5:1 Introduction
IMPORTANT: A Medic may not perform any healing actions without the correct kit, the phys reps used for medical kit are varied and entirely based on Player discretion but it must consist of at bare minimum a Standard Paramedic Kit for the Paramedic Skill and a Standard Surgeons Kit for the Surgery Skill.
As a medic it is the players responsibility to understand how the medic skill is applied. It is also their responsibility to explain to the players they treat the nature of their injuries and the limitations their injuries will place on them. Within the outline of the rules the Medic character dictates the precise nature of the injury and the required treatment. This is an import role in the SINergy game system.
The purpose of any of the medic to treat injured characters. They provide life saving aid in preparation for proper medical treatment. They cannot actually heal characters. Ideally any treated patient should go to a hospital for healing.
Paramedic ratings are determined the same way as other skills, the base skill rating plus any modifiers the character has to that skill (e.g. a diagnostic data base uplink or smart linking to the Medical equipment).
5:2 Categories of Injuries
The three categories of injuries and how to manage them in game are.
Lightly Wounded:
If a character successfully uses Endurance to resist the damage inflicted by an attack he is classed as 'Lightly Wounded'. If a character does not receive medical attention from a medic within 10 Minutes of injury they will succumb to being 'Mortally Wounded'. Any character with the Primary Skill: Paramedic (or Specialisation) may remove a 'Lightly Wounded' status from a character by roleplaying dressing the wounds, applying mild pain killers and checking for shock. There is no set time or skill challenge merely a roleplay action that is entirely at the discretion of the characters involved.
Mortally Wounded:
If a Character does not successfully resist an attack then they are classed as 'Mortally Wounded' this is represented by the player roleplaying an unconscious state (or screaming in agony if they have been struck in a limb).
A 'Mortally Wounded' character will be declared dead if he is not 'Stabilised' within 10 minutes.
A dead character is out of the game.
If a Character is attacked again while 'Mortally Wounded' they are automatically killed.
Mortally Wounded: Stabilisation
The first thing a Medic needs to do is stabilise the victim. Stabilising a 'Mortally Wounded' character requires two things.
1: A Player with the Primary Skill: Paramedic or Specialisation.
2: The Player to remain with the 'Mortally Wounded' character roleplaying treatment until they are treated otherwise they will return to the 'Mortally Wounded' state.
Once a Victim is 'Stabilised' they can be treated.
Mortally Wounded: Treatment
To treat a 'Mortally Wounded' character the player must use his Paramedic (or Paramedic Specialisation) skill.
The Paramedic must also subtly ask the patient (out of character) a few questions.
What was the 'Attack Rating' that caused them to go down?
Were they hit by any 'Special Calls'?
The 'Special Calls' that a medic needs to be aware of are TOXIC, BURN and STUN any others do not make a difference to the treatment process.
TOXIC The Character has been poisoned or infected (Nerve gas, viral agent, poison dart). They can be treated normally, but can only be healed by a Toxin specialist paramedic.
BURN The Character has suffered Burns as part of the attack (electrical, fire, acid, laser etc.). The character can be treated as normal, but they will require specialist healing from a Burn specialist paramedic.
STUN The Character has been rendered unconscious (by tranquillisers, electric or nerve shocks, gas etc.), but has not suffered any long-term damage. The Medic can revive them in the normal amount of time, but the victim is completely fine once treated and does not become 'seriously wounded'
If the Medic can find out the exact nature of the 'Special Call' (for example whether a burn attack is fire or acid) it is useful for role playing the treatment, but it is not critical.
If the character has not suffered any of the above 'Special Calls' then treat as normal.
Please Note: A patient may tell the Medic that they suffered a THRU 'Special Call'. This indicates an armour piercing attack, but it does not affect the characters treatment.
To treat any 'Mortally Wounded' characters the player must remain by the injured characters side roleplaying the treatment for a period of time. The more serious the injury the longer the time.
To determine the time deduct the Paramedic's Primary Skill: Paramedic or Specialisation from the 'Attack Rating' that mortally wounded them (it is possible for this to be a negative number, if so consider it to be 1). The resulting figure is the number of minutes treatment will take.
A successfully treated patient is considered to be 'Seriously Wounded'.
Seriously Wounded:
A Character is 'Seriously Wounded' if they have been revived from the 'Mortally Wounded' state by a player with the Primary Skill: Paramedic or Specialisation thereof.
