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When you become incapacitated you are supposed to make a vigor roll – is this roll subject to wound penalties?

I am inclined to say yes, but to me it seems too lethal.

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That's right, Vigor tests for Incapacitation suffer normal wound penalties, as confirmed on the official forums. If a player makes a tissue-paper wizard with only d4 Vigor, getting pasted by a solid hit is the expected result.

Note that house-ruling the Incapacitation Table to better suit the intended lethality of a setting or genre is totally within the GM's rights. The designers expect GMs to make such modifications as a matter of course.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Anything in the RAW specifically pointing it out? \$\endgroup\$ – Yianes the Sneak Aug 21 '12 at 2:00
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    \$\begingroup\$ @Yianes In both SWEX and Deluxe there's nothing explicit. It has to be inferred from the rule that says wound penalties apply to Trait tests, and the fact that the Vigor roll for incapacitation is a Trait test. Note that Soak roll rules do mention explicitly how to apply wound penalties because it would be ambiguous otherwise which penalties to apply—before this wound or after it—but it's assumed that wound penalties inherently apply. It's easy to miss the inference, but a literal reading agrees with the official clarification. \$\endgroup\$ – SevenSidedDie Aug 21 '12 at 20:59
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Yes, the wound penalties apply to all Trait Tests (see page 68 of the Savage Worlds Deluxe book). The roll on the incapacitation table is a Vigor trait test.

Note that there are edges that specifically apply to the Incapacitation Table. See Hard to Kill and Harder to Kill on page 36 of Savage Worlds Deluxe.

Also on the same page are the edges Nerves of Steel and Improved Nerves of Steel which specifically reduce the effects of wound penalties on trait tests.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Those are terrific edges for PCs to take. For even more fun, as a GM nothing's stopping you from making monsters (demons that feed on pain, say) that take wound bonuses - i.e., each wound gives a +1 to trait tests. \$\endgroup\$ – dodgethesteamroller Jun 25 '13 at 18:35
  • \$\begingroup\$ Came here to mention hard to kill. It's a great edge for any character that goes to the injury table fairly regularly. =D \$\endgroup\$ – Ryre Jun 26 '13 at 20:26
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This is a dial that can be adjusted depending on how forgiving or harsh you want the game.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Hello Jeb, and welcome to RPG.SE. If you could expand your answer a bit more with exactly what and where the dial is in the rules, it would help to make your answer a more helpful one. Also, you may want to check out the help when you get time; it has more information on RPG.SE. \$\endgroup\$ – Chuck Dee Jun 25 '13 at 15:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ Its certainly true that its one of the rules that published settings first tweak according to the feel/genre/lethality they are going for, and there is a 'Gritty Damage' setting rule in the core rules that does exactly that. \$\endgroup\$ – Wibbs Jun 25 '13 at 17:47

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