Health
- This article is about the concept of health points. For the verb, see HEALTH (verb).
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.
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.
Maximum HP
A level 0 character will have around 10 HP, which increases with training in Physical Fitness by around 1 to 10 HP per rank 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.
| 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.
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".