Recovery

(In case you were looking for Recovery Advantage, see Recovery Advantage.)

Recovery

The Injuries rules may seem harsh, but don't despair ... you can get better!

Recovering from Unconsciousness

Failure by 5 or more on a knockdown roll, a failed HT roll to stay conscious at 0 HP or less, and many other things (e.g., certain critical hits) can leave you unconscious. It is up to the GM to decide whether you are truly unconscious or just totally incapacitated by pain and injury – but either way, you can't do anything. You recover as follows:

• If you have 1 or more HP remaining, you awaken automatically in 15 minutes.
• At 0 HP or worse, but above -1×HP, make a HT roll to awaken every hour. Once you succeed, you can act normally. You do not have to roll against HT every second to remain conscious unless you receive new injury. But since you are below 1/3 your HP, you are at half Move and Dodge.
• At -1×HP or below, you are in bad shape. You get a single HT roll to awaken after 12 hours. If you succeed, you regain consciousness and can act as described above. But if you fail, you won’t regain consciousness without medical treatment – use the rules given under Stabilizing a Mortal Wound. Until you receive help, you must roll vs. HT every 12 hours; if you fail, you die.

High HP and Healing

The healing rates given for natural recovery, first aid, magical healing spells, the Regeneration advantage, etc. assume someone with human-scale Hit Points; that is, with fewer than 20 HP. Those with more HP heal in proportion to their HP score. Multiply HP healed by 2 at 20-29 HP, by 3 at 30-39 HP, by 4 at 40-49 HP, and so on, with each full 10 HP adding 1 to the multiple.

Natural Recovery

Rest lets you recover lost HP, unless the damage is of a type that specifically does not heal naturally (for an example, see Illness). At the end of each day of rest and decent food, make a HT roll. On a success, you recover 1 HP. The GM may give a penalty if conditions are bad, or a bonus if conditions are very good.

First Aid

The two main uses for First Aid skill (p. 195) are bandaging and treating shock.

Bandaging

It takes one minute to apply pressure or a tourniquet to stop bleeding. This restores 1 HP.

Using the Bleeding rule, someone who is wounded but receives a successful First Aid roll within one minute of his injury loses no HP to bleeding. A later roll will prevent further HP loss.

Treating Shock

After bandaging, the aid-giver may take extra time to apply a more elaborate dressing and treat the victim for shock. He must keep the victim warm, comfortable, calm, and still. After the time indicated on the First Aid Table, he may roll against First Aid skill.

On a success, the medic rolls as indicated on the table to see how many HP the victim recovers – minimum 1 HP. A critical success restores the maximum possible HP! This roll includes the 1 HP for bandaging; thus, a roll of 1 HP restores no further HP. On a critical failure, the victim loses 2 HP instead of recovering any HP at all!

First Aid Table

Tech Level	Time per Victim	HP Restored
0-1	30 minutes	1d-4
2-3	30 minutes	1d-3
4	30 minutes	1d-2
5	20 minutes	1d-2
6-7	20 minutes	1d-1
8	10 minutes	1d
9+	10 minutes	1d+1

Surgery

Surgery can physically repair damage to the body, but it's risky at low TLs – especially prior to the invention of anesthesia (mid-TL5) and blood typing (TL6). See Surgery skill for general modifiers and for the effects of a failed skill roll. Some additional rules:

Equipment: Basic equipment gives -6 at TL1, -5 at TL2-3, -4 at TL4, -2 at TL5, and +(TL-6) at TL6+. Equipment quality further modifies the roll; see Equipment Modifiers. The modifiers for TL5+ surgery assume that anesthetic is available. If it isn't, apply a -2 penalty to skill. This is instead of the usual -1 for a missing item.

Infection: Before TL5 (and, at the GM's option, even during much of TL5), antiseptic practice is poor. Check for infection (see Infection) after any surgery.

Stabilizing a Mortal Wound

Each attempt takes one hour. The roll is at -2 if the patient is at -3×HP or worse, or -4 if he's at -4×HP or worse. On a failure, repeated attempts are allowed, at a cumulative -2 per attempt. If the victim dies on the table, resuscitation may be possible; see Resuscitation.

Repairing Lasting Crippling Injuries

It is possible to fix a lasting crippling injury (see Duration of Crippling Injuries) through surgery rather than leaving it to heal on its own. This takes 2 hours. On a success, measure the injury's remaining recovery time in weeks rather than months. But on a critical failure, the injury becomes permanent!