A 'Seriously Wounded' character will return to the 'Mortally Wounded' state if they perform any other combat related actions while 'Seriously Wounded'. These actions include Attack or Defence regardless of the outcome of the action once the challenge is complete the character will become 'Mortally Wounded' once more.
It is the responsibility of the Medic character to make sure the player of their patient understands this!
Seriously Wounded: Healing
Although a Paramedic can stabilise and treat injuries they are not trained to provide long term recovery, healing. This is usually done in hospitals. However a surgeon with the appropriate surgical tools can provide 'healing' treatment on the spot
Healing a 'Seriously Wounded' character requires three things.
1: A Player with the Primary Skill: Surgery (or Specialisation)
2: The patient to have been successfully stabilised & treated by a Paramedic (the equivalent of surgical prep).
3: The 'Treatment Rating' of the Surgeon must be greater than the 'Attack Rating'.
A Characters 'Treatment Rating' is the combination of the Primary Skill: Surgery or Specialisations and any modifiers.
The 'Attack Rating' is the Damage that injured character suffered.
4: The Player to remain with the 'Seriously Wounded' character until they are healed (role playing the surgery), otherwise they will return to a 'Mortally Wounded' state. In game this basically equates to interrupting a surgical procedure which can be nothing but detrimental to the patient.
To Heal a 'Seriously Wounded' character the player using his Primary Skill: Surgery or Specialisation and must remain by the injured characters side for twice as many minutes as the 'Attack Rating' which inflicted the injury.
A surgeon can heal certain severities of injury based on their skill rating. As long as their rating is high enough to treat the injury they will automatically succeed.
Surgeon Rating |
Ability |
1 - 2 |
Can treat limb injuries |
3 - 4 |
Can treat torso injuries and amputations |
5 - 6 |
Treat Brain injuries |
7 - 8 |
Can treat full torso severing |
Seriously Wounded: 'Special Call' Damage types
A surgeon can only heal physical damage. If the patient has suffered BURN of TOXIC damage they will require healing from a character with a specialisation in the field (there are various possibilities, Medicine: Burns. Surgeon: Burns. Pharmacology: Anti Venoms).
5:3 Cyberware and Damage
Neither a paramedic nor surgeon can do anything to assist a cyber limb that is damaged in combat. It requires the attention of a Cyberware engineer.
A 'Cyber Technician' can repair a damaged limb in the same way as a surgeon can heal a patient.
Please Note: a character who becomes 'Mortally Wounded' by a hit to a Cyberware limb is still considered 'Mortally wounded'. They will not die of their injury, but will require medical attention for the shock (treat as STUN damage to the patient). The limb will remain useless regardless.
A 'Lightly Damaged' Cyberlimb will become useless if not repaired by a Cyber tech (same rules as for paramedics and 'Light Injuries').
5:4 Roleplaying Administrating Medical Aid
As using both the Surgery and Paramedic skills requires allot of game time especially when the damage suffered by the character is great, the Medic player needs to roleplay the Paramedic/Surgery process to prevent the game play from becoming stale.
For instance: TOM has been hit with a call of 6, BURN by his arc nemesis DICK. While he lies on the floor mortally wounded HARRY the medic rushes up quickly out of character subtly asks TOM how much damage he has been hit with and what type it was. On getting a reply from TOM he then shouts out. "The patient has 3rd degrees burns to his torso and is fading quick, I've gotta stabilise him quick or were gonna lose him." He then applies a phys rep dressing to the imaginary wound on TOM's chest.
The exact style and method you use as a Medic is totally up to you as a player however the more dramatic and in depth you make it the more realistic and rewarding the experience will be for everybody involved.
Informing the Patient
It is the player's job as a medic to inform the injured character of his injury status for instance whether or not he is 'Stabilised', 'Seriously Injured', or has returned to normal status. You must also tell him the effects of the injury status he is now in.
For instance: HARRY manages to stabilise and heal TOM; he helps him to his feet and gives him some advice. "Okay I've managed to stabilise you and dress that wound, you'll live but don't do anything strenuous or you'll pop those stitches and I ain't putting you back together next time." He then explains out of character to TOM that he is 'Seriously Injured' and that if he enters into any more combat challenges upon completion of the first challenge he will return to the 'Mortally Wounded' status.
