RAGE.
KILL.
You RAM THE SWORDMONKEY THROUGH and POWERSTAB it twice to be sure it DIES LIKE A MAGGOT. Its PATHETIC MEWLS are as IRRELEVANT to you as its SWORD THROUGH YOU. NOTHING CAN STOP THE HATE.
The HAIRLESS APE draws near to attack, and you respond with a KICK TO THE MIDSECTION that drops it to the floor. You follow up by CRUSHING HIS SKULL LIKE A CHEAP MELON and turn to the FIRE MONSTROSITY, which HISSES MENACINGLY. You CHARGE the ABOMINABLE FIRE and it promptly BITES YOUR LEG OFF.
YOUR FURY GROWS HOTTER, AND YOU-nothing.
[Dropped to 0 HP: KO]
***
You are Ganbold, a Factorsmith. You don't normally come to arenas, given the prices and your inarticulate sense that it's some sort of wrong to watch killing for fun. Still, when the Minotaur ducked into your factory and asked politely about weapons fit for a Gladiator, you couldn't help but feel that this could be a chance to do something that was hopefully more good than bad and also a business opportunity. So, like a fool (as your wife is sure to tell you later), you came to the matches and laid a little wager on the Minotaur lady. Up until this moment, it was looking like a wonderful bet.
Up until now, the slippery-named Minotaur had two legs, was murderously (and slightly nauseatingly, truth be told) awake, and not being eaten by some Gods-awful evil fire spirit.
Wait a second... did she just
twitch?***
NOTHING CAN STOP THE RAGE!
You awaken and regard the HIDEOUS PAINBURNER with HATE. IN. EVERY. HEARTBEAT.
Ypu're dimly aware that you're probably dead already and your brain hasn't quite yet caught up to the fact yet, but right now, you have only one thought:
KILL!***
Swordtaur 3: 20 Piercing/18 Slash
Lashtaur 2: 8 Piercing+3 Electric
Punch 2: 15 Bludgeon
You,
UNSTOPPABLE!,
UNSTOPPABLE! (-6 HP),
MUMBO JUMBOVFIRE PAIN FEAR HATE DEATH KILL (Elemental Mage 2/Predator 1)
***
Last chance, pretty much. It's going to be a "roll to live" or a "Heroic sacrifice credit for the next character and general XP transfer" unless you get an impossibly high Fate roll or a high Divine Intervention roll.
At 0 HP, NPC-class characters are Dead, Supporting-class characters are Dying, and Hero-class characters are Knocked Out. At -5 HP, NPC characters are Permanently Dead, Supporting-class characters are Dead, and Hero-class characters are Dying. At -10 HP, Supporting-class characters are Permanently Dead, while Hero-class characters are Dead. At -15 HP, Hero-class characters are Permanently Dead.
At 0 MP, NPC-class characters are Soulburned, while Supporting and Hero class characters are Out Of Mana. At -5 MP, NPC-class characters are Soulbroken, and will die almost instantly, while Supporting and Hero-class characters are Soulburned. At -10 MP, all non-Wizard characters are Soulbroken, and will die immediately.
The consequence of Soulburn is a 100% weakness to supernatural powers, and an inability to regain mana through any means for at least 12 hours. Soulburned characters regain 10% of their total mana capacity per hour, and do not regain mana past 0 until their total mana capacity is at least 50% of total. In other words, if you have 30 MP, a Soulburn puts you at -9/0 for a while, and until you reach 0/15 mana, you cannot gain more mana.
If you die, your character is dead. I make a few rolls to see if your character is fated to die at that moment (spoiler alert: The answer is almost always "yes") and if the Gods you serve happen to see fit to intervene (Spoiler alert: the answer is almost always "They don't.", but the odds of them doing so increase with your Level and devotion to them.)
There are assorted expensive and/or illegal ways in which a character can be brought back to (un)life, depending on how messy the kill was and how much time has passed. These range from acceptable to generally crappy. No matter what, if your character takes enough trauma to die, you're not going to have the same character even if they are rezzed perfectly. Expect a new Flaw at least, or some new Virtues/Flaws that came about as a result.
It was amazing: natural 1 against the first attack, natural 20 against the second, natural 20 for the counterattack, and then it was 17 versus your 11. I didn't think it'd actually hit 16 damage, though.