Roleplaying the Heal Skill

[Water Bob]

I want to get more into roleplaying wounds in my game. Instead of saying, "Oh, that dude's at -4 HP. Roll to stabilize him. And that other dude is at 3 HP. Roll for Short Term Care to give him some more hit points."

I'm not really addressing magical healing, here, so let's ignore that for the moment.

I'm curious as to what is really happening when a character makes a Heal check to stabilize another, or what it means when a character makes a Heal check for Short Term Care.

It easier to think of how to treat a gash or a puncture. A character can stop the bleeding. Poor water over the wound to clean it out. Maybe stitch up a slice or a gash. Put something on the wound for infection. And, maybe make a bandage.

But, what about blunt force trauma? The result of many blunt weapon attacks? If you see a guy who's been knocked in the side of the head with a club and his right eye is swollen, how would you treat that given a typical fantasy universe (and no magic)?

I'm thinking that you'd get something cold on it to reduce the swelling. Maybe mud wrapped in a cloth. Maybe your waterskin, if cold water is nearby.

And, maybe the character knows of a certain plant or root that, when chewed on, will numb the senses and deal with the pain.





What I'm looking for is some brainstorming ideas on how to deal with wounds.

Do you have any creative ideas?

Describe a wound result from combat, then describe how a character could deal with the issue.

For example: Freddor is lying, face down, in the mud when Beorin gets to him. Flipping Freddor on his back, Beorin sees that Freddor is conscious, breathing shallowly, and seems to have taken a blow to the chest. Removing Freddor's leather armor, Beorin sees some gash wounds--piercings to the chest cavity.

Beorin knows that Freddor must have taken a blow to the chest from one of those orcish spiked clubs.

The first thing Beorin does is use water from his skin to clean out the puncture wounds. Next, takes off his cloak, cuts it into strips with his knife, then wraps Freddor's chest, tightly, in case there are broken ribs. And, lastly, Breorin goes looking for hollin seeds that drop from the trees in this area. Finding a few, he uses the end of this knife to crush them up into a paste-like concoction after adding a little water. With this, he places between Freddor's cheek and gum, telling Freddor suck on its juices. Beorin knows the seeds will help with the pain.

And, at this point, Beorin has earned his Heal Check on Freddor for Short Term Care.





I know that a lot of you gamers don't like to deal with this type of thing, and that's fine. I think it can be an exciting part of the game (the reason medical shows on TV are so popular), and I'd like to see my players stopping to gather hollin seeds when the see them or carrying stuff to be used First Aid in their packs.



So, what I'm looking for from you is different, creative ideas on how to deal with wounds received in the game (but don't use magic--that cures everything with little explaination needed).


So, what do you think? Got any ideas/examples of treating wounds in a fantasy setting?

 

[El Mahdi]

Blunt Trauma treatment could consist of wrapping the wounded area tightly (strips of cloth used much like compression bandages) - especially for rib injuries.

Broken Bones from Blunt Trauma or Falling could consist of resetting the bones (sometimes using ropes or straps to pull the limb back into proper shape), then splinting and compression wrapping.

Something to add to cuts, punctures, gashes (etc.) that was used during the Medieval period (and earlier) was a paste or solution made from boiled and reduced urine (essentially a concentrated ammonia paste) to prevent infection (an anti-bacterial - though they didn't know that or how it worked at the time, only that it did work).

A tea made from Willow Bark can relieve pain and fever (Willow Bark has natural occuring compounds that essentially metabolize into aspirin when consumed).

Water from certain places that were rumored to cure specific diseases. It's been hypothisized that some of those stories may have had some scientific basis: bacteriophages. Bacteriophages are viruses that "eat" bacteria - usually a specific type of bacteria. Without understanding the mechanism for how they worked, Ancient and Medieval cultures may have been treating some bacterial diseases with bacteriophages.

Treatment for viral illnesses (though they wouldn't know the difference between viral and bacterial) would be about treating symptoms. Willow Bark for pain, cold water baths for fever, and maybe even Opium for severe pain and agitation.

 

[Dandu]

Do you have any creative ideas?

 

[RUMBLETiGER]

How about you enroll yourself into a CPR/First Aid certification course? It's usually a long morning on a Saturday, and you get a book to take home in addition to the training in the course.

Consider it research, with the added bonus of you've increased your ranks in skill-Heal in Real Life!

 

[Water Bob]

How about you enroll yourself into a CPR/First Aid certification course? It's usually a long morning on a Saturday, and you get a book to take home in addition to the training in the course.

Consider it research, with the added bonus of you've increased your ranks in skill-Heal in Real Life!

I've taken the CPR course before, though I need to take a refresher. And, I did spend a few years in medical sales a while back, selling wound care items. So, I know a little bit about it.

