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A character's vitality is represented by two elements: Endurance and Health. Together, these two stats are the measure of how much punishment a character can withstand before going unconscious, being maimed or dying. Endurance represents resistance to short-term injury and is often instrumental in turning the tide of combat, while health represents long-term injury and effects how far the party is willing to venture forth in their adventures or deciding when to rest.

Eora is a world with limited medicine and medical understanding. There is no remedy for death. Once a character has died, their soul belongs to the Wheel. Remedies for health problems often have only a palliative or placebo effect at best and there is no quick magical "cure" for disease or illness. For the most part, characters can only regain health and heal affliction by resting.

Base[ | ]

A character's base Endurance and Health are determined from their class and level:

Endurance[ | ]

Endurance is your resistance to short-term injury, or how much damage a character can withstand before they are knocked unconscious in battle. Endurance is regained through an assortment of means, including healing spells, class abilities, and items such as healing potions, these are often used on the battlefield to turn the tide of combat. Once combat ends, endurance is regained rapidly.

As you take damage, your Endurance will deplete. If a character's endurance becomes totally depleted, that character will fall unconscious and characters with already low Health can die. Unconscious characters cannot move or take any actions. Fortunately, there are abilities that allow unconscious characters to be revived during combat. If not, they are out of the fight until combat is over.[1][2][3]

Health[ | ]

Health represents long-term injury or how much damage a character can sustain before they are maimed or die permanently. Health does not regenerate on its own and is much more difficult to recover than Endurance. Health can only be recovered through resting, or to a small degree, through the Field Triage ability. For players, the Health of their party members is a tether that makes them consider how far they are willing to venture from a safe resting spot.

Health loss occurs at the same time as Endurance loss, but a character has a larger pool of Health than Endurance. When a character loses all of their health, they will be knocked unconscious and receive a Maimed status effect. Sustaining damage while Maimed permanently kills the character in Expert Mode or if the relevant option is enabled in options.[1][2][3]

Mechanics/Example[ | ]

When characters take damage, the damage is first applied to Endurance and then the same amount is applied as health damage, e.g. if a character takes 12 endurance damage she also takes 12 health damage.

  • The endurance value is multiplied with a class dependent multiplier to get the health value.
  • Front line classes (e.g. fighters and barbarians) have a higher multiplier.
  • Only fighters continuously regenerate Endurance during combat.[4]

Historical Notes[ | ]

  • Earlier in development Endurance was called Stamina.
  • Earlier in development a character would only take a fraction of Stamina/Endurance damage as health damage. To compensate, characters now have much more health.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Pillars of Eternity, game manual
  2. 2.0 2.1 kickstarter Update #24, Oct 15, 2012.
  3. 3.0 3.1 Gamebanshee Interview with Josh Sawyer 12.10.2013.
  4. Forum post by Josh Sawyer
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