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.
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.
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.
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.
This is a dial that can be adjusted depending on how forgiving or harsh you want the game.