Shantidas's page

What is the DC for using a medpatch to Treat Deadly Wounds?

If we start from the most basic situation with regard to the Medicine skill and what can be done without equipment first, then add what can be done with what equipment, and finally add how the Medical Expert feat changes things, I think we can understand both RAI and RAW.

First, medicine is a "trained only" skill, meaning that without the skill and without any equipment, one can't do any of the things listed under the Medicine skill.

If someone untrained in Medicine has a Medpatch, however, he can attempt to administer first aid (which only stops bleed damage or stabilize a dying creature, but it heals no hit points, DC 15), to help with long term stability (which improves the chance of recovering consciousness while stable, DC 15), to treat disease, or to treat drugs or poison. The last two give bonuses to the chance of making saving throws for disease, drugs, or poison and have a DC based on the disease, drug, or poison, but both also require a medkit. It is a gray area whether the medpatch eliminates the need for a medkit or not. RAW you need the medkit and a medpatch for the long term stability, treat disease, drugs, or poison aspects of the medicine skill.

So if you are not trained in medicine but you have a medpatch, you can attempt the listed medicine skill tasks as if you are trained and you get a +10 circumstance bonus toward making the DC of the roll.

If you are trained in medicine there is a little ambiguity about whether you get the +10 bonus when using the medpatch in conjunction with these various checks, but it seems reasonable that the bonus would apply since what helps the untrained person should work the same when applied by a trained person.

If you are trained in Medicine, it opens up the use of the Treat Deadly Wounds ability. This requires a both ranks in medicine skill and medical equipment. Let's say you have ranks in medicine but no equipment, then you can't Treat Deadly Wounds. Having a medpatch doesn't help since the medpatch does not list Treat Deadly Wounds as one of the medicine skill tasks you can attempt untrained. You need a medkit to treat deadly wounds and the medpatch doesn't help even if you have a medkit. Furthermore, it takes 1 minute and you can only use it once every 24 hours for a given patient. If you have sprayflesh, you can treat deadly wounds a second time in 24 hours.

Now add the feat Medical Expert. Getting the feat assumes you are trained in Medicine skill. "You can use the Medicine skill in conjunction with a medpatch or sprayflesh to treat deadly wounds as a full action.... When used in this way, the medpatch or sprayflesh does not perform any of its normal functions." To gain this benefit, you need two pieces of equipment: a medkit and either a medpatch or sprayflesh. But in this case, the medpatch does not give you any bonus nor does the sprayflesh allow you to do this if a patient has already received healing via the treat deadly wounds within the past 24 hours. The DC of the check remains 25 if using the basic medkit or 20 if using the advanced medkit. Used in this way, the time required is a full action.

Here is a submission for a PC for this adventure. I had fun working through the levels and developing the backstory. See the spoiler near the top of the profile for the background and reasons for various leveling up choices.

Shantidas is a Lashunta Scholar Technomancer. He is strong on knowledge skills of culture, science, and technology, with spells that are supportive buffs and information gathering as well as some that are damaging in combat.