Stimpacks Question

By tyki11, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

Just curious, as I read it, Stimpack is essentially a five capsule injector gun.

As a maneuver you jab yourself or a friend with it and heal.

GM wants us to use maneuver to pull it out, and maneuver to use it. Which I assume isn't the intended manner?

It takes a maneuver to draw any gear or weapons. It would take another maneuver to use the stimpack.

Strange wording, or rather unnecessary then.

Could have clarified "One maneuver to draw, one to use." rather than saying it three times "It takes one maneuver to inject."

Yes, you are supposed to use a maneuver to ready a stimpac, alternately there is the military belt pouch which allows you to "quick draw" any 0 encumbrance item (2 items per pouch). As a GM, I allow my players to use an Action to both ready and apply a stimpac without strain, but that's not RAW.

Also, a stimpac is a single use item not a 5 use one. You can use up to 5 stimpacs in a day - healing 5, 4, 3, 2, and finally 1 point of damage - but each use is a new stimpac.

Yes, you are supposed to use a maneuver to ready a stimpac, alternately there is the military belt pouch which allows you to "quick draw" any 0 encumbrance item (2 items per pouch). As a GM, I allow my players to use an Action to both ready and apply a stimpac without strain, but that's not RAW.

Also, a stimpac is a single use item not a 5 use one. You can use up to 5 stimpacs in a day - healing 5, 4, 3, 2, and finally 1 point of damage - but each use is a new stimpac.

I was going from the reference image on the page at first.

Suddenly I realize they cost a lot more. It seemed strange that a 25 got us a 5 capsule injector like on the image. Thanks for the help.

Can't you use elect to do a 2nd maneuver (without strain cost) instead of your action?

IIRC that's what it said in the core rules.

Any maneuvers beyond that would cost strain (so doing 3 maneuvers in one turn and no actions, or doing 2 maneuvers and 1 action).

Unless you have a multi limb species, there is a limit of 2 maneuvers a turn.

Edited by Tear44

2 maneuvers. One to manage gear, which is a maneuver explained in the maneuvers section of EoE CRB. p. 202. Then a maneuver to use the Stimpack, which is explained in the gear section description p. 177 EoE CRB.

Unless you have a multi limb species, there is a limit of 2 maneuvers a turn.

You still only get two manoeuvres in a turn; a multi-armed species just doesn't have to pay strain for the second manoeuvre.

The only way to get three manoeuvres on your turn is to have the Unmatched Mobility signature ability. Otherwise you're capped at two, regardless of whether you pay for it with strain, Advantages or by "trading in" your action.

A Field Commander check will provide PCs a bonus maneuver outside their turn.

A Field Commander check will provide PCs a bonus maneuver outside their turn.

Absolutely, but that's out-of-turn. In your own turn you're stuck with two.

Can't you use elect to do a 2nd maneuver (without strain cost) instead of your action?

IIRC that's what it said in the core rules.

Any maneuvers beyond that would cost strain (so doing 3 maneuvers in one turn and no actions, or doing 2 maneuvers and 1 action).

Yes, but if you're moving over to your buddy AND pulling out the stimpac AND using it, you've gone beyond the 2 maneuver limit. That's why I let them combine readying and applying into a single action - they almost always have to move from close to engaged to apply the first one.

You've diminished Quickdraw by allowing that.

Many things can provide a bonus maneuver, like 2P51 pointed out with the field commander. You can also get free maneuvers through other means. You are not really limited to a specific number of maneuvers you have during a full Round. You are just limited to two maneuvers during your Turn, the free one, the Action turned into maneuver, or the -2 Strain maneuver. But you could still get a couple of more maneuvers during the round and not on your turn that you can take as outside your turn incidentals.

Can't you use elect to do a 2nd maneuver (without strain cost) instead of your action?

IIRC that's what it said in the core rules.

Any maneuvers beyond that would cost strain (so doing 3 maneuvers in one turn and no actions, or doing 2 maneuvers and 1 action).

Yes, but if you're moving over to your buddy AND pulling out the stimpac AND using it, you've gone beyond the 2 maneuver limit. That's why I let them combine readying and applying into a single action - they almost always have to move from close to engaged to apply the first one.

Ah, well, if you're moving a distance, then sure.

But so far, in my session (only been one, but they used stimpacks more than once), they've always happened to be pretty much next to eachother.

And moving that short a distance is an incidental.

Can't you use elect to do a 2nd maneuver (without strain cost) instead of your action?

IIRC that's what it said in the core rules.

Any maneuvers beyond that would cost strain (so doing 3 maneuvers in one turn and no actions, or doing 2 maneuvers and 1 action).

Yes, but if you're moving over to your buddy AND pulling out the stimpac AND using it, you've gone beyond the 2 maneuver limit. That's why I let them combine readying and applying into a single action - they almost always have to move from close to engaged to apply the first one.

Ah, well, if you're moving a distance, then sure.

But so far, in my session (only been one, but they used stimpacks more than once), they've always happened to be pretty much next to eachother.

And moving that short a distance is an incidental.

If you have to move from close to engaged to apply the stimpac - unless I misinterpreted the rules. Unless 2 people were hiding behind the same desk for cover or fighting the same person, they are probably close not engaged.

