GUMSHOE Health Tests

These are the rules related to Health Tests in GUMSHOE especially with regard to this scenario. Find the GUMSHOE SRD here.



There are situations in this scenario where the characters might find themselves having to roll their Health Ability to resist some environmental effect. This works exactly like the other General Ability tests and Health points can be spent to add to the roll. This does leave the character more vulnerable to injury.

Daniel has Health 10 and stumbles into [REDACTED] without any [REDACTED] and has to roll a Health test against the [REDACTED]. The secret difficulty is 7 because [REDACTED]. He decides he really wants to succeed here and spends 4 points. He rolls a 3 for a total of 7 just barely succeeding. His Health is now 6 however.

As long as you have positive Health you do not have anything more than minor scrapes and bruises, once your Health goes negative you start having legitimate injuries. Also, when you fall to 0 or negative Health you might fall unconscious and so a Health test is called for.

The difficulty of the Health test is the absolute value of your Health at the time the test is called for. You can spend Health on this test. This will send you deeper into negative Health but will not change the difficulty of the current test.

Daniel has been shot and is down to -2 Health. He has to roll to stay conscious. Since he's trying to escape he doesn't want to risk any chance of falling unconscious and being captured or killed. He spends 1 Health point. He now succeeds no matter what he rolls since even 1 + 1 = 2. He is now down to -3 Health due to his efforts to stay conscious however.

When you have negative Health you suffer some negatives.

• When Health is 1 or higher you are Healthy and have no penalties.
• When Health is 0 to -5 you are Hurt and have the following penalties:
• Pass a consciousness test when you reach this level.
• +1 Difficulty to all Tests. Including Hit Threshold.
• Use of Investigative Points requires a Consciousness test.
• Failure does not result in passing out, but if you fail the pain distracts you and you can't spend the points.
•  When Health is -6 to -11 you are Seriously Hurt and have the following penalties:
• Pass a new consciousness test on reaching this level.
• Can not take actions at all even if conscious.
• Lose 1 Health pool point per hour until stabilized.
• First Aid can stabilize the character but cannot restore Health at this point.
• When Health is -12 or lower you are Dead.

Back to Loss of Life prep page.