Desperation Recovery

Ever notice how heroes are always able to regain consciousness in the nick of time when their lives are on the line? How many times has an unconscious hero been placed in a life-threatening situation, only to wake up just in time to save himself?

At the end of any phase of combat — after all initiatives have gone for that turn — each Player Character has the option of making a Desperation Recovery Check. Citizens, villains, NPC teammates and acquaintances, and hapless bystanders cannot ever do this: it’s one of the advantages of being a PC.

In order to make a Desperation Recovery check, the PC tells the GM what he’s doing and for which statistic, pays {if dying of negative Current Condition, 1 point; if not dying, see Genre settings — in our case, 20 points to recover a Current Condition, or 30 points for one drained/fatigued Power or Attribute}. These points can be paid by another PC who (1) knows that the damaged character is in trouble, (2) is willing to pay up, and (3) is a part of the scene; in fact, having a PC volunteer to pay for a DR check is the only way any NPC can ever make one.

Desperation Recovery Rolls for those who are dying (i.e., have at least one Current Condition at a negative value due to Killing Combat attacks) cost, again, only 1 point per point of damage; but any RAPs gained can only improve the Current Condition up to 0: no longer dying, but the injured cannot further improve that particular Current Condition (and therefore wake up) until he has made at least one Resting Recovery Check under the normal rules.

Desperation Recovery Rolls for multiple damaged stats can be made in the same round, but they must be paid for separately.

Oh, and remember that the GM is almost never going to pause at the end of the combat round to see if anyone wants to grab their Desperation Recovery chance! This is a case where it’s good to either tell the GM during your turn that you intend to do it, or interrupt as the GM calls for the next initiative check.