Advantage and Triumph on Medicine Checks

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

Hi all

I know that, per RAW, advantages can be used to recover strain and triumphs can be used to recover from crits during a standard Medicine check. But I've found that a) often there are no crits/strain, so these are wasted, and b) this seems a slightly cheap way to heal a crit - you can make a medicine check once per encounter, and if you've got any skill in Medicine at all the odds are a triumph is going to come along sooner rather than later.

I just wondered if anyone had any other great, inventive ideas for how to spend Advantage and Triumph (and, I suppose, Threat and Despair) during Medicine checks?

Thanks in advance.

As a follow-up, what about spending Advantage and Triumph on checks to heal Critical Injuries? Other than recovering strain, what can these do?

The CRB suggests using the Triumphs to heal an additional wound if there is no crit, so you'd heal a wound for the success it represents, and you could heal an additional one for the Triumph result, kind of a double dip.

A Triumph with nothing to spend it on otherwise could be used as a Boost/Upgrade to the next Medicine check performed by the PC with Advantages used in the same fashion. The same way they're are 'passed along' in combat uses.

Yeah, we usually just pass them on as boosts/upgrades if there's nothing else to spend them on. Also, and I might be wrong here, I through a triumph gave you a second chance to heal a crit you already failed to heal, not actually healed it. So, if you have a Major Crit, and had already failed your Medicine check for the week, but you got a Triumph on a alter Medicine check to heal, you got to make another roll to attempt to heal it. That's at least the way I've always interpreted it. Might be wrong, though I'll probably just keep doing it the way I've been doing it anyways. I also reduce crit healing to 1 per week, period, not 1 attempt per week per crit (save for Triumphs, of course)

Sorry if this is wrong, as it pertains to my group who have current outstandong crits from previous battles.

I thought that the only way to heal a crit was to generate a triumph? So even when checking to heal the crit specifically, you needed a triumph to heal it

Sorry if this is wrong, as it pertains to my group who have current outstandong crits from previous battles.

I thought that the only way to heal a crit was to generate a triumph? So even when checking to heal the crit specifically, you needed a triumph to heal it

You heal on a Triumph on a regular check to heal wounds. If you specifically roll on the critical it's just a success.

Sorry if this is wrong, as it pertains to my group who have current outstandong crits from previous battles.

I thought that the only way to heal a crit was to generate a triumph? So even when checking to heal the crit specifically, you needed a triumph to heal it

Holy hell, your players must have like a dozen crits stacked up.

2 have 1 each, which I have made asymptomatic and reduced the +10 on crit roles to 1 D10. They might finally heal during their voyage to Cholganna...

Thanks guys - passing on the bonuses seems to be the best use then. That does make sense, although I'm concerned that it could lead to excessive book-keeping. Although I guess that's the player's responsibility to keep track of, if they want the benefit!

On my table:

Triumph on standard heal - Also heals a crit or heal extra wounds

Advantage on standard heal - Also heal strain

ONLY if there is nothing to spend on - (three advantages or a triumph) for the next ingame hour the healed character gets an Upgrade to checks for agility or brawn (to choose while spending the advantages and only one time per day) - (two triumphs) the same but for the rest of the day

Triumph on a crit heal - Heals a second crit or heals also wounds equal to sucesses

Advatages on a crit heal - Also heals strain

ONLY if there is nothing to spend on - (three advantages or a triumph) for the next ingame hour the healed character gets durable +1 - (two triumphs) the same but for the rest of the day (only once a day)

I just have a notepad document open that keeps track of any boosts or setbacks on any of the players/adversaries. It's also how I keep track of initiative. Obviously doesn't work if no one has a computer though.

I was under the impression that you could only do medicine checks on wounds that have not been attempted to be healed already. Ex. I have 10 wounds and take 5 in a fight. I do a medicine check (or someone else) and they heal only 3. Now my max wounds are 8, as those 2 wounds cannot be healed again. This limitation is removed after 24 hours or using a bacta tank. Same goes for crits, you have 1 opportunity to heal them until you need to wait another day (or was it week) before you can attempt it again.

