Lethal damage can easily be deadly, hence the name. Lethal wounds bleed, become infected or otherwise continue to worsen on their own. Only Life magic or medical treatment can prevent such problems. Any lethal damage beyond the Hurt damage level requires medical treatment to prevent the wounds from degrading.

Untreated lethal wounds worsen by one level of lethal damage per day. If severe wounds go untreated long enough, the character will die. However, any successes on an Intelligence + Medicine roll will stabilize the wound sufficiently so that it can heal normally. Even after initial first-aid has been administered, characters who have been reduced to Crippled or Incapacitated require frequent medical attention in order recover fully. Incapacitated characters require constant attention to keep them clean and fed since they are essentially helpless and immobile. If a character Incapacitated by lethal damage receives any further damage (of any sort), he dies.

If a highly skilled physician (four or more dots in Medicine) treats the character with access to the best modern medicinal techniques he recovers each health level at two categories faster on the health chart. If this treatment is interrupted, normal healing rates apply. Of course, the proper use of Life Effects can speed healing time greatly.