I just have the medic roll the check, I don't mess with the Difficulty. I could see some Setback(s) for lack of cover or proximity of the enemy. If they succeed all's well, if not, re-roll....

Sure there is, because it lingers and makes other criticals worse.

For a whole round? Then the character dies anyway? No point. What does +10 to a subsequent critical roll matter if you are dead anyway? The rules make it very clear that rolling a medicine check against a critical injury is what clears the effect of said injury.

Sure there is, because it lingers and makes other criticals worse.

For a whole round? Then the character dies anyway? No point. What does +10 to a subsequent critical roll matter if you are dead anyway? The rules make it very clear that rolling a medicine check against a critical injury is what clears the effect of said injury.

Yeah, I have never seen anything in the rules that disallows a critical injury to be healed during combat. Did I miss something?

Sure there is, because it lingers and makes other criticals worse.

For a whole round? Then the character dies anyway?

I think you didn't read my post. The character would be stabilized. They would still have the critical, but it would be like any other critical whose effects passes at the end of the encounter, like, say, "Head Ringer".

Yeah, I have never seen anything in the rules that disallows a critical injury to be healed during combat. Did I miss something?

Not that I know. It's just an action seems a bit short for some of these things.

Well, given that a combat round has a general default of a minute (though could take more or less time depending on the situation and GM whim), I'd say a Medicine check to treat a critical injury in the midst of combat isn't entirely out of the question. Setback dice could certainly be applied for the less-than-desirable conditions that occur on the field of combat.

The idea of flipping a Destiny Point to upgrade the difficulty of the Medicine check to treat most critical injuries isn't something I'd do anyway, only for cases where the question of "what's the worst that could happen?" could have some interesting/amusing results for the players.

Sure there is, because it lingers and makes other criticals worse.

For a whole round? Then the character dies anyway?

I think you didn't read my post. The character would be stabilized. They would still have the critical, but it would be like any other critical whose effects passes at the end of the encounter, like, say, "Head Ringer".

Yeah, I have never seen anything in the rules that disallows a critical injury to be healed during combat. Did I miss something?

Not that I know. It's just an action seems a bit short for some of these things.

No, I didn't misread your post. What I'm saying is that you are introducing extra steps and rules because you feel the mechanics of the game don't work narratively. Perhaps the medicine work ties the doctor/medic and the one with End is Nigh up for multiple rounds, the attempt should still be allowed and the check should still clear the critical injury immediately if successful.

Perhaps the medicine work ties the doctor/medic and the one with End is Nigh up for multiple rounds, the attempt should still be allowed and the check should still clear the critical injury immediately if successful.

I probably should have been more clear: what I'm trying to work around is the failure. I could just let the failure stand, in which case the critical stays and the character dies. However, if I offer the player a way to mitigate the failure in the form of an attempted stabilization, then it doesn't seem unfair to keep the crit "on the books" as well as sustain some problematic issues e.g.: incapacitation, or even replace it with downgraded crit such as limb loss.

Agree about the timing, one round is probably enough, it wouldn't be worth bogging the game down over it.

Well, given that a combat round has a general default of a minute (though could take more or less time depending on the situation and GM whim),

Please show me where it says that a "combat round" is a minute long by default. In the ECRB it says a round CAN LAST up to roughly a minute. ECRB: "A round lasts long enough for a player to move to a new location and perform an important action."

I can not see a round of combat lasting 50-60 seconds. In that amount of time I can take aimed shots at targets, empty a 15 round clip, reload, and fire the full clip again, all shots being aimed and most hitting my targets, and still have plenty of time left over. Has anyone actually been in a real combat environment? Even a controlled shooting range? Taking well aimed shots can happen very, very fast. I have been in both. Combat is super fast, super hectic, and super disorienting.

I see an "important action" as most beings firing off a few shots, unless you have a fire rate. I feel some actions in combat may take more than round to resolve. Technical skills, medical skills mainly. I have no problem having a medic or technician have multi-round actions going on. In this case I would have the PC say they are doing the med check. The character is performing the action during his initiative slot, and keeps that same slot, and after a few rounds, he will make the roll. I see it as long as he there "working" on the fallen character, he can keep him alive. You could also have them roll right then and there, then they would still be "performing" the action for a few rounds. I usually default it to the number of "combat rounds" required to heal a crit is equal to the difficulty die number. I make my "combat rounds" last only a few (3-7) seconds long.

This game does not specify the length of a round for narrative purposes. In some of the other games, where a round did last a specified amount of time 5/6 seconds depending on the system, a lot of skills where multi-round or one minute. You would actually have to count down the 12/10 rounds it took someone to make a computer check even outside of combat. So this system does away with that book keeping need. But the ECRB/ACRB/FCRB do not say that the default time of a round IS one minute.

To spend a Destiny Point on this kind of check by the GM to upgrade the difficulty is a pretty Summer's Eve bag move. Now adding in Setback dice, sure! That is the total point of Setback dice. As blasters and explosions are going on around you, you better have a Setback die added into your check. Outside of combat, I would usually provide a Boost die from someone helping out, and no worries about the length of a round.

There is a note in the Medicine description that Threat can be spent to increase the time it takes to complete the healing.

