Mortal Choice

An event during battle that appears when a hero loses all of their health points. You must choose the outcome for that hero. Outcomes can include death or maiming.

Choices

A Mortal Choice typically offers 2-3 options, which can include:

• Hero is maimed (loses a random human limb)
• Hero is scarred (penalty to charisma and retirement age)
• Hero loses an eye (penalty to melee and ranged accuracy)
• Hero loses 2 health for the rest of the campaign
• The equipped artifact weapon is destroyed
• Hero dies, deals 10 damage
• Hero dies, +3 armor to party

In their first Mortal Choice, a hero always has at least one option to survive and at least one option to die. If the hero does not die, they withdraw from the battle and automatically return to the nearest town to heal. This hero cannot be controlled until their health is restored.

If a hero faces a second Mortal Choice in the same chapter, they cannot avoid death. The options in this case are weaker and can include:

• Hero dies, deals 1-2 damage
• Hero dies, party gains an augment

Sometimes another hero has the option to intercede in a Mortal Choice, causing that hero to die or withdraw instead.

Unique Events

There are a few instances where a unique Mortal Choice event is triggered, based on a hero's history:

The Jealousy of Trees
Turtle Guardian