Monday, March 28, 2011

Doctor Mechanic + Play Report Leading Up To Needing A Doctor Mechanic

Play Report

Girls meet Snow Leopard Men, girls captured by Snow Leopard Men.

Girls kill Snow Leopard Men, girls sneak around Snow Leopard Man hideout.

Girls hear more Snow Leopard Men + Frost Witch Boss coming, girls use improved invisibility.

Girls run into next room, see treasure, still scared, run to next room.

Girls see thaumaturgic circle, Girl A stands in thaumaturgic circle, Girl B doesn't.

Snow Leopard Man enters room, sees no-one (they're invisible). Girl A falls in love with Snow Leopard Man since she's standing in circle and she can see him.

Snow Leopard man hears strange yearning sounds, enters thaumaturgic circle.

Girl A tries to embrace Snow Leopard Man, 7 rounds have passed, Girls become visible.

Snow Leopard man (inside circle) sees Girl B (outside circle) and falls in love with her.

Girl B throws dagger at Snow Leopard Man, hits, but rolls a 1 for damage.

DM invokes modified Jeff's Consolation-Prize Damage Mechanic declaring that rolling a 1 for damage means PC can choose any non-just-more-damage effect that that weapon could reasonably inflict, Girl B decides this is that her dagger cut off a few inches of the Snow Leopard Man's beasthood in an attempt to make Snow Leopard Man less desirable to Girl A so they can get the fuck out of here.

Girl A goes scrambling around looking for the severed tip, Girl B finds secret door and tells castrated, enamored Snow Leopard man to follow her and protect her.

Running battle ensues, climaxing with Snow Leopard Man dying to save his beloved and his beloved and her sister jumping off cliff into trees to avoid leaving footprints in snow that Snow Leopard Men can track.

Girl B fails dex roll, hits tree, has 0 hp.

Girl A lugs Girl B through frozen doomforest until they come upon a passing traveller with a coach...

So, then...
Doctor Mechanic:

The way I run things, when you get down to 0 hp you start losing hp and when you get to negative (your constitution) you die.

I do not really like the idea that there's a cleric in every town. Like, cleric spells are little miracles, the idea that clerics with healing to spare can be found all over the countryside wherever you happen to stumble out of a dungeon doesn't quite sit right. So here's an easy mechanic for regular medieval physicians--who, I attest, can be found everywhere.

Doctors can heal people at a rate of 1 hp per day. The main advantage, though, is they keep people from getting worse. Successful doctor treatment prevents hit point degradation from ordinary weapon wounds for 8 hours (the length of time it takes for the party's cleric to rest and get his/her spells back). However: medieval medicine is filthy and repulsive. Before the treatment can work, the PC being treated must roll under his or her constitution. If s/he fails, s/he loses d6 hp immediately. If s/he succeeds, all's good and s/he's in stable condition.

GM's wishing to add granularity to the system can rock this...

Random Schmuck Doctor Competence Table Roll 3d6 for doctor's intelligence





























































































Int rollDr. TypeModifier to Con checkDamage if check failsIdentify diseases?
18Expert+4d480%
16-17Wise+3d470%
14-15Skilled+2d660%
12-13Decent+1d650%
10-11Average0d840%
8-9A Tad Sketchy-1d830%
6-7Sloppy-2d1020%
5Senile?-3d1010%
4Drunk-4d125%
3Terrifying-5d12Always wrong

11 comments:

thekelvingreen said...

I must resist the urge to introduce a doctor called "Mechanic" into my next game.

mordicai said...

Making the doctor a function of the character-- that is, via a Con check-- is clever. Jeff's minimum damage rule is great, great stuff; up there with the lucky number kung-fu.

Tom said...

How much do people heal if they just get bedrest (and chicken soup, of course)?
Is the Doctor's 1hp/day a bonus onto that?
Also if the check fails, is the PC still stabilized, just more bloody than before, or do they still need further...doctorin'?

Roger G-S said...

Pre-modern sawbones are inherently funny-sick. Also, love those "strange yearning sounds."

Zak Sabbath said...

@Tom
bedrest does fuck-all.

if the check fails, they are still stabilized--if they survived

trollsmyth said...

To the Abyss with your doctors! I wanna know about the Snow Leopard Men and their Frost Witch Queen!

Zak Sabbath said...

@trollsmyth

then you have to convince Mandy and her sister to go back into the dungeon. you know where to find them.

Adam Dickstein said...

Yeah I'm with kelvingreen sorta. I'm a little disappointed we weren't introduced to a Silver Age supervillain name 'Doctor Mechanic, The Cybernetic Surgeon.'

Otherwise, neat idea.

Chris said...

Snow Leopard man hears strange yearning sounds, enters thaumaturgic circle.

Unimprovable.

Like the doc rules. I already use non-magical healing/recovery IMG (bed rest = 1hp/day, rising to 1d3/day w. medical care. Can't remember who I nicked it from.) The chance to cure minor poisonings and infections without resorting to cleric, cleric, cleric seems flavourful.

mordicai said...

How I hate magical healing. How I hate it.

huth said...

8-9 A Tad Sketchy -1 d8 30%

Hey, that was exactly my last CoC character.

I wonder what a class writeup for a medieval doctor would look like...