Pillars of Eternity is a lot like Baldur's Gate and its Dungeons & Dragons role-playing ruleset, but it differs from the old system in a number of ways. Notably, character health is treated a lot differently than it would be in D&D.
In Pillars of Eternity, your character's vitality is divided into two values: Endurance and Health. Together, these two stats are the measure of how much punishment a character can sustain before going unconscious, maimed, or dying.
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 replenished through an assortment of means, including healing spells, class abilities, and items such as healing potions. These can be used during combat. Once combat ends, endurance replenishes.
The damage that a character takes applies to Endurance. If a character loses all of their Endurance during a battle, they will be knocked unconscious. Characters with already low Health (more on this later) can die if they run out of Endurance. 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.
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 is replenished by resting, either at an inn or out in the wilderness. It is important for players to take note of how much Health their party members have before venturing forth or deciding when to rest.
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.
Resting
Unlike Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights and other similar games, there is a limit to how often you can rest, which depends on how many camping supplies you have with you. You can only carry a maximum of four camping supplies with you at any given time, so be sure to plan ahead.
Resting allows you to restore your Health and remove Maimed status effects.
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Be sure to check out our other Pillars of Eternity guides:
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