Sometimes in combat, you want foes to get progressively weaker as the combat goes on. In the core rules of the game, this isn’t represented (however regular people normally have low amounts of HP and can die fast anyways). This can make combat even more harsh, and make every battle a risky encounter.
It is recommended if these rules are used to replace the Called Shot rules with these. If this is done, Zealous Vitality and similar effects which ignore Called Shots work against Crippling Injuries.
Characters have three stages of injury.
Characters progress from Healthy to Injured if they are at half or lower HP (round down when determining half HP), and characters progress from Injured to Crippled when they reach 0 HP and begin dying.
Healthy characters take no penalties.
Injured characters take a -5 to all rolls they make.
Crippled characters are unconscious and begin dying unless they possess feats or abilities which allow them to remain otherwise conscious. If they are able to remain conscious, they take a -10 to all rolls they make, and a -2 to all movement speeds.