Medical Skill
A character that has Medical skill is called a medic. Medics need a
medkit to use their skill. Medics diagnose ailments, heal wounds, control
infections, neutralize poisons, cure diseases, wake up unconscious
individuals and prevent tissue deterioration.
There are nine Medical subskills: Administer Drugs, Diagnosis, First Aid,
Minor Surgery, Major Surgery, Control Infection, Cure Disease,
Neutralize Toxins and Activate Freeze Field.
If a patient is treated in a hospital or sick bay all Success Rates are
increased 20%. If the patient is an animal or an unfamiliar alien, all
Success Rates are reduced 20%. These two modifiers are cumulative,
so the chance to perform major surgery on an unfamiliar alien at a
hospital is normal.
ADMINISTERING DRUGS
Success Rate: 100%
Three drugs are covered under this subskill: stimdose, staydose and
telol.
A medic can use one dose of stimdose to wake up an unconscious or
stunned character, or to restore 10 Stamina points to a character that
was poisoned or contracted a disease or infection. Stimdose can only
be given by a medic. If more than one dose is given in a 20-hour period,
the second dose has no effect.
A medic can use one dose of staydose to place an individual in a state
of arrested animation. A character whose Stamina has been reduced to
0, but not below -30, will be brought back to life by the drug if it is
injected within one minute (10 turns) after death. The staydose slows
down the character's heartbeat and breathing so he can survive with
no Stamina points. If the character's Stamina is brought back above 0
within 24 hours, he will live. If not, the character dies. Only one dose of
staydose can be given to a character, until his Stamina is raised above
0.
Telol is a truth drug. Only a medic can administer it correctly. There is an
80% chance the telol will work. If it does, the injected character will
answer up to five simple questions, using simple answers. An injected
character passes out for 1d10 hours, whether the drug works or not.
DIAGNOSIS
Success Rate: 60% + skill level
A medscanner will give a medic a brief
diagnosis. This diagnosis will outline the patient's general symptoms and
will identify the ailment as a wound, a disease, a poison or an infection.
Once the medic has a general diagnosis, he can use this subskill to get
a specific diagnosis. If he passes the skill check, the medic knows
exactly what the ailment is. With this information, the medic can use one
of his other subskills to heal the wound, control the infection, cure the
disease or neutralize the toxin.
Without a specific diagnosis, a medic can not use a subskill to treat a
victim. However, the medic can use the medscanner's general diagnosis
as a guide to which drug the victim needs. After the medic gives the
injection, the victim must roll his current Stamina or less on d100 to
overcome the effect of the poison, disease or infection. If the victim fails
this roll, the drug has no effect. A second dose given within 20 hours
automatically has no effect.
FIRST AID
Success Rate: 100%
A medic can heal 10 points of wound damage automatically by using
one dose of biocort plus any appropriate items from the medkit (local
anesthetics, plastiflesh spray, etc.) Only one shot of biocort can be
given to a character in a 20-hour period. If a second shot is given within
20 hours, it has no effect. If a character suffered more than 10 points of
damage, the medic must use major or minor surgery to heal him
completely. Biocort has no effect on poisons, infections or diseases.
MINOR SURGERY
Success Rate: 40% + skill level
Minor surgery can heal up to 20 points of damage. This is in additon to
the 10 points that can be healed with first aid. For every 10 points of
damage (or fraction of 10 points) that is healed, an additional dose of
biocort is required. Minor surgery also uses one dose of anesthetic. If
the surgery fails, the patient does not recover any Stamina points and
one dose of biocort is used.
MAJOR SURGERY
Success Rate: 20% + skill level
Major surgery can heal any amount of damage to a character. For every
10 points of damage (or fraction of 10 points) healed, a dose of biocort
is used. The only limit to the amount of damage that can be healed is the
patient's original Stamina and the supply of biocort. If the operation fails,
the patient does not recover any Stamina points and one dose of biocort
is used up. The medic can try minor surgery on the same patient, if he
has not already. Major surgery also requires one dose of
anesthetic.Major and minor surgery are effective only on wounds. They
can not be used to heal damage from infections, diseases or poisons.
CONTROLLING INFECTION
Success Rate: 50% skill level
Controlling infection requires a dose of omnimycin. If the attempt fails,
the omnimycin is used up and the infection is out of control. Infections
are rated by their infection strength (S) and duration (D). The infection
causes a specific amount of damage every 10 hours. For example, an
S6/D8 infection causes six points of damage every 10 hours for 80
hours if it is not controlled.
CURING DISEASES
Success Rate: 40% + skill level
Curing a disease requires a dose of antibody plus. If the attempt fails,
the antibody plus has been used up and the disease has not been
cured. Diseases are rated according to how they modify ability checks,
how long the modification lasts and whether the disease is fatal. The
modifier is a negative number and the duration is in 10-hour periods. If
the duration is followed by an exclamation mark, the disease will kill
anyone it has infected after that length of time unless the disease is
treated at a hospital. For example, a -10/D10! disease modifies every
ability check the character makes by -10 for 100 hours. The victim will
die after 100 hours unless he is treated successfully at a hospital.
