Health (DX)

This page describes the game mechanics for the health attribute in Deus Ex.

Player character
The player character (JC Denton) has separate health values for each of six body parts: head, torso, left arm, right arm, left leg, and right leg.

Each body part has 100 HP. This does not mean that each body part is equally durable, since the head and torso receive double damage as compared to the limbs. Additionally, health values for the player are not directly comparable to health values of NPCs, since the player and NPCs are subject to different damage modifiers. For details on damage modifiers, please see the article on damage.

Head and torso health are considered to be "critical" in that JC dies if either his head health or torso health is reduced to zero, but does not die if any (or all) of his limbs are reduced to zero health. If any of JC's limbs are reduced to zero health, further damage to that limb will be taken by the torso instead.

Body damage penalties
Loss of health to the arms and/or head will incur the following penalties to accuracy. The maximum total penalty is -55%, which occurs when both arms are fully damaged and head health is below 67 HP. Loss of health to the legs and/or torso will incur the following movement-related penalties. If both legs are at 0 HP, the player is forced to crouch and is unable to walk, run or jump. Additionally, movement speed is set at 80% of the base movement speed, regardless of the penalties listed above.

Healing
Lost health can be regained by the following means:


 * Consumption of medkits
 * Use of the Regeneration augmentation
 * Use of a medical robot
 * Small amounts of health can be regained by use of water fountains and consumption of food and drinks (soy food, candy bar, soda, forty, liquor, and wine)

Humanoid NPCs
Similar to the player character, humanoid non-player characters (NPCs) also have separate health values for each of the six body parts (HealthHead, HealthTorso, HealthArmLeft, HealthArmRight, HealthLegLeft, HealthLegRight). Humanoid NPCs also have a Health parameter, which is used to track the NPC's overall health, as described below.

All generic humanoid enemies have the same default value for all seven health parameters. That is, the MJ12 Commando has 250 HP for each body part. Some named characters (such as Gunther Hermann) have a value of HealthHead (head health) that is higher than that of the other 6 health parameters.

Overall health
NPCs die (or become unconscious) when their "overall health" reaches zero. Overall health (also known as "total health") refers to the current value of the Health parameter, and constitutes the actual measure of health for the NPC. Overall health is derived from the individual health values of the body parts as follows:


 * Overall Health = Default Health × ( 100% - ( Head Damage % + Torso Damage % + Limb Damage % ) )

In the above formula,


 * "Default Health" is the default value of the "Health" parameter, as shown in the above table.
 * "Head Damage %" is the percentage of head health that has been lost.
 * "Torso Damage %" is the percentage of torso health that has been lost.
 * "Limb Damage %" is the percentage of the total health of 2.5 limbs that has been lost. For example, if a common trooper has sustained 35 damage at each of the four limbs (140 damage total), then "Limb Damage %" is 140/250 = 56%. Since this parameter is normalized to the total base health of 2.5 limbs, the value of this parameter may range from 0 to 160%.

Therefore, like the player character, humanoid NPCs die when their torso or head health is reduced to zero.

However, humanoid NPCs will also die if any combination of head, torso, and/or limb damage brings their overall health to zero. For example, 0% overall health would result from the combination of 50% head health and 50% torso health, or the combination of 80% torso health and two fully damaged limbs. Note that humanoid NPCs can die solely from limb damage, by losing 2.5 limbs.

The Targeting augmentation, when upgraded to tech 3 or higher, allows the player to see the overall health of NPCs, as well as the health values for each of the six body parts.

Robots and creatures
Robots and creatures (e.g., dobermans, greasels, grays, and karkians) use a single health stat. Unlike humanoid NPCs, who receive damage to specific body parts and whose actual health is derived from the individual health of six body parts, robots and creatures receive damage directly to their "Health" parameter. Additionally, Robots have a separate health pool, EMP health, that is reduced only by EMP damage.

The body-parts health system used for humanoids does not normally apply to robots and creatures. However, some damage effects are hardcoded to specifically deduct torso health (and will also update the overall health of the objecting taking damage using the above "overall health" formula), regardless of whether or not the object taking damage is a humanoid. These damage effects typically do not apply to robots and creatures, but when they do apply, the game usually treats robots and creatures as having a torso health (HealthTorso) of 100 HP, even if their default health (Health) is much higher.

For example, the "on fire" damage-over-time effect (caused by the flamethrower and WP rockets of the GEP gun) deducts 5 HP from torso health every second and updates health using the "overall health" formula. Since the karkian is treated as having a torso health of 100 HP (despite having a health of 400 HP under normal circumstances), a loss of 5 HP in torso health will scale to a loss of 20 HP in overall health.