D&D 5E Medicine Checks

[DEFCON 1]

I merged Medicine into Survival due to the same issue of Medicine not having nearly enough play. Now Survival is our catch-all "humanoid body" skill-- both for identifying things like tracks, knowing how things like poisonous mushrooms would affect you when eaten, and any other broken or inured body analysis.

The only way I'd ever find Medicine by itself as a meaningful skill would be if I removed magical healing spells from the respective lists, so that the only way to stabilize was to make Medicine checks. Spare the Dying makes even that superfluous.

 

[Hriston]

I'm not trying to force it's use.

But you should be. As a DM, it’s your job to call for a Wisdom (Medicine) check when a player declares an action that you think requires one, and it’s the players’ job to roll the dice when you tell them to.

 

[Yaarel]

Knowing how the body works, also includes information for how it doesnt.

Creating poisons, and creating antidotes or treatments for poison, can also involve a Medicine skill check.

 

[Yaarel]

I merged Medicine into Survival due to the same issue of Medicine not having nearly enough play. Now Survival is our catch-all "humanoid body" skill-- both for identifying things like tracks, knowing how things like poisonous mushrooms would affect you when eaten, and any other broken or inured body analysis.

The only way I'd ever find Medicine by itself as a meaningful skill would be if I removed magical healing spells from the respective lists, so that the only way to stabilize was to make Medicine checks. Spare the Dying makes even that superfluous.

Survival is a weird assortment of disparate abilities.

• Navigation
• Tracking
• Foraging
• Sailing
• ...
• Anatomy
• Medicine
• Healing

At this point, why not fold everything into Nature?



Or maybe, Nature splits into two large skills?

• Elementalism (earth-fire, geology, metalwork, stonework, air-water, weather, sailing, ether, stars, navigation)
• Survival (life, medicine, poison, disease, humanoid anatomy, animals, tracking, plants, foraging)

 

[DEFCON 1]

I don't using Survival for Navigation or Sailing, that's what Navigator's Tools are for.

And foraging make sense to me for knowing what foods are safe to eat. If you can recognize poisonous stuff while inside the body through Medicine, you should also be able to recognize poisonous stuff before putting it inside your body.

I use Nature for non-humanoid outdoors knowledge.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I don't using Survival for Navigation or Sailing, that's what Navigator's Tools are for.

And foraging make sense to me for knowing what foods are safe to eat. If you can recognize poisonous stuff while inside the body through Medicine, you should also be able to recognize poisonous stuff before putting it inside your body.

I use Nature for non-humanoid outdoors knowledge.

 

[Charlaquin]

I don't using Survival for Navigation or Sailing, that's what Navigator's Tools are for.

Well, navigator’s tools are for navigation. Sailing, though, that’s water vehicles.

 

[neogod22]

Knowing how the body works, also includes information for how it doesnt.

Creating poisons, and creating antidotes or treatments for poison, can also involve a Medicine skill check.

I would say medicine is for identifying such things, but proficiency in the poisoner's kit should be needed to actually create poisons and antidotes.

 

[Yaarel]

I would say medicine is for identifying such things, but proficiency in the poisoner's kit should be needed to actually create poisons and antidotes.

A tool proficiency and a skill proficiency can overlap in usage. Just like a Sleight of Hand and a Thieves Tools can both pick a lock.

That said, skill checks dont magically happen by themselves. The player has to describe some action, such as using a metal wire to pick a lock. The skill check only happens when the DM thinks a specific action might or might not work.

For example, a character can use a Medicine check extract and prepare venom from a freshly defeated Green Dragon, as a poison. The character might instead use the venom to make an antidote.

 

[Ashrym]

A tool proficiency and a skill proficiency can overlap in usage. Just like a Sleight of Hand and a Thieves Tools can both pick a lock.

That said, skill checks dont magically happen by themselves. The player has to describe some action, such as using a metal wire to pick a lock. The skill check only happens when the DM thinks a specific action might or might not work.

For example, a character can use a Medicine check extract and prepare venom from a freshly defeated Green Dragon, as a poison. The character might instead use the venom to make an antidote.

I might go in a slightly different approach. Perhaps medicine determines safe dosages of poison for medicinal benefits. I have no idea how to implement the concept off the top of my head yet. It was a spitball idea.