NEUTRALIZING TOXINS
Success Rate: 30% + skill level
Neutralizing a poison inside a victim's body requires a dose of antitox.
Poisons are rated like infections, according to how much damage they
cause and for how long. Poison damage is inflicted every turn instead
of every 10 hours, and the duration is in turns. An S7/T9 poison will
cause 7 points of damage every turn for 9 turns. Neutralizing a poison
stops the poison from causing any more damage, but does not heal
damage the poison caused on earlier turns
ACTIVATING FREEZE FIELDS
Success Rate: 30% + skill level
A freeze field is a device that places a body in stasis and preserves it
until it can be revived. Only a medic can activate a freeze field correctly.
A freeze field must be activated within two minutes (20 turns) after
death, or the body can not be revived. Activating the field takes five
turns. The process can be interrupted, as long as the field is completely
activated within the two-minute time limit. If the medic does not pass his
skill check and there is at least one minute left in the time limit, he has
two options: he can make a second attempt to activate the field, or he
can inject the body with staydose. If the second attempt to activate the
field fails, the body can not be revived.
Psycho-Social Skill
Psycho-Social skill gives a character an advantage when dealing with
individuals or groups of intelligent beings. The skill can be used when
dealing with any of the major races as well as any other intelligent
species the character encounters.
T here are five Psycho-Social subskills: empathy, persuasion,
communication, hypnosis, and psycho-pathology.
Racial Bonuses. Because Vrusk have the racial ability of
Comprehension, they gain +5% on all rolls involving Psycho-Social skill.
Dralasites get a bonus of +10 when using empathy, because of their
racial ability to detect lies. These modifiers apply only if the character
has Psycho-Social skill.
EMPATHY
Success rate: 10% + skill level
Empathy allows a character to get a general impression of the mood and
intentions of individuals or groups. In order to use this skill, the specialist
must be able to see or hear the individual or group.
The information that a character gains by using this skill is very vague
and non-specific. The referee should use descriptions like hostile,
curious, cautious, helpful, neutral, etc.
Empathy can be used by a character only once per encounter. If two
characters in the group have Psycho-Social skill, each can try to use
their empathy subskill.
PERSUASION
Success rate: 10% + skill level
Persuasion lets a character try to convince a person or group to follow
a reasonable course of action suggested by the character. The
character must explain his plan to the group or person being persuaded.
If the character must use a translator, he has a -10% modifier.
A character can try to persuade a group or individual only once. If the
character misses his roll by 50 points or more, his audience will get mad
and might try to do something that is the opposite of what the character
wanted.
COMMUNICATION
Success rate: 40% + skill level
This subskill can be used when a character must communicate with a
creature whose language he does not speak or understand. If the
character uses this subskill successfully, he can communicate using
very simple messages. The referee might force players to use simple
messages by restricting them to two-word phrases.
HYPNOSIS
Success rate: 15% + skill level
In order to hypnotize a character, the hypnotist must be able to speak to
the subject in a common language without a translator.
If the person being hypnotized is willing, this is the only requirement. If
the subject does not realize he is being hypnotized, he gets to make an
Intuition check. If he passes the check, the subject realizes what is
happening and can not be hypnotized. If he fails the check, he can be
hypnotized normally. No one can be hypnotized against his will if he
realizes he is being hypnotized.
A character may try to hypnotize only one subject at a time. Hypnotizing
someone takes 1d10 minutes. The hypnotist can try to hypnotize a
willing subject a second time if the first attempt fails. If the subject is
unwilling, the hypnotist gets only one chance to hypnotize him. If the
attempt fails, the subject gets to make another Intuition check to realize
what has happened.
Hypnosis can be used to give a character a +10 modifier on all rolls to
hit in melee. This effect lasts one hour, and can be used on a character
only once every 20 hours.
Hypnosis also can be used as an anesthetic. A wounded character that
is hypnotized can ignore the wound modifier in combat. This effect lasts
1d10 hours and can be used on a character only once every 20 hours.
A hypnotist's most powerful ability is suggestion. A hypnotized subject
will believe almost anything the hypnotist tells him. The hypnotized
character will not do something that is against his moral code or religion,
but he can be tricked into doing things he would not normally do. The
hypnotist must give the subject a good reason to do something unusual,
or convince him that the situation is not exactly as it seems. For
example, a hypnotized guard will not let unauthorized persons into a
restricted area. If the hypnotist tells the guard that he is authorized but
has forgotten his pass, the guard will let him in.
PSYCHO-PATHOLOGY
Success Rate: 30% + skill level
Psycho-pathology subskill lets the specialist try to help characters or
creatures that are psychologically disturbed. Extreme fright, isolation, or
even unusual air and food chemistry can seriously affect an explorer's
mental condition. A psycho-pathologist can help characters recover
their confidence or forget their traumatic experiences. The specialist
also can determine what will reassure or frighten an alien or primitive.