tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post2885248044992155338..comments2023-10-14T03:58:59.333-06:00Comments on The Tao of D&D: AmputationAlexis Smolenskhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-56813118603183739732016-11-04T17:02:09.555-06:002016-11-04T17:02:09.555-06:00Tim,
I am not opposed to keeping some details abo...Tim,<br /><br />I am not opposed to keeping some details about what is happening secret from the players. The dividing line is simple: WHAT CAN THE PLAYERS KNOW vs. WHAT THEY CAN'T. When I roll a die from an enemy attacking a character, that is happening in front of the character and should be openly rolled.<br /><br />But pray tell, how do the characters know how skilled the physician has to be?<br /><br />As regards to the physician performing a risky operation in a desperate attempt to save the patient, THAT is exactly what I propose is happening. Given that the patient is going to secretly die in three weeks, towards the end of that time there's no sign that the patient is getting better; the physician without the necessary knowledge automatically becomes more desperate - in the end, they try the best thing they know how to do (the risk you describe) and the patient dies.<br /><br />I don't intend to increase the metrics here by giving further chances to the die roll. The physician with 36 knowledge points CANNOT save a patient needing 37 knowledge points, period. Them's the breaks. But I also want the actual result - save or fail - to be unknown. As a physician, do you trust your skill to save the patient or do you admit your doubt and try to find a better physician? Do you do both? It is up to you. Take your time deciding.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-45604759160484883232016-11-04T15:45:26.777-06:002016-11-04T15:45:26.777-06:00Jonathon, "annoyingly pedantic" would be...Jonathon, "annoyingly pedantic" would be a <i>great</i> malus for the background generator: perhaps a charisma penalty when speaking to characters of higher level/higher knowledge authority?<br /><br /><br />Alexis, I was wondering about the "secret roll" the DM performs to see if the character dies (where the necessary knowledge points exceed the character's actual knowledge). What's the purpose of making the roll secret? It seems out of place compared to your usual recommendation to let the players see the rolls. From what I would expect, couldn't it be the case that the physician knows that they cannot "fully" save the patient, but perhaps perform a risky operation that increases the chance of infection while still giving the patient a few more days to reach a better doctor or relay information?Timhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03496502173819113887noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-76194894423524796142016-11-04T08:00:30.600-06:002016-11-04T08:00:30.600-06:00Based on the traumas I've been involved with I...Based on the traumas I've been involved with I would consider:<br /><br />Major: wrist or ankle, anywhere on the arm, below the knee, face or jaw, removing foreign objects in limbs. (Genitals / breasts- not a lot of blood loss, but highly innervated. Perhaps major.) <br /> <br />Radical: at or above the knee, at the hip, removing foreign objects from the abdomen or head, removing the genitals or the breasts.<br /><br />Drastic: Removing foreign objects from the chest. <br /><br />I'm basing this on vessel size and controllability of blood loss. Cutting into the chest without some form of mechanical ventilation is usually fatal. Exceptions I can think of would be pushing an arrow through the chest, and then sealing the holes to prevent a pneumothorax.Baron Opalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07035904533197305820noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-31082790408561726352016-11-03T13:42:46.072-06:002016-11-03T13:42:46.072-06:00Robin,
I would leave it to the players to build a...Robin,<br /><br />I would leave it to the players to build a laboratory and invent the spell if they wanted ~ but since two of the characters in my world are already competent surgeons, there's not much need for it. Remember that a spell that was able to "safely" produce the amputation without the shock causing death would effectively be as difficult as the 7th level Regeneration spell. The only other useful purpose of the spell would be to make a cut as clean as a surgeon would - and it is EASIER, the way I've designed my system, to gain 30 knowledge points as a physician than it would be to obtain what would probably be a 4th level spell.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-83428216440501821952016-11-03T13:21:55.729-06:002016-11-03T13:21:55.729-06:00Magic amputation spell?Magic amputation spell?Robin Irwin https://www.blogger.com/profile/05972978418186272545noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-53318735212236346892016-11-03T10:00:14.660-06:002016-11-03T10:00:14.660-06:00I appreciate the responses. I've drifted more ...I appreciate the responses. I've drifted more and more into the descriptivist language camp over the years for exactly the reason you describe - the point is to be understood, not to score points for technical merit - but some of the rules drilled into me during childhood seem awfully resistant to being dislodged and I notice them first and worst in my own writing. <br /><br />Perhaps 'annoyingly pedantic' should be somewhere in the negative CHA or WIS traits in the background generator. Jonathonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12424548045152722964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-88311038699776603902016-11-03T09:31:35.740-06:002016-11-03T09:31:35.740-06:00Hah!
