

Roughly once per minute, a character will recover a small amount of HP from a health pulse. The amount recovered is determined by the character's race and their ranks in Physical Fitness.

Health Recovery = Base Regeneration + trunc(Physical Fitness ranks / 20) + modifiers

Base Regeneration based on Race

Aelotoi	Burghal Gnome	Dark Elf	Dwarf	Elf	Erithian	Forest Gnome	Giantman	Half-Elf	Half- Krolvin	Halfling	Human	Sylvan- kind
1	2	1	3	1	2	2	2	2	2	3	2	1

Modifiers that directly increase the amount of health regenerated and can be:

• Health Recovery enhancives increase health recovery up to a maximum of +50.
• Sigil of Mending increases health recovery by +15.

The natural rate of health regeneration is very slow. To recover lost health, characters should seek out an empath or use a healing herb such as acantha leaf.

HEALTH (verb)

The HEALTH verb will display the character's wounds and scars, maximum health points, remaining health points, maximum spirit points, remaining spirit points, maximum stamina, and remaining stamina. It will also display any bleeding, including the location and rate of health loss per round, as well as poisons and diseases that affect the character, and if the character is overexerted.

When a character is bleeding, the display will show the health lost per round, whether the injury is TENDed, whether the character has the First Aid ability to tend it, and the character's time to tend it.

!>HEALTH
You have the following injuries: deep gashes and serious bleeding from your chest.
You have the following scars: old battle scars on your right leg and old battle scars on your left leg.

Bleeding:
Area         Health per Round         Bandaged         Can Tend?         Tend Time
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chest                6                   No               Yes                3s   

    Maximum Health Points: 152
  Remaining Health Points: 152

    Maximum Spirit Points: 9
  Remaining Spirit Points: 9

    Maximum Stamina Points: 103
  Remaining Stamina Points: 103
[The overexerted condition would be displayed here.]

Poisoned!  Taking 65 damage per round.  Dissipating 5 per round.
[Diseases would be displayed here.]

Behind the scenes

While GemStone IV generally uses the term "health points" as a measure of health, some older documentation may instead use the ICE terms "hit points" or "concussion hits".

See Also

• Wound (saved posts)