Healing kit!

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

ohboy007 - 10/12/2006  3:42 PM

Actualy I just had a suggestion, could there not be an item made that wont work to heal, but will at least stop bleeding at that point and then the person could heal 1hp at a time untill she or he is at 0 or something like that. A permanant item which you could purchase in a temple and of course use over and over again *item describtion: Medical kit to stop bleeding* or something like that. Im sure someone has already thought about that and what not but I figure I would suggest it as I was contemplating this all out while drinking my coffee and eating this muffin. Thanks ohboy007

Now, there are a LOT of characters out there with the Heal skill. After all, in a comparatively low-magic world, healing potions don't run like water. For that matter, neither do healing kits.

So let's hear thoughts on the ability to Stabilize someone. Just that, and nothing more. Let them get to 1hp on their own, in a dead-magic zone when you're out of bandages. Or anywhere else when you're out of bandages, potions, and spells.

Seems a bit unreasonable to just stand there, twiddling your thumbs, while Fighter Joe bleeds out, y'know?

[Faldred]

It would probably have to be an inventory item, to get around adding a feat or pseudo-feat to each character, but I can see allowing anyone with at least 1 rank in Heal to attempt to stabilize a critically wounded comrade without bandages or potions.  A strawman for the conditions would be something like:

The "healer" must have at least one rank of Heal (not from modifiers, but must actually have trained in the skill)
The "healer" must not be distracted (as in, same rules as healing kits)
The target must have between 0 and -9 hit points and must still be bleeding
DC is 15(?) vs. (modified) Heal skill, with a circumstance penalty equal to the target's current HP (i.e., target has -5 HP, so roll is made with a -5 penalty)
On success, target heals 1 HP and stabilizes
On failure by 5 or more, target takes additional 1 HP damage, plus 1 HP for each additional 5 the DC is missed by (i.e., miss by 10 = -2 HP, 15 = -3 HP, etc.)
Ability takes a full-round action to use, can only be used once per five rounds
[/list]

[J-ser]

Interesting, I like it. There have been so many times I've stood there, the last one alive and everyone else is shouting at me to heal them, and I wish I had some potions or something...
The DC should probably be a little higher then 15 though.

[Weeblie]

Has people never learned to just have 40+ reserve potions (kept in bags so they don't weight too much)?

Doesn't have to be any fancy super-healing-potion-of-un-doom-and-bring-you-back.

One single HP healed = stablized.

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

Even those 40+ reserve potions run out, especially for those of us who are eternal paupers and can't make our own.

One single HP healed = Stabilized.

So make it a DC 20 Heal check to heal one point of damage as a full-round action. I suppose you could sit there and patch yourself up for ten minutes straight, but maybe there'd be a simple way to limit that. Say, auto-fail if at 0 or above?

[Weeblie]

No, no, no...

You misunderstand the use of the reserve [cure light wounds] potions.

Use them ONLY for stabilizing people in these situations you are describing. They are cheap and I seriously doubt you would use 40 of them on a single trip (if you do... erh... I think you should find a safer party in that case ).

Edit: I'm not saying that Healing Kits are a bad idea or anything. Just saying that there are alternatives right now, if one has the dicipline to only use those potions for those situations.

[Wraithdur]

but the ability to stabilize someone without healing kits is quite realistic, although perhaps it should have at least 1 material component.
for instance having a list of possible components, and only needing 1 of them to stabilise someone.
perhaps the temples could start selling strips of cloth for 1GP each.
this slightly undermines the concept of healing without kits, but in the real world you would need a strip of cloth to stop someone bleeding.

[Faldred]

Weeblie - 10/13/2006  4:57 PM

Has people never learned to just have 40+ reserve potions

Which is 40+ items the server has to verify on every load/save.

[Weeblie]

Faldred - 10/16/2006  6:32 PM

Weeblie - 10/13/2006  4:57 PM

Has people never learned to just have 40+ reserve potions

Which is 40+ items the server has to verify on every load/save.

That's incorrect, I think. A single potion stack (10 of them) is an object. Not a single potion itself. So, it would be only 4 extra objects for the server to process. That's far, far less than the number of items a normal character carries around. For performance hit or something, it's much more important to clear out all the "junk" than to carry around less potions.

And, if the "stack is one item" theory proves to be wrong... Well... What about everyone carrying around a single stack of arrows? That's 99 of them, after all!

[Stephen_Zuckerman]

I just went through my character's BIC and it turns out you're right. A stack is a single object. (Which means we should make Gum Arabic stackable to 99...

[Weeblie]

Stephen_Zuckerman - 10/16/2006  9:46 PM

But those 40+ extra potions cost money, which oftentimes people don't have.

Weeblie - 10/14/2006  10:11 AM

No, no, no...

You misunderstand the use of the reserve [cure light wounds] potions.

Use them ONLY for stabilizing people in these situations you are describing.

They would cost you approxmiately 1000 gold totally (if you asked a cleric to make them for you) and would last... months? If you only use them for that purpose, of course.

But... hehe... dead magic zones might be tricky...

Disclimer: Still not saying that healing kits are a bad idea.

[Dorganath]

The "cost money" argument is never going to fly. Sorry.
  We -want- things to cost money.
  I'm not personally opposed to such a thing but in my personal opinion, it should:
  * Consume something, whether it's s...s of cloth or whatever OR be of single/limited use * Not be usable during combat or at least see a penalty during combat, or perhaps a concentration check in addition to a heal check * Take time to use like a healing kit, though perhaps not quite as much time
  If you can't tell, I'd personally be fairly opposed to an unlimited-use, fire-and-forget item with no considerations on use. These are of course my opinions and should not be construed as an official statement, nor should they be construed as arguing or debating anything else that has been said in this thread previously.
  I'll note that this idea came up due to the inability of a party to heal a dying member inside a dead magic zone. One of those present was a cleric and -should- have been able to utilize mundate healing techniques (in theory) but for the limitations of game mechanics. Healing kits would have worked, but there were none on the members present.
  I do think this idea, while it does have a certain amount of merit, is a solution to a problem which already has a solution.