I’m 24, I practice fencing. My height is 198 cm, I usually fence against shorter opponents. They often manage to drive their smallsword into my belly. That’s why I’m curious: what would it be like to get wounded into the belly by a real smallsword? How lethal would it be? How painful? How would I react?
Beyond initial bleeding - extensive gastrointestinal issues, depending on where it hits. If it lacerates part of the intestine, it may leak feces into the abdominal cavity. It would require flushing and antibiotics to prevent going into sepsis from massive infection.
If it does enough damage, you could be looking at removing a portion of the intestines and possibly requiring a colostomy bag.
Abdominal wounds are no joke. The liver bleeds profusely if lacerated or punctured. All of the blood flow to the abdomen exits through the liver into the inferior vena cava.
You would probably say “ow, my belly”
Not sure about the lethality or pain level, tho.
Sorry, my reply was dumb. I don’t know what you said back, but it was probably completely justified. 😄
Its totally ok! I just answered that I would also clutch my belly with my hands and fall on my knees, but then deleted it because thought it was kind of dumb 😅
Complete layman answer here, but I would imagine it would depend on several factors:
- Depth of the wound.
- Any angle, twist or lateral movement of the blade after contact.
- Which organs/blood vessels got hit, if any.
- Cleanliness of the blade prior to puncturing the skin.
I suspect it’d be extremely painful regardless of the above!
I think the cleanliness of the blade would be less relevant than the massive infection pouring from your pierced guts into the wound.
yeah, almost nothing on the blade would matter compare to the filth already inside your intestines. just a speck of that leaking into your body cavity will cause sepsis, and would be fatal without elephantine doses of antibiotics. stabbed with a sword? you’ll be in the hospital for weeks, at least. oh, and that’s not even including the massive tissue damage and blood loss.
plus, you’ll be lucky to be leaving with your entire intestine intact (you’ll likely be losing at least a few feet of it) and possibly pooping into a colostomy bag for the rest of your life.
1d6 in piercing damage but hit to the guts is probably a crit so 2d6. If you are lucky you will just be very injured. If you are unlucky you will go down and start doing death saving throws.
It’s fencing so I would make it a rapier which is 1d8+ Dex. But I agree about the crit. Better hope it’s not a rogue…
Tldr it depends.
You might not notice with adrenaline pumping. As for lethality it really depends on where in your stomach you get hit and the care you get afterwards. In terms of the fight if it’s just your stomach area getting hit nothing shy of a spinal hit would instantly stop you. If they hit an artery you’ve got minutes. If they puncture your intestines and you can’t get care days, before infection catches up to you.
For the actual conflict the only things that will instantly stop are central nervous system hits (brain/spine). Heart and lungs are the next worst, but wouldn’t stop you from claiming a pyrrhic victory. Major arteries are the next big thing to worry about.
The worst part about getting hit in a non vital part of the chest wouldn’t be the force of the blow but the slow agonizing battle with infection that is not unlikely to follow. But absolutely livable and not nearly as bad with modern medical care.