Yes, you are supposed to use a maneuver to ready a stimpac, alternately there is the military belt pouch which allows you to "quick draw" any 0 encumbrance item (2 items per pouch). As a GM, I allow my players to use an Action to both ready and apply a stimpac without strain, but that's not RAW.

Also, a stimpac is a single use item not a 5 use one. You can use up to 5 stimpacs in a day - healing 5, 4, 3, 2, and finally 1 point of damage - but each use is a new stimpac.

That military belt pouch is the answer for the guy that is constantly running up to his buddies to stimpack them.

Strange wording, or rather unnecessary then.

Could have clarified "One maneuver to draw, one to use." rather than saying it three times "It takes one maneuver to inject."

It isn't strange wording when you take all rules into account rather than just looking at the gear description itself

The Gear description is Only speaking of it's use. Not covering all situation that might also affect being able to use the item.

In the ECRB on page 202 Taking about Manuevers you can do, in the "Manage gear" section it says "Remove an item from storage".

So, unless you are running around everywhere you go with a stimpack in hand, Or you have a some cybernetic Stimpack injector in your arm, or your a droid wit a built in stimpack injector, or something like that.

YOu would need to retrieve your stimpack from where ever you have it stored, with a maneuver, and then another maneuver to use it.

Can't you use elect to do a 2nd maneuver (without strain cost) instead of your action?

IIRC that's what it said in the core rules.

Any maneuvers beyond that would cost strain (so doing 3 maneuvers in one turn and no actions, or doing 2 maneuvers and 1 action).

Yes, but if you're moving over to your buddy AND pulling out the stimpac AND using it, you've gone beyond the 2 maneuver limit. That's why I let them combine readying and applying into a single action - they almost always have to move from close to engaged to apply the first one.

Ah, well, if you're moving a distance, then sure.

But so far, in my session (only been one, but they used stimpacks more than once), they've always happened to be pretty much next to eachother.

And moving that short a distance is an incidental.

If you have to move from close to engaged to apply the stimpac - unless I misinterpreted the rules. Unless 2 people were hiding behind the same desk for cover or fighting the same person, they are probably close not engaged.

Which is pretty much the situation my players have been in each time they get wounded :P

this is Why I tell my players, there is nothing wrong with redundant skills in the group lol.

I personally ignore the RAW and let my players draw and use a stimpack as a single maneuver, as do a few other GMs I know, such as GM Chris and GM Phil/DarthGM of Order 66 podcast.

A part of that might be a carry over from Saga Edition's "hearing surge" mechanic which allowed the PCs to recover a portion of the damage (about one-quarter of the character's total hit points), which frankly I would have found a much more elegant implementation of in-combat health recovery than the current reliance on stimpacks. Perhaps a large part of why I dislike the stimpack idea is that it really does feel like something out of a video game. A "healing surge" type of ability (though likely called something else) that could be used a limited number of times per day (perhaps even just once per day like Saga Edition) I think would have worked better. After all, we don't see the main leads in the films or TV series pause in the midst of combat to slap themselves with a healing patch or inject a dose of fast-acting bacta after they've taken a bit of a pounding; they generally instead take a moment to metaphorically catch their breath, grit their teeth, and get back into the fray. But that's separate from the topic of this thread.

Now, given that many PCs in the games I've run and played in tend to withdraw to cover or take action to make themselves less of an immediate threat either directly before or directly after using a stimpack, it's not been that big of a deal for the tables I've played at. So if the GM wants to keep it at a single maneuver to draw and use a stimpack on themselves, making it "one and done" instead of it being two separate maneuvers, I can say from personal experience it doesn't break the game.

I've found it quite unnecessary to houserule anything about drawing stimpacks. The Quickdraw talent isn't that uncommon, and ever since I picked up Dangerous Covenants the Military Belt Pouch has been a staple with all my players who don't have Quickdraw. It costs 10 credits and has Rarity 0. Absolutely everyone can afford that.

I use the same houserule as Donovan Morningfire. It doesn't seem to diminish Quickdraw since you essentially can draw and stim as an incidental. And the lovely thing about incidentals is the GM can flat out say "Nope. That's too many things in one round.".

So essentially I allow a character with Quickdraw to stimpack as an incidental once per round.

Our doc uses a blaster in one hand and a stim in the other regularly. (And the stim is used more often than the blaster pistol)

Personally to me if per rules you have to burn a maneuver to draw a weapon from a holster positioned right where your hand naturally falls, it's fair to bill PCs a maneuver to draw a Stimpack. If you have to burn a maneuver to Aim a weapon, I think it's fair to bill PCs a maneuver to use an auto injector to administer life saving medicines to an injured PC or yourself. I have a bevy of houserules for Medicine checks myself, but they tend to be more towards increasing the desire to avoid crits, and to have an actual medical practitioner along, not just a smart PC with a med pack.

I just don't think the RAW are unfair or should be hand waved away because Stimpacks are already way to 'video game press the D button down arrow to administer' easy imo. If you make rules that are already pretty easy for using health potions easier, you make PCs more cavalier about the way they approach encounters tactically when they know it's so easy to count on Stimpacks imo.

To each their own.