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Medkits

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Stainless Steel Devil Rat

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« Reply #15 on: <08-22-18/1919:33> »
The only thing you can do to heal from Stun drain is rest, though a Stim patch would suppress it temporarily. If the drain is physical, then you can use first aid or magic to heal it.

Not exactly. SR5 p.278: "Drain damage, regardless of whether it is Stun or Physical damage, cannot be healed by any means other than the natural properties of the body -- that means no magical healing and no medikits."

[EDIT] Regarding the OP, a Medicine + Logic [Mental] Test adds bonus dice to a character's own natural recovery dice pools, so yes, I think Medicine could help recovery from Drain. No bonus from a medkit, though, as that's specifically disallowed.

You can still play Kick the Can with (Stun) Drain by applying Stim Patches.

CRB 451

Quote
Stim patch: This patch removes a number of boxes
of Stun damage equal to its Rating. This effect lasts for
(Rating x 10) minutes—after that period of time, the patient
takes (Rating + 1) unresisted Stun damage (which
may be well become physical overflow by that point).
While a stimulant patch is in effect, the character is
unable to rest. Frequent use of stimulant patches may
require Addiction Tests. Treat it as Addiction Rating 2,
Addiction Threshold 1.

Only for so long.

You can delay the stun damage - IF you GM doesn't rule Drain can't be covered by Patches due to the "Drain damage, regardless
of whether it is Stun or Physical damage, cannot be healed by any means other than the natural properties of the body—that means no magical healing and no
medkits." line under Drain in the CRB.

- But only for so long, and then it comes right back, with a +1 chaser. Some people have argued you can continue to apply Patches.... but a some point, you do just pass out. (Full stun track).... And have to deal with healing the drain, and all the extra damage then. At best you get what? 4 patches before you're out? So 4 extra hours.

That's why I called it Kicking the Can.  You're fine for NOW.  You're just kicking the problems to something you worry about Later On.  That's Future You's problem.  Now You is fixed! :D
RPG mechanics exist to give structure and consistency to the game world, true, but at the end of the day, you’re fighting dragons with algebra and random number generators.

Iron Serpent Prince

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« Reply #16 on: <08-22-18/1935:54> »
This is suddenly feeling very relevent, as I'm about to start playing a Mage with magic 2.   (Casting and summoning is very much a sideline for the character, but you know how temptation is ....)  I admit I had not thought about  medikits/autodocs not helping on healing up physical damage from drain, and it had been so long since I've dealt with physical damage that had to heal over time I'd forgotten that it was bodyx2 and not body+will.  This could hurt!
You... may want to consider changing things up a bit. Especially since a Mage starts with Magic 3 on Priority C, the lowest one you can be a Mage on. An aspected mage could have a Magic of 2 at priority D, however. If you were going to do something like that, I'd actually suggest aspected Alchemist. The advantage of being able to sleep off your drain with alchemists really helps at lower magic ratings. Also, reagents to increase limits while keeping Force the same is going to be your friend for when you need something more potent.

There is some misinformation here.

First, a Mage can have less than 3 Magic - If the character takes 'ware to reduce Essence.
Second, with a low Magic you really want to use Reagents to change the Limit to equal your Magic.  In 5e, the Drain switches to Physical when your number of hits on your Spellcasting exceeds your Magic attribute, not when the Force of the Spell does.

Quote from: Core book, Page 282, under Step 6:  Resist Drain
Remember that if the number of hits you rolled when casting the spell (Step 4) exceeds your Magic rating, then the Drain causes Physical instead of Stun damage.

So, assuming you could bypass the Magic x 2 restriction on the Force you could cast, with 2 Reagents you could cast a Force 6 spell without ever taking Physical Drain.

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« Reply #17 on: <08-22-18/2221:55> »
Sorry, shouldn't have let those thoughts go out my fingers -- didn't mean to distract from the main point (and house ruled character creation rules)

Reaver

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« Reply #18 on: <08-22-18/2306:30> »
This is suddenly feeling very relevent, as I'm about to start playing a Mage with magic 2.   (Casting and summoning is very much a sideline for the character, but you know how temptation is ....)  I admit I had not thought about  medikits/autodocs not helping on healing up physical damage from drain, and it had been so long since I've dealt with physical damage that had to heal over time I'd forgotten that it was bodyx2 and not body+will.  This could hurt!


EVERYONE forgets that healing physical damage is Body x 2. And most mages totally forget that point, making their uber high drain resistance stats totally useless for them once they have taken that damage :D

Which has led to mages sitting out WEEKS of time healing their physical drain from trying to conjure that over cast spirit .... which leads to Runners dumping "Idiotic" mage players by the wayside.... 
Where am I going? And why am I in a hand basket ???

Remember: You can't fix Stupid. But you can beat on it with a 2x4 until it smartens up! Or dies.

Jack_Spade

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« Reply #19 on: <08-23-18/0056:20> »
Bah, that's why mages have the shapechange spell and a friendly Spirit of Man to cast it for them. Turn into a cat put all your successes into body and start purring until nose bleed stops...
talk think matrix

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield
Revenant Kynos Isaint Rex

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« Reply #20 on: <08-23-18/1113:43> »
I'll add that to my "Why the Shapechange spell doesn't exist in any game* that I run" list ;-) 

*Should I ever end up running official Missions, I'll have to grudgingly make an exception.

Mirikon

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« Reply #21 on: <08-23-18/1230:23> »
I'll add that to my "Why the Shapechange spell doesn't exist in any game* that I run" list ;-) 

*Should I ever end up running official Missions, I'll have to grudgingly make an exception.
Meh. That is such a niche thing, and really only helps on downtime, giving you an alternative to paying for a hospital stay to help the healing go faster. Does nothing to help you in the middle of the run.

The limitations of Shapechange are harsh enough that, like shifters, while there are some benefits in niche areas, turning yourself into an unarmored nonmagical critter is just... not really worth it. Especially since you can't talk while you are shapechanged, and your gear doesn't change with you, which limits your usefulness on recon or B&E. And Combat is going to go poorly for you if you try to fight while in your critter form. Why do I know how bad Shapechange is in practice? Because I was at a table where one player was doing a 'joke' character, where the character was a mage who believed he was a monkey, and ran around as a monkey most of the time. And the limitations cost us a lot of money and rep as their antics kept the team from working together.

So it is a spell that, used well, can be useful (scoping the outside of a compound as a pigeon draws a lot less attention than a mage in the astral examining the wards). However, the limitations usually punish users who try to go crazy with it without the DM ever needing to get up to tricks.


That said, I have used a modified version of Shapechange, back in 4e, for Naga and other paracritters to take on a metahuman form.
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Jack_Spade

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« Reply #22 on: <08-23-18/1324:01> »
@Mirikon

Not that I want to disagree with you - the limitations of the shapechange spell are plenty - but there are builds that can make this still viable and even effective. Rex in my signature is such a character.
talk think matrix

To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield
Revenant Kynos Isaint Rex