Piercing Blow

During combat, fighters can see their stamina being slowly whittled away, as exhaustion and blows suffered take their toll, or they can be suddenly and unexpectedly cut down by a vicious stroke that penetrates through their protective equipment and draws blood.

In addition to causing the loss of Endurance points, any successful attack may inflict a Piercing Blow.

An attack roll produces a Piercing Blow on a 10 or result on the Feat Die.

Characters hit by a Piercing Blow must immediately roll a Feat Die, plus a number of Success Dice equal to the PROTECTION value of the armour worn (if the attack made the character Weary, the PROTECTION Test is made before the Weariness sets in).

The Target Number for the roll is equal to the Injury rating of the weapon used by the attacker.

If the roll fails, then the target of the attack has received a life-threatening blow — a Wound (see Chapter 6).