SO I am running a campaign in the Fallout setting. This means no magic and no PC's as Phyckers (IE no pisonics). This has led to the unfortunate problem of healing being well, nearly non existent.
We are all Fallout fans and call b&*&+*&$ on cowing down on an apple and gaining 6 HP back, so we are limited to stimpacks but that is ok as stims, super stims, and trauma stims can replace health potions. But the party can't actually have a healer, as with no magic you have no cleric.
The heal skill can allow a character to double the hitpoints of another character recovering via rest, and can stabilize the dying of heal 1 hp per level of the creature. This is unexceptionable, in a fallout setting if a character wanted to be a doctor (and one dose) they should be able to heal more then 1 HP to a friend at first level. They have the benefits of modern medical techniques.
What would be a fair rule set for a trained doctor? What could be done via surgery with a great roll or two? I want ideas to help me come up with how to get the party in battle healing with no magic and not burning up to many stimpaks. (Its fallout, pre-war stuff is rare after all) Lets get all mad scientist in here too, would it be possible to graft on some dead raider's arm onto a companion who ost theirs in combat using the heal skill? What should be done?
RutheOtter wrote: SO I am running a campaign in the Fallout setting. This means no magic and no PC's as Phyckers (IE no pisonics). This has led to the unfortunate problem of healing being well, nearly non existent.
We are all Fallout fans and call b!*&*!%% on cowing down on an apple and gaining 6 HP back, so we are limited to stimpacks but that is ok as stims, super stims, and trauma stims can replace health potions. But the party can't actually have a healer, as with no magic you have no cleric.
The heal skill can allow a character to double the hitpoints of another character recovering via rest, and can stabilize the dying of heal 1 hp per level of the creature. This is unexceptionable, in a fallout setting if a character wanted to be a doctor (and one dose) they should be able to heal more then 1 HP to a friend at first level. They have the benefits of modern medical techniques.
What would be a fair rule set for a trained doctor? What could be done via surgery with a great roll or two? I want ideas to help me come up with how to get the party in battle healing with no magic and not burning up to many stimpaks. (Its fallout, pre-war stuff is rare after all) Lets get all mad scientist in here too, would it be possible to graft on some dead raider's arm onto a companion who ost theirs in combat using the heal skill? What should be done?
My first thought would be to adopt a second-wind like effect from 4e and allow players to suck it up and keep fighting (or, after combat, take a breather and get some hit points back, depending).
My second thought would be to have a profession/craft skill that gave relatively inexpensive access to stims. Replace alchemy with this and let your doctor make stims for the party out of radioactive moss and rat droppings (or whatever).
My third thought would be a series of specialized feats that allowed someone to perform a Heal check (with an easily approachable DC) to replicate the effects of various potions of cure (x) wounds, perhaps requiring the use of reagents that you could replace as loot drops. Something like 'I'm a doctor...', prereq: Heal 2 ranks, whatever, effect: Can use 1 bandage and 1 bullet to close wounds and heal damage. Make a DC 13 Heal check. If you pass, heal 1d8+(ranks in heal, max 5) damage.
Arthur C. Clarke wrote: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. While it may not adhere to Fallout canon, you could conceivably tack on "miraculous" heal spells via advanced rediscovered tech like nanites to rebuild flesh, sinew and bone. Perhaps a healer type could involve some sort of neural insert that allows them to receive feedback from their nanite swarm, not consume them during treatment, and much more rapidly perform in combat healing. Maybe use of this prevents use of other more powerful combat gear.
I'm just spitballing but if I was going to make a non-magical setting with roughly PF rules and still wanted healing, I would look into this avenue.
Quintessentially Me wrote: Arthur C. Clarke wrote: Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. While it may not adhere to Fallout canon, you could conceivably tack on "miraculous" heal spells via advanced rediscovered tech like nanites to rebuild flesh, sinew and bone. Perhaps a healer type could involve some sort of neural insert that allows them to receive feedback from their nanite swarm, not consume them during treatment, and much more rapidly perform in combat healing. Maybe use of this prevents use of other more powerful combat gear.
I'm just spitballing but if I was going to make a non-magical setting with roughly PF rules and still wanted healing, I would look into this avenue. Well yeah, that is what stimpacks are after all, a needed full of stimcells, enzymes, and sweet sciency magic! Now discovering say, an old portable auto doc is possible and awesome, but it docent solve the issue of starting off in a town as nobodies and setting out into the waste for fun and profits and inevitably needing stitched up.
