Because I favour a kind of low-level troupe play in B/X, I use a mechanic which can lay up characters for months if they're seriously injured - assuming they don't die. Dwarves and halflings tend to fair better if badly wounded because of their saving throw advantage.
Nonmagical Healing
Characters who do not have access to magical healing mend their wounds slowly, and regain 1 hit point per level per week. During this time they may engage in light activity such as eating, reading, talking and short walks. More vigorous activity prevents the recovery of hit points.
Injury, Incapacitation and Death
A character reduced to -4 or fewer hit points from a single attack is instantly killed.
A character reduced to from -3 to 0 hit points is
critically wounded. They must immediately make a saving throw vs paralysis, with a penalty equal to their current hit point total. If the roll fails, the character is rendered
unconscious through shock and trauma.
Critically wounded characters must have their wounds bound, or risk a quick demise: binding the wounds of another character takes 2 combat rounds. Characters who are conscious may attempt to bind their own wounds, but the process takes twice as long – 4 rounds – during which time they risk further injury through blood loss and the strong possibility of losing consciousness before the wounds are successfully bound.
Unconsciousness
Characters rendered unconscious by damage will remain so for 1d6 turns, and may not act. After this period, the character makes a saving throw vs paralysis with a penalty equal to their current hit points. A successful saving throw indicates a character has regained consciousness; a failed saving throw indicates the character is unconscious for a further 1d6 turns, whereupon they may attempt another saving throw.
Each time a conscious character loses more hit points while critically wounded, they must make another saving throw vs paralysis, with a failure indicating that the character becomes unconscious for 1d6 turns. At each stage, regaining consciousness requires a successful saving throw vs paralysis.
Critical Wounds
Characters who are critically wounded provoke periodic saving throws vs death (use death magic), with each failed save indicating the further loss of hit points until they reach a total of -10, whereupon they die. Each of these saves incurs a penalty equal to the character’s current negative hit points: e.g. a character with -5 hit points incurs a -5 penalty on their saving throw. The frequency of saves is determined by the actions and circumstances of the wounded character:
| Circumstance | Frequency of Saving Throws | Result of failed save |
| Wounds untreated and strenuous activity | Every round | Lose 1d4 hit points |
| Wounds untreated otherwise | Every round | Lose 1 hit point |
| Wounds bound, strenuous activity | Every round | Lose 1 hit point |
| Wounds bound, moderate activity | Every turn (10 mins) | Lose 1 hit point |
| Wounds bound, light activity | Every hour | Lose 1 hit point |
| Wounds bound, full bed rest | Every day | Lose 1 hit point |
Strenuous activity consists of combat, running, swimming, climbing or other athletic endeavour, carrying a load equivalent to heavy encumbrance, or casting any spell.
Moderate activity includes carrying any load other than heavy, walking at speed, or riding at any pace other than a slow walk.
Light activity includes sitting and eating, and limited movement such as occasionally standing with help, or moving unencumbered for short distances, or riding a horse at a slow walk. Travelling in the bed of a cart or wagon, or being strapped to a horse likewise counts as light activity, provided that the journey is not over uneven terrain. Being carried on a stretcher is generally treated as light activity, although some room for variation exists: being dragged across rough ground might count as moderate, while being borne on a cushioned backboard by a team of porters might count as full rest.
Without magical healing, a character with critical wounds must commit to full bed rest to enjoy any hope of recovery: as long as they engage in any kind of activity, they run the risk of the wounds worsening. A character who rests for two full days and successfully makes two consecutive saving throws vs death becomes
stable. If the second saving throw fails, the character loses a hit point: the wounds remain critical, and they must begin the stabilizing process anew.
Stable Condition
A character who is stable is no longer critically wounded. Their hit points reset to 0, but they must now begin a process of recovery in order to return to full strength.
Recovery
For the first week, recovering characters must remain in bed, and any activity runs the risk of reopening wounds. If a character who is recovering engages in any activity other than full bed rest, saving throws are prompted according to the level of activity: failure indicates that the wounds have reopened and the character’s condition once again becomes critically wounded.
At the end of the first full week of recovery, the character makes a saving throw vs death. If successful, their hit points remain at zero as they enter a period of
convalescence. If the saving throw fails, the character must spend another week in recovery before attempting to save again. If the character rolls a “1” on their saving throw, the wounds worsen – reopening, infection or some other setback: the character once again becomes critically wounded.
Convalescence
A character who is convalescing may engage in light activity such as reading, conversation and short walks as their strength slowly returns. Engaging in moderate or strenuous activity runs the risk of reopening wounds, as above.
After a period of one month, the convalescing character makes a saving throw vs death. Failure indicates the character must spend another month in convalescence; success indicates the character gains 1 hit point: from this point, normal nonmagical and magical healing rules apply.
Magical Intervention
Critical wounds may be reliably mitigated by magical healing: a
cure light wounds spell or a
potion or
staff of healing stabilises a character with critical wounds, and subsequent applications of the spell (or drinking of the potion) will push the character further along the condition track as noted below; a
cure serious wounds spell immediately restores a critically wounded character to 1 hit point, bypassing the need for stabilisation, recovery and convalescence.
| Healing Type | Effect |
| Cure light wounds spell or potion or staff of healing | Can stabilise a critically wounded character
Can move a stable character into recovery
Can move a recovering character into convalescence
Can restore 1 hp to a convalescing character |
| Cure serious wounds spell | Restores 1 hp to a character in any condition |
Constant ministration by a 2nd-level cleric for a week can effectively get a critically wounded low-level character back on their feet at full strength.