While this is not the case by the book (you may attempt a Medicine check one power encounter and heal any wounds you score successes for), it's not an unreasonable house rule, although it does increase bookkeeping a bit.

My personal house rule is that you may attempt any number of Medicine checks, but one failure is added to the result for each uncanceled Success scored on Medicine checks to heal wounds that day.

For instance, after a scuffle a character is suffering from 15 wounds. His friends try to staunch the bleeding with a Medicine check and get 2 Successes. They can try again, but they add 2 Failures to their attempts, so it'll be difficult. They wait to get him to an actual Medic, who then rolls and gets 5 successes, minus the 2 failures, healing 3 more wounds.

With this system, a Triumph can be spent to reset the person's check so previous Medicine checks stop adding failures to new attempts.

I use the same system for strain recovery rolls when the party is tackling multiple small encounters in a short period of time.

Not a bad idea. I usually only allow a first aid check if you actually took damage this encounter, though I don't track how much. Does lead to some odd circumstances sometimes (take 5 Wounds in one encounter, heal 1, take 1 later and heal 5, that kind of thing), but I just don't feel like doing that much book work. After first aid, the only Medecine checks I allow for is long-term care 1/week.

Don’t forget that Bacta Tanks completely change the equation for how often you can roll, and what the benefits might be.

Wow reading some of these healing systems makes me very glad I don't play in those games. You guys need to understand wounds are not real injuries they are minor scraps blaster singes etc crits are real hits. Wounds should be very easy to heal crits harder.

Triumph on regular heal checks healing crits is in the book and its very important for characters that have stacked crits against them. Then again triumphs are relatively rare if you have a PC who has put 3 or 4 ranks in medicine then yeah they deserve to be a great healer. Most party healers have 1 or 2.

Truely great rolls on medicine can be used creatively for the following reasons (1 triumph increases strain/wound limit by 1 until the character next sleeps), 2 triumph grant a rank in enduring or durable until the character next sleeps. 3 advantage can lower a pc's stim count by 1 for the day 2 advantage can allow the next stim used to heal +1 wounds 1 advantage can give you an awesome scar boost dice to your next intimidate check that day.

Just some creative examples of what you could do.

well it is stated in the CRB that you can use an medicine check only once an encounter on a PC "that's how much first Aid can do"

one wound can be heald by a full nights rest in bed

In a bactatank you can recover one wound per hour

and stimpacks can heal 5,4,3,2,1 wound per 24 hours

by standard crits can be tried to heal once every 7 days (starting to count after the first attemped)

in a bactatank once every 24 hours.

The only thing that seems to have no real limitation is the healing via force

If the force-healer has mastered the upgrade for healing crits he technically is able to heal up to 5 crits a day on a person and alot of wounds too.

The only thing that seems to have no real limitation is the healing via force

It still gets treated like a stimpack, in that if the first healing attempt uses the Force and then a stimpack is applied, that stimpack will only heal four points of damage and not five. And you can only heal with the Force a maximum of five times per 24 hour period.

The major difference between healing with the Force and using a stimpack is that the former will not reduce in effectiveness as you use it within a 24 hour period, while a stimpack will. So, 5*5 >> 5+4+3+2+1.

If the force-healer has mastered the upgrade for healing crits he technically is able to heal up to 5 crits a day on a person and alot of wounds too.

Force healers can be very powerful!

Edited by bradknowles

Yes I know,

I was refering to the time between the heals, While you can only make on medicine check per encounter for wounds and 1 per week for criticals, the force healer can heal up to 30+ wounds (given enougth strength upgrades and or Intelligence)and up to 5 criticals with in 5 minutes per 24 hours. quite... nasty

Keep in mind the soldier medic can also increase stim healing to impressive degrees as well 8 7 6 5 4 for 30 wound healing per day with stimpacks and they get one of the all around best talents in the game in "It's not that bad." Healing a crit is good preventing a crit especially a 151+ crit is amazing.

I think one of the first investments any party should get is a bacta tank for their ship. Man does it cut down on healing time.