I need a plausible and fair system for a doctor/surgeon to be able to in a round or three patch up a injured buddy.
Zilvar2k11 wrote: My second thought would be to have a profession/craft skill that gave relatively inexpensive access to stims. Replace alchemy with this and let your doctor make stims for the party out of radioactive moss and rat droppings (or whatever).
My third thought would be a series of specialized feats that allowed someone to perform a Heal check (with an easily approachable DC) to replicate the effects of various potions of cure (x) wounds, perhaps requiring the use...
That's not a bad idea to use feats to improve the heal skill and replacing craft alchemy. I didn't think about that. Thanks!
What about an alchemist? Maybe reworked? Iirc There's even an archetype that could fit.
Blackstorm wrote: What about an alchemist? Maybe reworked? Iirc There's even an archetype that could fit. An alchemist works...ish... As I recall its still a magical class (It can summon bombs after all) Maybe some simple modifications and reflufing to it would do, an you mention the archetype you are talking about?
I would do a couple things. First of all I would adopt Evil Lincolns hitpoint variant. The long and short of it is any injury that does not result from a critical hit, or a failed save is just 'strain' instead of being an actual wound. So only deadly wounds from crits and failed saves need to be actually healed. Strain is recovered with a short rest (I think its a minute).
Second, an alchemist with the chirurgeon archetype could have his infusions, mutegens, and bombs reflavored as chemistry and technology instead of pseudo magic and alchemy. That would go a long way to solving the problem.
Third, there is a 3rd party product, the anarchronistic adventures investigator. It has the mad doctor archetype, which has talents to expand the use of the heal skill including allowing it to be used multiple times, and allowing 'splinting' which provides temporary relief from ability point damage and other negative conditions. In fact the whole anachronistic adventures line would probably be very good for a fallout style game.
Plausible? For a doctor heal someone in 6 to 18 seconds without the use of super-science? I don't see a way. You need to create a device outside of your one use stimpacks and the like to account for doing what is basically impossible. Create an AutoDoc or the like, duplicate various spell effects, give it a limited number of uses per day, require X levels of the healing skill in order to actually work the dang thing.
Kolokotroni wrote: I would do a couple things. First of all I would adopt Evil Lincolns hitpoint variant. That HP rule will fit the bill perfectly. The PC's will consume less healing resources, feel more like a bad ass, and it isn't to game braking as they can still die in combat from damage crit or not crit. It works. Thanks dude! If I see you IRL ill get you a cookie :)
RutheOtter wrote: Kolokotroni wrote: I would do a couple things. First of all I would adopt Evil Lincolns hitpoint variant. That HP rule will fit the bill perfectly. The PC's will consume less healing resources, feel more like a bad ass, and it isn't to game braking as they can still die in combat from damage crit or not crit. It works. Thanks dude! If I see you IRL ill get you a cookie :) You can die from strain as well, forgot to mention, if you are brought to 0 hp, that hit counts as deadly damage too.
Basically you have one hp total, and you keep track of 'strain' and 'deadly damage' separately. Strain represents the abstract wearing down of a character, ducking out of the way at the last moment, blocking hits, or taking glancing blows, and not actual 'wounds'.
Deadly Damage is actual wounds. Critical Hits, failed saves, and any injury that takes you to 0 (when combining both strain and deadly damage taken) hp or lower are deadly damage. Treat deadly dsmage exactly as hp in the normal rules. You can recover a little bit with treat injury, or rest, but mostly it requires magical (or technological) intervention.
Everything else is strain. Strain is recovered by a short rest from combat.
You can still die, you just recover without the expenditure of lots of healing resources. So long as the party doesnt have extensive healing resources, it actually keeps the game in line with normal, where usually if time allows the party heals to full after combat encounters with the help of clerics, wands and such.
Backing-up EL's strain/injury rules as well.
By differentiating between hp as plot-immunity and hp as actual wounds, you can allow quicker natural regeneration of hit point (or not) without stretching suspension of disbelief too far.
Works good for cinematic feel IMO.
'findel
Look up d20 Modern's surgery rules. Technically a part of Treat Injury (the feat just takes away the penalty), it heals 1d6 hit points per recipient level, once per day.
It takes 1d4 hours to perform, plus an extra hour per hit point below 0! The recipient is left fatigued for some time afterward, based on the Treat Injury result (so better doctors have a reason for existing).
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