Descriptive Wounds

This was originally written by Edwyn Kumar for Rusted Sky. It is also a decent reference for Consequences in Strands of Fate.

Combat will, no doubt, be a part of everyone's Cycles in some shape or form. Here's a few suggestions for Weavers and players to make it so the standard cliché wounds and injuries are avoided (like, "Oh, you chop his head off. Good roll," and, "Ouch, a Deep Wound...must have been a chest hit, you can see his ribs!"). Combatants don't always have their fronts to each other like a couple of punching bags. People move, dodge, weave spin and expose their backs - despite their best efforts. Also, injuries happen from peripheral contact and often by the combatant to themselves. Some of these suggestions have that in mind. Damage doesn't always occur from the attacker.

Warning: violent imagery!
Flesh Wounds (mmmm, yummy!)

• Dislocated thumbs and fingers (nice parry) 
• Sprained ankles (good dodge) 
• Hernias! 
• Smacked jaw muscle (anyone got some jujubes?) 
• "Flash" on the face (that's when your eyes get all puffy and you look like a guppy) 
• Stiff neck from turning too quick 
• Water retention in the knees 
• Headaches 
• Broken nose 
• Loss of teeth (there goes Appearance) 
• Bit you own tongue, hard (more common than you think!) 
• Having your arch stepped on hard during close-in fighting 
• Fingernail rips off 
• Ear lopped off 
• Broken toe 
• Broken rib(s) 

Deep Wounds ("Somebody kill me!")

• Broken limb 
• Blood loss 
• Internal bleeding 
• Ruptured organ (stomach, intestine, spleen, etc.) 
• Eyeball pokeage! 
• Neck shot - leads to slow asphyxiation 
• Ripped tendons in forearm or hamstring 
• Shattered kneecap 
• Mass area of exposed flesh (is it chilly in here?) 
• Muscles that have pulled away from the bone (no more curls for those lovely biceps) 
• Torque spinal cord 
• Dislodged jaw bone 
• Lots of broken ribs 
• Collapsed lung(s) ("Breathe with me") 
• Severed nerves to a limb 

Stunned (Hel...p...m...eee...)

• Winded 
• Dizzy and/or disoriented 
• Blood in his eyes 
• Weak knees 
• Thinking too hard about what to do while you get smacked 
• Not thinking about what to do while you get smacked 
• Getting distracted at the wrong time {Did I eat today?) 
• Day dreaming (a rose, is a rose, is a...CRACK!) 
• Can't swallow because your throat's dry 
• Ringing in the ears (Tonitis...club disease) 
• Temporary loss of memory (probably from a head hit or falling down) 

There. So have fun and make it descriptive.

N.B. I also automatically impose a -1 modifier if any of my players say, "I hit him!"