Combat is about hurting and killing opponents. You therefore need a means of gauging your character’s physical condition during and after a fight, whether he’s simply bruised and battered or crippled or dead. But there are other states of being (and forms of injury) beyond those resulting from combat. The World of Darkness is a dangerous place. All forms of harm may befall your character, from fire to disease to electrocution. And yet, when he’s faced with the horrors that lurk in the night, and supernatural creatures threaten his very existence, he may dismiss the pain as best he can and forge ahead against the unknown.