Making a character bleed?

[scarycave]

Hi, I'm trying to make a "status-effect" where the afflicted loses health. To show that the current actor has the affliction I want the character to create drops of blood, like when struck by a weapon. I'd also be okay if instead of that, I could just have a huge gush of blood on the initial hit. It last's for five seconds and you lose 1-health per second, and I want the Player to be visually able to tell if a character is bleeding out. Edited September 8, 2012 by scarycave

[WarRatsG]

I think a shader would work best here.