Medic Skill Question

[-Daniel-]

In 2e there was a clear attempt to lower the number of specialties (Science excluded) in skills. But I have been thinking of adding in a specialty for Medic. What I am thinking is medic should be different for the various species of Aliens. I imagine what it takes to be a medic for a hiver would be different for a human. But then I am unsure I want to open up that can of worms. Right now the Medic is a uber-skill in that it seems to apply well regardless of species. Should there be such a thing as Medic (Vargr) or Medic (Human)?

What do you all think?

[AnotherDilbert]

Sounds very reasonable.

[Solomani666]

In 2e there was a clear attempt to lower the number of specialties (Science excluded) in skills. But I have been thinking of adding in a specialty for Medic. What I am thinking is medic should be different for the various species of Aliens. I imagine what it takes to be a medic for a hiver would be different for a human. But then I am unsure I want to open up that can of worms. Right now the Medic is a uber-skill in that it seems to apply well regardless of species. Should there be such a thing as Medic (Vargr) or Medic (Human)?

What do you all think?

How about just adding a XenoMedic skill to cover all other races not ubiquitous to the characters setting or that have a different biology.

I would treat it as a Jack-Of-Trades skill only applying to Medic.
I would apply a -DM to Medic skill to operate on other races with each level of XenoMedic adding +1 to cover a negative DM.

Example:

A Human Imperial Medic operating on a:
Humaniti -0 DM
Vargr -1 DM (They are common in the Imperium)
Droyne -2
Hiver -3
Unknown Race -4

Each level of XenoMedic would lower the negative DM by one but would not add to the Medic skill in any way.

[kevinknight]

How about just adding a XenoMedic skill to cover all other races not ubiquitous to the characters setting or that have a different biology.

I would treat it as a Jack-Of-Trades skill only applying to Medic.
I would apply a -DM to Medic skill to operate on other races with each level of XenoMedic adding +1 to cover a negative DM.

Example:

A Human Imperial Medic operating on a:
Humaniti -0 DM
Vargr -1 DM (They are common in the Imperium)
Droyne -2
Hiver -3
Unknown Race -4

Each level of XenoMedic would lower the negative DM by one but would not add to the Medic skill in any way.

This sounds like a good idea.

[alex_greene]

I figured that this is where Science specialities come in. Each Science speciality can cover a field of medicine - for instance Science (anatomy), Science (physiology), Science (pathology) could cover the basics of medicine, with Science (xenoanatomy), Science (xenophysiology), Science (xenopathology) to cover the same fields in alien medicine.

Veterinary medicine has Animals (veterinary) to cover their version of Medic, but it could be used at a pinch for non-human sophont species.

Your Medic skill could be capped by your Science skill in that particular specialist field. For instance, if you had Science (pulmonology) 2 and Medic 4, if you were performing non-emergency pulmonary surgery on a patient your Medic skill would be capped at 2.

If you had a high Medic skill, but no trace of the appropriate speciality of Science at all, e.g. performing a C-section on a pregnant patient with Medic 4 and no Science (Obstetrics) speciality at all, your skill would be capped at Science 0. Your Medic and Science skills would save you from the humiliation of the -3 untrained penalty -DM, but you might as well be waving a magic wand and chanting over her, for all the good it would do.

[-Daniel-]

How about just adding a XenoMedic skill to cover all other races not ubiquitous to the characters setting or that have a different biology.

I would treat it as a Jack-Of-Trades skill only applying to Medic.
I would apply a -DM to Medic skill to operate on other races with each level of XenoMedic adding +1 to cover a negative DM.

Example:

A Human Imperial Medic operating on a:
Humaniti -0 DM
Vargr -1 DM (They are common in the Imperium)
Droyne -2
Hiver -3
Unknown Race -4

Each level of XenoMedic would lower the negative DM by one but would not add to the Medic skill in any way.

Quite an interesting approach. Make the difference of the race a negative DM. Very interesting. It could work both ways. A Hiver Doctor working on a human would get a DM-4.

[-Daniel-]

I figured that this is where Science specialities come in. Each Science speciality can cover a field of medicine - for instance Science (anatomy), Science (physiology), Science (pathology) could cover the basics of medicine, with Science (xenoanatomy), Science (xenophysiology), Science (xenopathology) to cover the same fields in alien medicine.

Veterinary medicine has Animals (veterinary) to cover their version of Medic, but it could be used at a pinch for non-human sophont species.

Your Medic skill could be capped by your Science skill in that particular specialist field. For instance, if you had Science (pulmonology) 2 and Medic 4, if you were performing non-emergency pulmonary surgery on a patient your Medic skill would be capped at 2.

If you had a high Medic skill, but no trace of the appropriate speciality of Science at all, e.g. performing a C-section on a pregnant patient with Medic 4 and no Science (Obstetrics) speciality at all, your skill would be capped at Science 0. Your Medic and Science skills would save you from the humiliation of the -3 untrained penalty -DM, but you might as well be waving a magic wand and chanting over her, for all the good it would do.

While this might reflect the reality of life, it is way too complex for what I am looking for. For the game I am using this in, I think I will stick to the idea that Medic 3 is a doctor. But I could see in a game set on a hospital ship for example, this might work great. It would help differentiate the various Doctor Characters. Or in a game setting where some kind of pandemic has hit. The characters are trying to deal with it.