There is also more chance that during structured play a Medic is less likely to have the correct equipment, thus requiring the difficulty be increased by 1 as per the medicine description.

The fact that a character explicitly dies after 1 round with The End is Nigh (unless the Crit is healed) kind of implies that Medicine can be used any time as a single action, otherwise it may as well say you die right now. It's giving players a very slim chance of hope without a Force User with Heal Mastery nearby.

However, if I offer the player a way to mitigate the failure in the form of an attempted stabilization, then it doesn't seem unfair to keep the crit "on the books" as well as sustain some problematic issues e.g.: incapacitation, or even replace it with downgraded crit such as limb loss.

I'd only allow that in the case of a failure + Triumph (or tons of advantage), since that's basically doing what the Cerebral Stabilizer (Dangerous Covenants) is doing, and you'd have to be pretty skilled/lucky to pull that kind of stabilization off with a normal Medpac.

In other words, you'd let them die. Which is fine, I'm just suggesting a way to avoid that.

In other words, you'd let them die. Which is fine, I'm just suggesting a way to avoid that.

If you just give stabilization on a flat failure, then it's easy for players to just say "oh, the medic is too far, guy with 1 Intellect, go fail the medicine check to 'heal' the player so he can not die for now". Heck, even the player himself might just try a hack job to try and recover the critical by himself. So giving it to them for nothing just trivializes the critical.

With the Triumph or Advantage it gives chances of safety without needing to succeed, but you still need to be lucky enough to get it.

Maybe someone untrained would have to flip a DP...

None of this has come up at my table, so I really don't know what I'll do until it happens. If the PC had a suitably epic end and the player wasn't crushed by the news, I'd probably let the failure stand. Until then there's too much variability in context to give too rigid an answer.

Perhaps a Stimpack and DP to stabilise if it's in the best interest of the game. On the other hand I like the idea of offering the choice to the players "is this a suitable end to this character?"

I'll be honest, this came up in a game I was playing and in a game I was GMing.

Game I was playing: I was the group medic and the crit was on me. My next action was to save myself, which means difficulty increased twice. I called in everything I had. Master doctor to reduce difficulty, natural doctor to reroll, flip a DP to upgrade. I succeeded, barely. The GM ruled that I wouldn't die but would still need to seek medical treatment later to remove the crit. Felt like it totally deflated the moment.

Game I was GMing: only two players and neither of them had ranks in medicine or even a med kit. I made the mistake of throwing in a disruptor rifle on the NPC and crit with it (used the bounty hunter profile from back of the book). I'll never do that again as a GM. I told the players that if they could end the combat before the end of the next round and seek medical attention immediately, the character would be saved. Otherwise, dead per the critical. They managed to finish off what was left and high tail it out of there. If they had a doctor I would have played it differently, but I felt dirty criting with a disruptor.

Never regret a choice as a GM.

And a death injury is Not small beans.... IMO, if some one has taken this critical, people shouldn't just suddenly pop up and start Fighting at full capacity again. even with a couple Morphine Syrrets and a band aid.

IMO without a triumph, (and even then) the character may be saved from death but they are likely going to need to be carried out on a stretcher. And even with a triumph, they aren't likely going to do any fighting.. just holding onto some one else for support as they limp away.

I look at it like Anikin Skywalker at the end of revenge of the Sith. The Emperor may have saved his life, even keeping him alive from a distance, But it took time and a lot of cybernetic intervention to make Anikin viable again.

Never regret a choice as a GM.

And a death injury is Not small beans.... IMO, if some one has taken this critical, people shouldn't just suddenly pop up and start Fighting at full capacity again. even with a couple Morphine Syrrets and a band aid.

IMO without a triumph, (and even then) the character may be saved from death but they are likely going to need to be carried out on a stretcher. And even with a triumph, they aren't likely going to do any fighting.. just holding onto some one else for support as they limp away.

I look at it like Anikin Skywalker at the end of revenge of the Sith. The Emperor may have saved his life, even keeping him alive from a distance, But it took time and a lot of cybernetic intervention to make Anikin viable again.

Anakin had like 4 maimed crits, probably a gruesome injury or two, and likely bleeding out. Maimed and Gruesome Injury are permanent without cybernetics.

The Medical Backpack found in Enter the Unknown says that when treating critical injuries while using the backpack, you can reduce the difficulty by one to a minimum of easy.

Look at the cerebral stabilizer from Dangerous Covenants. An Average Medicine check is all it takes to wipe the effects of Bleeding Out, The End is Nigh, or Dead if it can be applied within 1 round. The character still has the crit (so +10 to future crits), but does not have the effects.

The Medpac description in AoR says it carries a full suite of surgical tools, on top of tons of other stuff like spray on splints, medi-scanners, etc. It says it allows the "user to perform relatively complex medical procedures in the field".

I think it is pretty clear that the intent is you can heal criticals in the field, with medpacs, medkits, etc.

Combat encounter? The End is Nigh? Better get your doctor over there to save him. Though I think it is completely appropriate to say it takes a few rounds of combat to do the procedure. The procedure should still happen and the crit should be cleared completely on a successful check.