Repairing Permanent Crippling Injuries

Radical surgery can fix certain permanent crippling injuries at TL7+; exact details are up to the GM. This often requires prosthetic or transplant parts, which might be costly or hard to find. At TL7-8, the procedure might only restore partial functionality. This kind of operation is also tricky: -3 or worse to skill. On a failure, the patient needs 1d months to recover before another attempt is possible.

Medical Care

Anyone under the care of a competent physician (Physician skill 12+) gets +1 on all rolls for natural recovery.

The healer may also make a Physician roll to cure the patient. Only one physician may roll per patient, but a single physician can care for up to 200 patients. The exact number of patients a physician can attend to and the frequency with which he may roll to cure them depend on the TL of his Physician skill; see the Medical Help Table, below. On a success, the patient recovers 1 HP; on a critical success, he recovers 2 HP. This is in addition to natural healing. However, a critical failure costs the patient 1 HP!

High-tech physicians depend heavily on equipment but still receive good basic training; therefore, a TL6+ physician performs as though he were TL6 if he has to make do without the gadgetry to which he is accustomed, as long as the surroundings are clean.

Medical Help Table

Medical TL	Frequency of Rolls	Patients per Doctor
0	There are no physicians. Get well by yourself.	—
1-3	Weekly	10
4	Every 3 days	10
5	Every 2 days	15
6	Daily	20
7	Daily	25
8	Daily	50
9	2 × daily	50
10	3 × daily	50
11	4 × daily	100
12+	5 × daily	200

Resuscitation

Reviving a drowning, asphyxiation, or heart attack victim requires resuscitation. Make a successful Physician/TL7+ roll – or a First Aid/TL7+ roll at -4. Each attempt takes one minute. Repeated attempts are possible, but there is almost always a time limit.

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and rescue breathing, widely taught after 1960, are more effective than earlier forms of resuscitation. First Aid rolls (but not default rolls) to revive victims of drowning or asphyxiation are at -2 instead of -4.

Ultra-Tech Drugs

Miraculous drugs are a staple of science-fiction medicine. Below is a quick-and-dirty system for designing TL9+ drugs.

Effects: Select one or more attribute modifiers, advantages, or disadvantages to represent the drug's effects and (usually bad) side effects. Most medical drugs give Rapid Healing, Resistant to Disease, HT bonuses, or similar benefits. Some mitigate disadvantages, canceling them for the drug's duration (e.g., a psychiatric drug might suppress Delusions and Paranoia). A few provide unique effects, such as healing lost HP or FP.

Duration: Select the duration of the effects. Standard durations are short-term (lasts [25 - HT] minutes), medium-term ([25 - HT]/4 hours), long-term (one full day), or very long-term(up to a week). Multiple doses generally extend duration rather than increasing effect; e.g., two doses of a long-term drug last two days.

Potency: The subject gets a HT roll to resist disadvantages and other negative effects. The drug's potency is a modifier to this roll. Assume that each doubling of dosage gives an extra -1 to the roll.

Form: A drug may be a pill, injection, aerosol, contact agent, or aerosol contact agent. Many drugs are available in multiple forms. Most pills require 30 minutes or more to take effect, but can be dissolved in drinks. Contact agents (e.g., patches) take at least 5 minutes. Aerosols and injections take effect almost immediately.

Cost: This can vary, but here's a rule of thumb. Sum the absolute point values of all traits the drug adds or removes. Multiply the sum by a base cost for duration: $2 for short-term, $10 for medium-term, $50 for long-term, or $250 for very long-term. For drugs that heal, use the point cost of HP or FP, as appropriate, and treat permanent healing as "long-term." Potency modifies price: double cost for each -1 to HT rolls. Multiply final cost by 2 for aerosols or contact agents, by 10 for aerosol contact agents.

LC: This will vary by society and with the nature of the drug. Medical drugs are typically LC3. Drugs perceived as socially harmful might be LC2 or even LC1.

Example: A "truth drug" that forces the subject to roll HT-3 or suffer -4 to Will for (25 - HT) minutes would cost 20 (point value) × $2 (shortterm) × 8 (potency) × 1 (injection) = $320 per dose. It would probably only be available to spies: LC2.

See Also:

• Drugs and Nano (Bio-Tech & Ultra-Tech)