People who make a big deal of "its"...Hah!<br /><br />People who make a big deal of "its" vs "it's" fail to recognize that the primary purpose of writing is to communicate, not to bow down to the great god grammar. I understood you perfectly, Jonathon - and after 20 years of reading the internet, my brain auto-corrects such incredibly minor errors without the change consciously registering. Until you added your second comment (which I did not see until after I had answered your first), I did not even know you'd done it.<br /><br />You know, the little horde that correct such errors for a newspaper are considered among the lowest of the low in journalism - basically, it is work for monkeys. Don't worry about it. Writing that makes small mistakes like these is fine. Not until the whole sentence is a collection of creative grammar do we start to judge the writer's intelligence.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-63106264641525851382016-11-03T09:26:19.461-06:002016-11-03T09:26:19.461-06:00In fact, there's nothing in the spell descript...In fact, there's nothing in the spell description of regenerate/wither that states that a system shock survival roll is needed. That said, however.<br /><br />It is fairly clear from the manner of the spell's wording that the stump is meant to remain behind as if given time to heal. I say this because no time is taken to describe the physical/emotional effect on the actual victim. It is annoying that there are no rules for how many hit points are lost due to the withering - and admittedly, I did not think to include those rules when I rewrote the spell for my wiki. I've added a few notes to the wiki now to address the issues you raise, Jonathon.<br /><br />I do not think a physician would be needed; while the withering would be a shock, it would not be accompanied by the blood loss, the exposure of the body to the air nor the concomitant need to further suture the skin. The shock would be primarily emotional - and I'm not ready to introduce PTSD as a character metric.<br /><br />Good question. Anything that makes me rewrite the wiki is a good thing.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-24265206524615822722016-11-03T09:16:42.229-06:002016-11-03T09:16:42.229-06:00(I wish I could edit my comments, because the &quo...(I wish I could edit my comments, because the "it's" where an "its" should be is going to drive me crazy and it is all my own fault because I did not proofread for autocorrect-introduced errors.)Jonathonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12424548045152722964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-59649465378087396882016-11-03T08:59:01.413-06:002016-11-03T08:59:01.413-06:00How does this rule (if at all) interact with the h...How does this rule (if at all) interact with the high-level cleric spell Regenerate (or it's reversal, Wither?)<br /><br />I know that this is for non-magical amputations and healing, but if a cleric had Withered Bertrand's hand instead, would that still require a system shock roll and/or do damage, or would you handle that differently? Would a person who failed their recovery roll (and who had no sufficient-skilled physician on hand) but had the limb Regenerated recover, or would they need additional treatment?Jonathonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12424548045152722964noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-6337083557263136032016-11-02T23:18:13.257-06:002016-11-02T23:18:13.257-06:00Nope.
I have two characters who have recently upg...Nope.<br /><br />I have two characters who have recently upgraded their clerical sage abilities; both made authority medicine level at the same time, so I'm upgrading medicine to fit their present knowledge. Amputation is the first of the new skills alphabetically.Alexis Smolenskhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10539170107563075967noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3871409676946408069.post-888218728059875292016-11-02T22:09:32.005-06:002016-11-02T22:09:32.005-06:00Sometimes one writes rules to expand on a quick ru...Sometimes one writes rules to expand on a quick ruling made during the game, and sometimes one does it because it's pleasing to flesh out part of the game-world.<br /><br />Did you have an amputation go down in a recent session?Maxwell Joslynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02309867478186083339noreply@blogger.com