Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 1069 Location: Plateau of Leng
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:45 pm Post subject: Medicine vs First aid - should I have high % in both ?
Ok, so here I am contemplating creating a Doctor/Physician and for the first time I've been taking a serious look at First Aid and medicine and the thought occurs:
Is there any benefit in buying First aid if you have a high Medicine score ? In game terms Medicine seems to do all of First Aid and more.
Clearly for characterisation purposes I'll buy *some* first aid, but if I'm going for a significant (60-75%) Medicine score, its seems a waste...
Medicine does seem to be First Aid plus extras. I would think that as a Doctor, you could easily justify having almost entirely Medicine, since First Aid is largely redundant.
Joined: Feb 23, 2004 Posts: 596 Location: Queens, New York
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 5:35 pm Post subject:
In my home game First Aid is emergency medicine. It’s triage. Stopping bleeding, clearing airways, getting someone stable so that they can be moved. It’s also for just stiching up wounds, dealing with bruises, that sort of thing. Anything serious, such as illness, broken bones, surgery and catastrophic injuries will require Medicine rolls. Medicine helps investigators recover quicker, over a period of days spent resting.
If your game is slow paced, I’d so go higher on Medicine. If your game is pulpy, I’d say go First Aid. If you’ve got the points and your game falls somewhere between the two (and if you’re smart in my opinion) you’ll put decent points in both skills.
Currently I run a doctor investigator who has high scores in both Medicine and First Aid. He is a retired WWI army surgeon, who currently teaches Medicine at MU. Nowadays he specializes in what will eventually become the field of Obstetrics (Dr. Roland Edgecomb - “I’ve seen enough people shot up and blown apart. I want to deliver babies, bring life into the world instead of watching it pass from it.”) _________________ Oscar "Osk" Rios
Associate Editor & Staff Writer
www.miskatonicriverpress.com
Joined: Nov 21, 2003 Posts: 134 Location: Concord, California
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 6:01 pm Post subject:
If you're playing by the rules as written, there is absolutely nothing that First Aid can do which Medicine cannot also do (often better). So if you plan to raise your Medicine skill above the base chance on First Aid, you're just wasting points by building up the First Aid skill - points which would be useful in building your Medicine above 60-75% so your doctor doesn't fail to heal someone anywhere from 25-40% of the time.
The First Aid skill can be seen as emergency medicine only, while Medicine encompasses emergency medicine as well as long-term diagnosis and treatment. If someone collapses on the street, and a doctor is there to help the patient, he shouldn't (outside of legal and procedural issues) have to step aside when the EMTs arrive. While the doctor might not be as experienced as handling emergency cases, he has all the knowledge and skill that the EMTs do and much more (unless he is an incompetent boob). _________________ Delta Green: 1939-1945 My Development Blog for Our Darkest Hour My Personal Blog
Joined: Jul 18, 2006 Posts: 2093 Location: Orlando FL USA
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject:
My inclination (since it makes no difference in game) would be to give a Physician First Aid equal to Medicine. If he/she adds 50 points to the base 5% for Medicine to reach 55%, I'd make First Aid 55% as well. _________________ "Two in the head, you know he's dead." <heh-heh>
As has been made clear, it depends entirely on how your Keeper defines those skills.
For me the two skills cover different areas. First Aid covers, well, first aid, simple wounds and normal recovery; what a nurse would do. Medicine covers surgery, diagnostics, diseases and ER; what a doctor would do.
Btw.: This reminds me why I liked the pre-5th edition skills; under the current system it isn't possible to create someone like Dr. House, who would have a very high (99%) Diagnose Disease skill, but a much lower (maybe just 50% or so) Treat Disease skill. And if a skill system can't give us Gregory House, then something must be wrong with it! _________________ "The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen" - H.P. Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror
Joined: Nov 21, 2003 Posts: 134 Location: Concord, California
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 9:15 pm Post subject:
Dr_Rudolf_von_Richten wrote:
Btw.: This reminds me why I liked the pre-5th edition skills; under the current system it isn't possible to create someone like Dr. House, who would have a very high (99%) Diagnose Disease skill, but a much lower (maybe just 50% or so) Treat Disease skill. And if a skill system can't give us Gregory House, then something must be wrong with it!
You can get around this by creating a separate skill called "Diagnose Disease" and giving your Dr. House a 99% in it, while still leaving him 50% in Medicine. BTW I haven't watched a lot of House, but I've never seen House fail at treating someone when he tried - he just doesn't seem to be very interested in trying.
The latest rules are actually very clear on what Medicine and First Aid do, so it's not really up to Keeper interpretation unless you want to house-rule some difference between the two that gives First Aid some relevance when you already have Medicine. From what I can see, First Aid is useful only because it has such a high base score, making it the skill to go to for amateur attempts or someone given very basic training in emergency medicine (i.e. soldiers, low-level EMTs, etc.). Otherwise, anyone with serious training will use Medicine. _________________ Delta Green: 1939-1945 My Development Blog for Our Darkest Hour My Personal Blog
Joined: Aug 18, 2005 Posts: 1069 Location: Plateau of Leng
Posted: Wed Nov 04, 2009 11:22 pm Post subject:
Gil_Trevizo wrote:
[
The latest rules are actually very clear on what Medicine and First Aid do, so it's not really up to Keeper interpretation unless you want to house-rule some difference between the two that gives First Aid some relevance when you already have Medicine. From what I can see, First Aid is useful only because it has such a high base score, making it the skill to go to for amateur attempts or someone given very basic training in emergency medicine (i.e. soldiers, low-level EMTs, etc.). Otherwise, anyone with serious training will use Medicine.
Thats roughly how I read it at first, but wasn't sure if I was missing something. I'll discuss with my Keeper when I see it..er..him. Thats if he's not already listening (looks around nervously)...
Thanks everyone. Interesting and thought-provoking input as always. _________________ We blow up the wall beyond all hope of repair.
Btw.: This reminds me why I liked the pre-5th edition skills; under the current system it isn't possible to create someone like Dr. House, who would have a very high (99%) Diagnose Disease skill, but a much lower (maybe just 50% or so) Treat Disease skill. And if a skill system can't give us Gregory House, then something must be wrong with it!
You can get around this by creating a separate skill called "Diagnose Disease" and giving your Dr. House a 99% in it, while still leaving him 50% in Medicine. BTW I haven't watched a lot of House, but I've never seen House fail at treating someone when he tried - he just doesn't seem to be very interested in trying.
Yeah, of course you can, the ability to handle new skills without any problem being another one of the wonderful things about CoC. But that wasn't the point. _________________ "The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but between them, they walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen" - H.P. Lovecraft: The Dunwich Horror
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
You can syndicate our news using an RSS/XML feed via backend.php, and our forum posts via backendforums.php
Logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Comments are the responsibility of their posters.
Call of Cthulhu is a Trademark of Chaosium Inc.
RSS/XML feed via backend.php, and our forum posts via backendforums.php
Forum FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
