by Raven, Kaet, and Tash
Be sure to keep in mind your character’s physique, personality, and pain tolerance. A very large person isn’t going to be as moved by a punch as someone who is small. Someone who is used to pain is less likely to shed tears than someone who is being punched for the first time. But remember, almost everyone feels pain, no matter how jaded or tough they are. The following is organized to first describe pain-inducing events, then give specifics behind common injuries, such as what entails a bloody nose or a broken bone.
This tutorial does not condone violence of any sort. Don’t go trying these things on your bratty little brother! We mean it!
Slapping versus backhanding
A slap is going to sting, and a red mark is going to be left if the slap is strong enough. The victim of a slap, if it’s a strong one, won’t be able to keep facing straight. The pain is very sharp, sudden, and may result in a momentary (very momentary) shock, but prolonged shock if the slap has some kind of emotional connotation.
A backhand is the same motion as a slap, but with the hand turned over so it’s the back side of the hand which comes into contact with the face. This stings less, packs a bit more punch (no pun intended), and if done hard enough will leave a bruise or cause the victim to stumble.
Punching
Most people forget that punching can hurt the puncher just as much as the punchee. For example, if the intended victim of a punch ducks, and the attacker ends up punching the top of a person's head, their hand might break. A well-aimed punch to the face with enough force behind it can result in a shiner (black eye; big bruise around the eye), a broken nose, bruised or fractured cheekbone (though a fractured cheekbone is rare), or a split lip. A clip 'round the ear hurts, can affect balance, cause ringing in the ears, and can occasionally knock someone out. A strong upwards blow to the nose, if done by an expert, can kill a person — see Lioness Rampant.
Also, a punch can knock someone out cold if delivered to other specific spots, such as an uppercut to the nose, or a fist to the point of your jaw. This goes double if the victim is very young, very old, very weak, or very drunk.
Kicking
The key to a kick is the destination. It’s important to keep in mind that fragile or sensitive portions of the body are going to be more painful when kicked than say the butt, or the thigh. A kick between the legs to male or female is going to bring the person to their knees if he’s a male, and probably to tears if she’s a female — we must not discriminate. As we’ve probably all seen, when a male receives a kick to the jewels on TV it is fairly accurate to the real life event. Other men wince in sympathy, and often they can’t even watch. Men may be immobilized for half a minute or more by a kick between the legs.
Kicks to the face and head are 1) incredibly painful (so painful that victims may not even be able to properly cry out) and 2) incredibly damaging. A person can get far more force behind a kick than they can a punch. But whether it’s a kick or a punch, a blow from either the fist or the hand to the solar plexus is going to wind the victim.
Kicks to the torso can be just as painful. A strong kick to the middle can easily break a few ribs. A strong kick to the rear end can be incredibly painful if it connects with the tailbone or pelvis — not everything down there is padding.
Stabbing/dagger/knife/sharp object-related injuries
Ow. Like nearly every kind of attack, where it occurs is very important. Shallow cuts hurt the least, while deep slashes will usually provoke a shout, a yell, a cry, a similar adjective. Stabs, depending on location, often result in screams. While the pain of a surface infliction like a punch or a kick may fade within an hour, a stab will not do that. In the course of a long fight a victim is going to be affected progressively worse by a stab.
A temporary rush of adrenaline may for a moment disguise the pain, but when the pain does kick in it can be a very quick deterrent against further fighting. If someone is stabbed deeply it's possible for the pain to not register for about ten or fifteen minutes, but that's only the kind of wound that is crippling or killing, and deep enough to sever nerves.
Blunt Objects
Whether the blunt object is being brought to the victim, or the victim to the blunt object, the result is always black and blue, rarely blood, and sometimes a broken bone. However, blunt force trauma to the face nearly always results in a nosebleed, split lips, broken teeth and/or black eyes. An object made of metal or wood can, even wielded by someone not necessarily considered strong, cause a loss of consciousness to the victim and, if prolonged, a concussion or death if the blow is to the head. Blows to the spine are particularly painful, and of a more damaging nature, though a blunt object to the face will by far cause the most damage. Hands, wrists, ankles and feet hold many small, easily broken bones.
Miscellaneous
Concussion
A concussion is the most common and least serious type of brain injury. It is usually caused by a blow to the head. If your character gets a concussion, it is likely that they will vomit directly after the blow lands. If the blow was strong enough, they may be knocked unconscious for a period of time. The general telltale sign of a concussion is pupils of different sizes, or pupils that are not responding as they should. Confusion and small-scale memory loss regarding the incident and the time directly afterward are common — a person may know that they were hit but not remember being hit. Until the concussion is healed, a person may experience ringing in the ears, vomiting, drowsiness, and an increasing level of disorientation.
Hair-grabbing
If you get someone by the hair you have a great deal of control over them. An earnest pull on someone’s hair hurts a lot, but it is more a stinging, instantaneous hurt than a long-lasting hurt, though if it’s done with enough force, the area may be sore for a few days. Throat-grabbing/choking
If a character is grabbed by the throat with both hands, and the attacker is squeezing there’s a good chance that in a matter of minutes the victim is going to pass out. A forearm pinning someone by the throat is also effective. Unconsciousness does not mean the victim is dead. If the attacker managed to crush the windpipe, or continued to choke the victim beyond the point of unconsciousness then the victim is probably going to die of suffocation. Not the most painful event to undergo, but marks and bruises may be left on the neck depending on the severity and duration of the hold.
Wounds
Broken Nose
A lot of blood is involved in this kind of injury. Broken noses are as painful to acquire as they are to fix. Heavy bruising, sometimes around both eyes is common. The immediate result is a temporary loss of awareness.
Stab Wound
A stab wound will bleed minimally if the object used to make the wound is left in it. However, this is a huge obstruction in fights, and depending on the case may lead to a worse injury than it starts as. As soon as the object is removed the wound will bleed a whole lot more. Pain will probably be the same, but in regard to relative comfort, the wound will be easier to cope with.
Knife Wound
A knife wound can range from a surface scratch to a deep slash. The location of the wound matters most. As should be obvious, a deep slash anywhere is going to be incredibly damaging. Muscles with deep cuts will be useless. If the knife wound slashes a tendon, it is both extremely painful and long-lasting — without healing, at least two months in bandages with the limb immobile. Deep knife wounds have serious repercussions.
Burn
Burns are caused, quite obviously, by prolonged exposure to a hot object. Burns vary by intensity depending on how long the victim was exposed to the source and how much skin was exposed. There are three degrees of burns, called, creatively, first, second and third degree burns. Third degree burns are the worst of the three. Keep in mind that it is widely agreed that the more severe degrees of burns are, inch for inch, one of the most painful wounds. The pain from any degree burn can last for hours.
Broken Bone
Incredibly painful. The degree and location of the bone that is broken is always relevant. Broken fingers usually hurt less than broken arms. Shattered or oddly-broken bones both look and feel painful, and must be splinted as soon as possible. Broken ribs impede breathing, moving/flexibility, and laughing, among most other movements. Results of a broken bone commonly include limited or no mobility in the affected area, tears and screaming.
Dislocations
A dislocated shoulder or hip has to be put back in as soon as you can before the swelling gets too bad and the dislocation can’t be righted. If a dislocation isn’t fixed, a person can become crippled. Dislocations hurt almost as much as a break, but like a blunt ache as opposed to a sharp pain. Dislocated jaws will keep a person from being able to open their mouth, talk normally, etc. In some cases, the person may not realize they dislocated the joint until they try to move it.
Take this knowledge and use it wisely. Now you know what the in-character consequences are if you pick a fight.