PC is fatigued for 24 hours after Surgery and only heals 1d6 per level. I realize PCs can still function while fatigued, but am looking for other ideas.
How do you handle how much damage to deal out in respect to the PCs recovery time?
Secondly,
What are some of your gaming strategies to have your PCs heal faster or accommodate the damage rate they receive while keeping the game deadly and exciting, keeping it rolling so they don't have to take a weekend after each encounter to get back to 100%? (I don't have spells in my games.)
Maybe treat HP as a character's morale level and make Ability damage represent actual physical harm.
It is a great system to act as punitive measure for disobeying the general principle of modern combat, as summed up in the immortal words of Razoreface:
Try getting shot less
Healing time is the reason you dont just wade up thru the hail of bullets to punch the 4 guys shooting at you. Perhaps if you describe the enemies as
You see four guys with "2HospitalDay" weapons,
and their boss behind them with a "3HospitalDay" gun
Perhaps like an expensive trauma drug. I wanted to ask if anyone had already dealt with this before I go off and make one.
[Hey I am in San Antonio also, how often do you all play?]
it is more a matter of how much they bring unto themselves.
If your players consider Frontal Assault as their first response to all encounters,
I hope they can pay their medical bills.
Usually, the days some guys spend 'healing' (usually the combat oriented guys)
are used by the others for stakeouts, computer snooping, legwork for Faceman setting up cons, distraction/disinformation emplacement, and most importantly multiple egress avenues
.... you guys do setup multiple egress avenues for various stages of your plan, right?
Cause when a plan goes south you better already have extra ways out secure
But yes, to answer your question, they should always have a back up plans for each stage. I am in the planning and creation stage.
We stick to the RAW.
It is a great system to act as punitive measure for disobeying the general principle of modern combat, as summed up in the immortal words of Razoreface:
Try getting shot less
if he ever comes back...that will be his CT
-DF
Imagine the hero who rolls in to a room filled with badguys, all blazing with automatic weapons. At the end of the encounter the badguys are dead and the hero is just scuffed up and needs to rest up for the next encounter. In game terms, the badguys hit his AC a number of times and the hero has lost most of his Vitality damage, but has not taken any hit point damage and therefore does not need a doctor.
This system really makes things move in a game that does not have clerical healing or potions.
Vitality is out of Saga or Unearthed Arcana? I can't remember now.
Unearthed Arcana
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20040206a&page=3
Vitality and Wound Points
The vitality and wound points damage system was originally developed for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game as a more cinematic method of handling damage than the traditional hit point system. The system allows for characters to improve the amount of punishment they can withstand as they go up in level, while still allowing for a single lucky attack to take down a character.
The main way to survive a gunfight is to not get hit. Either use better armor, better cover, better guns, or better tactics. Or all of the above.
The rules as written allow you to shorten healing time to as little as 6 hours, meaning you can do the surgery at night, and be ready to go in the morning (think of it as an extended rest).
If your players don't want to follow the rule of "Get shot less", then perhaps you could use the Saga system damage rules, or the VP/WP rules from SW/UA.
The rules as written allow you to shorten healing time to as little as 6 hours
How? I'm not asking for a full run-down and stuff, but... really?
I mean, if you're comfortable with using both in a day, don't let me stop you, but that's a loophole.
Works if you don't think about it too much, heh.
Perhaps if we just slide the number of HP recovered to be a fraction of your total rather than a flat d6 per level... 1d6 x HP/10 (10% - 60%)
Chuck Li, Level 10 (Tough 7 / Strong 3); HP 96;
Critically wounded but Stable at -8 hp.
"Doc" conducts Surgery. It takes (1d4+8) 10 hours. With (10d6) 36 hp restored.
Chuck is back to 28 hp and is fatigued for 6 to 24 hours.
After this Chuck heals normally. Long-term care (full bed rest) for 24 hours and Chuck is up to 68 hp.
Surgery:
Surgery (DC 20):
With a surgery kit, a character can conduct field surgery.
This application of the Treat Injury skill carries a –4 penalty, which can be negated with the Surgery feat.
Surgery requires 1d4 hours; if the patient is at negative hit points, add an additional hour for every point below 0 the patient has fallen.
Surgery restores 1d6 hit points for every character level of the patient (up to the patient’s full normal total of hit points) with a successful skill check.
Surgery can only be used successfully on a character once in a 24-hour period.
A character who undergoes surgery is fatigued for 24 hours, minus 2 hours for every point above the DC the surgeon achieves.
The period of fatigue can never be reduced below 6 hours in this fashion.
Surgery (DC 20):
With a surgery kit, a character can conduct field surgery.
This application of the Treat Injury skill carries a –4 penalty, which can be negated with the Surgery feat.
Surgery requires 1d4 hours; if the patient is at negative hit points, add an additional hour for every point below 0 the patient has fallen.
Surgery restores 1d6 hit points for every character level of the patient (up to the patient’s full normal total of hit points) with a successful skill check.
Surgery can only be used successfully on a character once in a 24-hour period.
A character who undergoes surgery is fatigued for 24 hours, minus 2 hours for every point above the DC the surgeon achieves.
The period of fatigue can never be reduced below 6 hours in this fashion.
Frightfully wounded, 8hp
9AM Surgery(10hr) gives him (10d6) 35HP back... topped off & then some
7pm Dinner at TacoBell
In bed by 8 and a full 12hr nap...
8am Up & At'em "This coffee percolator could brew faster if I had some plutonium and ductape..."
Sure 1 day could work-
its not the stitches but the Meds man... the meds!
Better living thru chemistry.
Real life doctors have codes and ethics,
that is for the mooks in the cheap seats.... you pay enough and you can get the cool doctors that are not burdened with codes & ethics. They cost more, but you get what you pay for (and you are paying to be wide awake and feelin no pain). Just try to avoid the ones with a wall board flow chart of Revenge/GlobalDomination, and its a bad sign when they refer to folks as "Foolish Mortal"s
like:
on Hypertext d20 (for DnD)
and
on Guild Companion (for OGL 3.x)
barring those...make your own
like, say, damage below 0 hp is temp CON damage, when CON reaches zero you're dead. period.
too grim? :evillaugh
how about... 0 hp to -CON is physical (impairing) damage (bleeding and such) and below that is permenant CON ability damage.
or "healing" hp damage converts it to subdual damage that goes away character level per hour of rest. :surrender
the overall effect on your game is to make the PCs understand that violence is not the first or best answer. and that body armor and the proper use of cover are "life-savers."