Pattern damage works directly again the living pattern of a creature. It is very rare to find normal beings immune to this damage type, although immunities to pattern damage effects such as paralysis or Fatal are more common.
Please note that these effects do not cause damage unless stated. A Paralysis blow only inflicts damage if it is with a normal or enchanted attack.
Affect
Some unusual weapons are particularly dangerous to a specific type of target. Such weapons will inflict damage upon any creature of the named type that can be harmed by normal or enchanted damage, whether blunt or sharp.
For example, a sword inflicting affect damage on unliving will affect skeletons even though they are normally immune to sharp damage.
No other damage effects can be combined with affect damage. Against any beings other than members of the named target group, affect weapons inflict normal damage.
Affect damage will not harm creatures that can only be hurt be artefact damage, even if they are members of the target group.
Decay
This is a powerful unliving disease. A touched location will suffer one hit of through damage per minute until it reaches -1, then all adjacent locations become infected and suffer 1 hit of through per minute.
This effect does not cause bleeding on the limbs. The target will die as soon as all locations on the body are reduced to -1. The damage can be healed or cured but will continue until the disease is removed using a channelling cure all disease, which must be cast on each and every infected location.
If the target is not fully cured of the disease they will enter their grace period and die ten minutes after their head or torso reaches -1. This effect is not contagious; it can only be caught from the unliving that causes it.
This attack will go through the ritual of peace if one is in effect.
Should a living being die of decay, they will rise as a plague zombie several hours later.
Adenda:
All damage caused over time by this effect will be of the same sort as the original damage. I.e. Pattern damage thus immunity to normal offers no protection.
Disease
This is an unliving disease. The touched location will suffer one hit of through damage per hour until it reaches -1, then all adjacent locations become infected and suffer one hit of through damage per hour.
This effect does not cause bleeding on the limbs but the target will enter their grace period and die ten minutes after their head or torso reaches -1.
The damage caused by this effect can be healed or cured but will continue until the disease is removed using the cure disease incantation or channelling effect.
This effect is not contagious; it can only be caught from the unliving that causes it. Normal diseases take effect over the course of days and their effects and cures are indicated by lore codes on a disease card. There is no special call for normal diseases.
Adenda:
All damage caused over time by this effect will be of the same sort as the original damage. I.e. Pattern damage thus immunity to normal offers no protection.
Fatal
All beings in the game world are part of the great tapestry of creation. Every being is a thread within that great weave of existence.
All living beings are a mixture of all the elements that make up Erdreja itself.
Physical existence, outlook and innate magical ability combine to form an individual's living pattern.
A fatal wound is a blow that tears the threads of a being's pattern.
This causes terrible physical wounds at the point where the fatal was inflicted as the physical parts of the pattern are damaged.
The being's pattern also beings to unravel from that point resulting in the physical death of the body and the corruption of the pattern.
A location hit by a fatal wound is reduced to -1. Normal armour cannot stop a fatal wound but is not damaged by it.
Normal rules for locations being unusable apply, although a limb reduced to -1 by a fatal wound will not bleed.
Regardless of the location hit the target will enter their grace period immediately and will die in ten minutes, when their life pattern splits apart, unless treated by a healer.
Until the pattern corruption caused by a fatal wound has been removed by a healer using the cure fatal wound channelling effect, the location cannot be healed.
The incantation sanctuary can be used to sustain a person suffering from fatal damage. A person suffering from fatal damage on a limb will remain conscious and is able to function until the end of their grace period, at which point they will die.
Adenda:
Against creatures with total body hits a fatal wound will remove a third of their hits up to a maximum of five.
However the creature will still die in ten minutes unless the fatal wound is healed.
Paralysis
Paralysis works directly against a being's living pattern.
If struck by this you are rendered incapable of movement or speech for ten minutes.
If you are paralysed in an area or position that may be dangerous or uncomfortable out of character, you may move to a nearby safe position or change your stance.
A healer using the remove paralysis channelling effect may remove the immobilising effects of paralysis, but this power will not heal any damage caused when the paralysis was inflicted or while the character was paralysed.
Some poisons cause paralysis. These affect their target in the same way as all poisons and can be removed by the purge poison or purge all poisons spells and channelling effects.
Petrification
Petrification damage immediately renders the target unable to move or perform any action. The target's flesh becomes cold and hardens over ten minutes, until they become a statue of stone.
The target also suffers a unique form of pattern corruption, goes into their grace period at once, and will die after ten minutes when their body becomes stone.
The incantation sanctuary will slow down the petrification effect so that the target doubles whatever remains of his grace period as soon as the sanctuary is cast.
A sanctuary will not preserve the life of a being under the effects of petrification after the grace period has ended.
The target will, if checked, radiate a strong magical aura up to the point of death.
The statue will radiate a weak magical aura afterwards.
Any worn or carried items are unaffected by petrification, but they cannot be removed from the petrified being.