[Condottiere]

For mammals, you could probably specialize per species.

For insects or more exotic varieties, that's another skill, chances are hard to acquire and even harder to climb up the ladder if you're human.

[AndrewW]

Veterinary medicine has Animals (veterinary) to cover their version of Medic, but it could be used at a pinch for non-human sophont species.

Vargr.

[-Daniel-]

Veterinary medicine has Animals (veterinary) to cover their version of Medic, but it could be used at a pinch for non-human sophont species.

Vargr.

Funny, that was the same thought I had when I read that sentence.

[Condottiere]

Bedside manner: "Who's a good boy?"

[Solomani666]

Quite an interesting approach. Make the difference of the race a negative DM. Very interesting. It could work both ways. A Hiver Doctor working on a human would get a DM-4.

Exactly.
I just used an Imperial medic as an example.

[Condottiere]

[Infojunky]

I would treat it as a Jack-Of-Trades skill only applying to Medic.
I would apply a -DM to Medic skill to operate on other races with each level of XenoMedic adding +1 to cover a negative DM.

Example:

A Human Imperial Medic operating on a:
Humaniti -0 DM
Vargr -1 DM (They are common in the Imperium)

Change Vargr to Aslan and lump Vargr in with Humans and you got yourself a system.

[haveahappy]

For Vargyr - Profession: Veterinarian

[-Daniel-]

Ok, in thinking about the whole Medic thing for the next game I am building, I am tore now at what level of Medic is a Doctor. The core rulebook uses Medic as an example of what the levels mean and states Medic 2 is a Doctor, yet they made the AutoDoc a Medic 3. So this made me think, if the AutoDoc is a 3 because they expect it to be as good as the top level Doctors? Or did they just go to a 3 because they wanted the +3 DM?

I am leaning toward saying a Medic 3 is a full doctor and ignoring the level example in the core rulebook, but like I said I am tore. I also want to keep the Medic simple otherwise I would try and do some sort of combo thing like alex_greene suggested.

Thoughts?

[AnotherDilbert]

In CT Medic-3 is considered an M.D., there is also a paragraph on aliens.

Medical-1 is sufficent t o qualify a character for the position of medic on a starship crew.
...
Medical-3 is sufficient for a character to be called doctor, and assumes a license to practice medicine, including writing prescriptions, handling most ailments, and dealing with other doctors on a professional level. A dexterity of 8+is required for a doctor to also be a surgeon.

Xeno-Medicine: Normally, medical expertise is considered to apply to humans, and to a limited extent to the animals which live on human worlds. Anyone with medical expertise can apply that expertise (with a reduction of -2) to non-human aliens. For example, a human doctor (medical-3) may find herself in a situation which calls for treatment of an alien, with anatomy and physiology unfamiliar to her. She could provide treatment with the equivalent of medical-1. Obvious encumbrances such as strange environment or unfamiliar chemistry should also be considered by the referee.

LBB1.

[alex_greene]

Ok, in thinking about the whole Medic thing for the next game I am building, I am tore now at what level of Medic is a Doctor.

It looks as if, from Second Edition, you get to be a Doctor if you go through the Scholar/Physician assignment, even if you come out of it with only the Medic 1 skill you get for reaching rank 1. There are no rank titles: no progression from Intern to Doctor to Consultant to Surgeon to Specialist. There definitely ought to be. Maybe you could check out Cosmopolite there.

When faced with alien anatomy and physiology that a medic is not used to, make it simple. Give the presiding physician a bane die in his Medic skill for first aid and for surgery, unless he is assisted by someone who is either an alien of that species, or who has had experience in healing members of that species. The assistant provides a Task Chain; his Medic check counteracts the bane die, allowing the presiding physician to use his Medic skill unhindered.

"Assistant" in this case can even mean a robot medic / autodoc.

Long term medical care requires a specialist, presumably a medic whose experiences include dealing with alien patients of the same species as the current patient. Either way, no bane die applies when dealing with a recovering patient.

Oh. If there is a negative Effect in applying Medic skill for First Aid, don't apply the negative Effect as infliction of further damage to the patient. It's a failure to stabilise the wound, meaning that during that one minute, the patient begins crashing, to the chorus of "We've got an arterial bleed! He's losing blood! I need you to apply pressure here! Like that! Good! BP's still dropping! He's going into V-fib! He's crashing! Where's that <xenomaledicta redacted> defibrillator?" and so on.

A bit of live action tension that can make even seasoned Travellers come out in a sweat.

[Condottiere]

You probably need to get certified in each jurisdiction, if you want to practise.

The Imperium may tattoo your medical license on your forehead.

[-Daniel-]

You probably need to get certified in each jurisdiction, if you want to practise.

I am not saying I couldn't see such a bureaucratic move in real life, just that I really do not want to run a game where the Player Character must take a test in every system we visit to be seen as a Doctor. So I think I will just say that once they are "licensed" by the Imperial Medical Board their certificate is valid in any Imperial system. Makes it so much better game wise. And as for the Frontier, well if someone can do the job then most folks don't care about papers.