I'm more interested in how things were done in the ancient past. And, it doesn't even have to be real medicine. It just has to sound real and make a little sense.

The stuff above about urine and amonia is gold.

 

[Water Bob]

A friend told me about Trauma. For those of you interested in this thread, you may find the book interesting too. I'm going to buy it...but I wanted to ask, first....

Does anybody know of a similar book written specifically for d20 games?





RPG Herald: [Product] Trauma

Trauma - RPGnet RPG Game Index

 

[Greenfield]

Common treatments that can be done in a Standard Action or Full Round action?

Direct pressure on a bleeding wound, possibly followed perhaps by instruction to a semi-conscious patient. "Place your hand here and hold it in place. Press hard!"

Elevate wounded extremities higher than the heart to slow bleeding.

Elevate the legs to help treat for shock.

Constriction bandages and/or tourniquet takes a moment longer, but...

Heat a blade in a torch and press it into a serious wound to cauterize.

Smelling salts or something similar to cause the person to cough or sneeze. The cough or sneeze action temporarily raises the blood pressure and may help a person regain consciousness.

Cover the wound so it doesn't get dirt in it. Cover the patient to help maintain body heat, which is part of "shock".

Cold water on burns doesn't heal anything, but it cools the area in case it's so hot that the victim is still "cooking". Butter or oil used to be a common treatment, but it's value is questionable since it's introducing potential infection.

Longer term care? Leeches help take down swelling (they really do, and some doctors have taken to using them again around transplant sites or where limbs have been reattached.)

Cleaning the wound with a bit of wine or whiskey. Alcohol doesn't kill germs, by the way, it just gets them drunk. It's the rapid drying effect it has that kills them.

Broken bones can be set, as noted in a previous post, often by simply pulling on them to draw the bone ends back into line. Compound fractures (where the bone is coming through the skin) usually ended in serious infection, gangrene and death by blood poisoning, or with the limb having to be amputated. That, of course, is in a world with neither antiseptic nor magic. That's why many Doctors earned the appellation "sawbones", or just "Bones". (Thank you Dr. McCoy!)

Bottom line: While it's nice for a DM or player to be able to add some color through this kind of role-playing, we shouldn't require the players to have a skill before we let their characters use it. Good role playing may add a circumstance bonus of a point or two, but not more than that.

 

[Water Bob]

....we shouldn't require the players to have a skill before we let their characters use it. Good role playing may add a circumstance bonus of a point or two, but not more than that.

I'm sure that there are many who would agree with you, but I take a more olde school approach.

While I don't expect players to have specific training, I do want to know what they are doing--and not just for heal checks, but for any type of roll, really. What they say doesn't give them a circumstance bonus--what the player describes determines if the character gets to roll a check or not.

I believe that roleplaying and problem solving is important--not rolling dice. Sure, there are many who like to play the other way around, but that's not me.

For example, a player who says, "I'll use my Tracking skill," needs to tell me what he's doing. The player who says, "I'll look around for tracks," gets a roll. I'm not going to be too hard core about it, but I do want to know what the character is doing and how he's going about it. And, the player who says, "I'll look around for tracks, looking to see if some prints are deeper than the other. I'll check to see if there are any horse droppings. If I find some, I touch it to see how warm it is. And, I'll look for different patterns, too." That guy is going to get a lower DC on his roll than the one that is just looking for tracks.

 

[Water Bob]

Does anybody know of a similar book written specifically for d20 games?





RPG Herald: [Product] Trauma

Trauma - RPGnet RPG Game Index

And, here's a d20 conversion for the default Trauma rules: http://www.radicalapproach.co.uk/resources/TraumaAdapted.pdf

 

[kitcik]

While I don't expect players to have specific training, I do want to know what they are doing--and not just for heal checks, but for any type of roll, really. What they say doesn't give them a circumstance bonus--what the player describes determines if the character gets to roll a check or not.

I believe that roleplaying and problem solving is important--not rolling dice. Sure, there are many who like to play the other way around, but that's not me.

For example, a player who says, "I'll use my Tracking skill," needs to tell me what he's doing. The player who says, "I'll look around for tracks," gets a roll. I'm not going to be too hard core about it, but I do want to know what the character is doing and how he's going about it. And, the player who says, "I'll look around for tracks, looking to see if some prints are deeper than the other. I'll check to see if there are any horse droppings. If I find some, I touch it to see how warm it is. And, I'll look for different patterns, too." That guy is going to get a lower DC on his roll than the one that is just looking for tracks.

So you need to know how to use the skills in real life in order for your character to use them effectively?

So if I want to roleplay something different than what I know in real life (that's the idea, I thought), I need to make a research project out of it?

What about Craft Wondrous Item? Is this just another nerf for non-casters?

I am not trying to be a pain - I really believe you need to think this one through a bit more.