Life and Death

Horizon can be a rough place, Stranger. Many people would like to live in peace, but few can agree on what that should look like. Going your own way can only carry you so far before you end up on someone else's doorstep, so the threat of conflict is part of daily life. Few would be caught without weapon and armor, at least by choice. Here we detail the grim reality of what it is to live an die on Horizon.

As in many roleplaying and video games, “Health” or “Hit Points” are the measure of how much physical punishment or “damage” a Character can receive before they meet their end. Unlike many other games however, Characters in Horizon have IRIS, the advanced system of nano-machines operating within their bodies at all times. Among its many other functions, IRIS can dramatically improve durability and even bring a character back from beyond conventional death in the right circumstances. Here are the details:

• Every Character has Health, displayed as a number.
• Attacks against that Character cause Damage, which reduces that number.
• When Health reaches zero or less, that Character can no longer be played until they return to positive Health. This state is called “Death Coma”.
• When Health goes fully negative, the Character suffers True Death and dies permanently. For example, a Character with 50 Health suffers * True Death at -50 Health. A Character cannot recover from True Death.
• A Character's maximum Health can be increased by raising their Resolve (RES) Trait. See the Traits page for details.
• Corruption will always trigger upon entering Death Coma as the will of the IRIS asserts itself in a last effort to preserve the host. Be ready.