When a really impactful injury happens to your character, whether in combat or through roleplay, there is a chance that you will suffer a Traumatic Wound. This takes the form of a folded-up Traumatic Wound Card that a Ref or member of Wheelhouse hands to you. Each card will have a description of the roleplaying and mechanical effects it has on your character on the outside, and on the inside will list a description of what’s actually wrong with you and what someone else needs to do to cure the Wound.
Traumatic Wounds are, generally, voluntary things on the player’s part, as the Ref will ask you out-of-character if you want one before they hand it to you. Usually this will occur when a Ref notices really good roleplaying during a battle, whether on your part for taking a hit and making a show out of it or on the NPCs’ part for making a big show out of delivering the hit.
In some rare circumstances, however, Traumatic Wounds are going to be handed out regardless — if you get Impaled by a Death Knight’s accursed rune-sword, you’re going to get a Traumatic wound involving some sort of damage to your soul, and if you get dropped to 0 HP by a Blackrose Shambler then you’re going to have to go through some serious surgery to dig the Blackrose spores out of your flesh before they zombify you.
<aside> ⚕️ The intention of mandatory Traumatic Wounds is to make the consequences of an encounter more impactful, such that even if you win the battle it may still leave scars. If a Ref hands you a Traumatic Wound Card and says “here, take it” then you must accept the Card.
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The Abilities section on the outside of a Traumatic Wound Card will list the Abilities that allow a character to treat it. If you have one of those Abilities, you can diagnose the Traumatic Wound (i.e. open the card) and treat the patient. If you don’t have any of those Abilities, you can neither diagnose nor treat the Traumatic Wound.
In general, Traumatic Wounds can only be diagnosed and treated by Physicks. Sometimes, however, a Wound will be more magical, alchemical, or spiritual in nature, and so characters with the Enchanter, Arcanist, Alchemist, or Mystic Abilities may be able (or required!) to help in the treatment of the Wound.
If you receive a Traumatic Wound and you have one of the Abilities listed in its Abilities section, you can diagnose yourself, allowing you to open up the card and see what’s wrong with you. However, you cannot treat your own Traumatic Wound; you need to find another character with an appropriate Ability to actually perform the treatment and heal you of the Wound.
Some Traumatic Wound Cards will have a time limit on them. Once that time has elapsed (with the clock starting the moment you were given the Card), you must open them to find out what the Wound has done to you. Some of these Wounds will go away on their own, even without treatment, while others will outright kill you! It’s strongly **recommended to get a Physick (or whoever is needed to treat your Wound) to look you over and treat any Wound you have, just in case it gets worse if left untreated.
If you die from a Traumatic Wound’s effects, you Respawn as normal, no longer suffering from the Traumatic Wound. You’re encouraged to roleplay the trauma of dying from an agonizing injury, and if you respawn Terminal due to high CP then you should absolutely roleplay the grief and pain of that condition and your character’s oncoming permanent demise.
If you die while suffering from a Traumatic Wound, but from something other than the Traumatic Wound’s effects, then you Respawn as normal but still suffer from the effects of the Traumatic Wound. If there is a time limit on the Wound, it is reset, starting to count down for its full duration from the moment you Respawned.
<aside> ⚕️ The reason for this particular rule is to prevent low-CP characters from simply suiciding to get rid of a Traumatic Wound’s effects, which would deprive Physicks of one of the primary roleplay opportunities of that Ability.
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When you receive a Traumatic Wound Card, the first thing you should do is to read what’s on the outside of it. The Abilities and Time-limit sections will tell you who can treat the Wound, and how long you have without treatment until the Wound progresses to its next stage. The Symptoms and Mechanical Effects sections list what your character is experiencing and any mechanical effects that the Wound is causing. Below is an example of what you might find on the outside of a Traumatic Wound Card:
<aside> ⚕️ Traumatic Wound (Blunt Force)
Once you’ve read the Card, keep a hold of it somewhere on your person — you’ll need to give it to a Physick or whoever ends up treating you. Once the Card is safe, then roleplay it! Groan in agony, scream for a Physick, grit your teeth and fight through the sudden and persistent shortness of breath, etc.