I have a player who went through something rough. They were robbing a vault from a criminal organisation on a space station. To escape they launched the vault out of the station while being inside it while waiting for their pick-up. As soon as the ship locked onto the vault it flew to the nearest planet to let the group out. Because of the turbulence the group got bombarded by the containers and the stacks of credits inside the vault during the flight and became buried. One player, who already suffered from previous critical injuries, got another one and endad up on The end is nigh. As soon as they landed the medic helped her and she survived, but it was **** close.

Now we are discussing if the player should suffer some permanent damage or effect, because she suffered through all of that and was on the brink of death. I mean, she had concussion and a few broken bones at least. Is there anything in the rules about suffering some permanent effect because of conditions like this like reduced strain threshold or something? Or can she make a full recovery if she just gets the proper medical treatment without any sort of setbacks?

Technically only crits with permanent issues in the crit description do this. Missing limbs, that sort of thing.

That said, check Forged in Battle. There's a section in the back about allowing the player the option to buy certain "battle scar" talents after getting certain crits.

That should be better, as you're rewarding the Characters luck and willingness to take risks instead of lashing then to an arbitrary penalty due to some unfortunate rolls.

I agree with Ghost. There is already a game mechanism for permanent injuries (Gruesome injury for stats, maimed for limbs). I don't think you need to add additional mechanisms. Unless you and the player agreed to some small permanent effect.

However, I wouldn't let that stop you or the player from describing some lasting effect on the character from a story perspective.

As some examples:

• "Oh my knee! My old war wound is acting up again" (Any time they fail an athletics check)
• "Ever since that crate fell on my back back at Forlorn Station it's just never been the same" (Always rubs their shoulder, or complains that it's always cold)
• Character now walks with a slight limp (no mechanical effect though)
• Has an artificial heart (like bad-*** Captain Jean-Luc Picard) *That's right I brought a Star Trek reference into a Star Wars post, deal with it
• Character is now claustrophobic, or has a phobia of crates?

Some small mechanical effect examples

• Has a hideous Battle scar (becomes more recognizable) - setback when trying to disguise or charm, boost when intimidating (coercion) or relying on their fame in social situations.
• Character now has an addiction to pain killers (ryll spice probably) - Provides mechanical effect because player will be spending credits, and this could also be used to fuel plots
• Character has a mild PTSD about the situation and anything that reminds them of the situation inflicts 1 strain (tight space/large crates around)

Thanks for the help, guys!

The battle scars mechanic is one of my favorite things to come out lately. My players take more chances now, because if they get injured, they can get a cool scar.

ThreeAM lists some great ideas for how the experience would affect the character. For my part, I would encourage the player to make the call on that.

I may have missed it up there but don't forget that even after the immediate effects of a critical injury wear off, the injury itself is still in play and affects the player's future rolls on crit table (+10 each crit) until it is healed.

Edit: Re-reading your final paragraph I think you have already considered this but I'll leave it up anyway