Honestly, I think the Stimpacks are a good thing - keeping players on their feet from encounter to encounter. As Genuine has wonderfully pointed out, Critical Injuries are where the fun starts and (after some experience in balancing) I'd expect my players to be getting injured with relative frequency - Combat is fast and punchy with huge emphasis on damage output and less on defence.

Players should probably look to end combat quickly and decisvely or else gtfo of dodge. Injuries are pretty good because keeping players hot footed in itself provides excitement - chases and daring escapes abound, or mowing down mooks, or the occassional unluck close call. But in an entrenched situation, they spice things up and hopefully get players thinking about an exit strategy.

Then once they're out of the encounter they can dose up to be in reasonable to face the challenges to come and take on more injuries! yum

13 hours ago, syrath said:

Not RAWX, but confirmed by the decs in an order66 webcast episode

Was self-evident to me from the RAW.

3 hours ago, SanguineAngel said:

Players should probably look to end combat quickly and decisvely or else gtfo of dodge.

Basically this is the approach you should take too. Hit them really hard in the first round and they should get the idea to run, if they don't then draw it out a bit and never be afraid to flip a DP to have reinforcements arrive.

If combat is intense enough, they will be needing all the stimpacks they can take.

Just got through Wampa Fest 2017 (group went into a den of wampas purposefully for a job).

Only one medicine check can be made on each character per encounter and when your wounds are already high up there, it's a challenge to heal many. Soooo that's where the stimpacks saved them from utter death.

1 PC and 10 NPCs died last night. Oh, and 6 wampas. The other 2 were knocked out and captured.

Below is what I did for my campaign, copied and pasted from Sturn's Locker. I've thought about tossing the "Jitters" since it could overcomplicate use. But, Temporary Healing may help you?

REMOVAL OF "HEALING POTION" STIMPAKS

The RAW medical effect of Stimpaks is healing 5 Wounds for the first, 4 Wounds for the second…..1 Wound for the fifth, within a 24 hour period. This creates a quick "healing potion" affect which some may not like in a science fiction game. Thus, a few tweaks:

STIMPAK JITTERS

Stimpaks may cause "jitters" if a number are taken equal to Brawn within a 24 hour period. When administering Stimpaks whose current count is equal to Brawn or more, the recipient must instantly make a Resilience check with a DD difficulty plus D per Stimpak count above Brawn within the last 24 hours. Failure results in the person being Disoriented (add S to all checks) for 24 hours. Example: Biggums has a Brawn of 3. He has no problem being administered 2 Stimpaks. But, when the 3rd is taken he must roll an Average (DD) Resilience check or suffer the Disoriented condition for 24 hours. Each extra Stimpak taken will result in another Resilience check of increasing difficulty.

TEMPORARY HEALING

A Stimpak's full name is "Stimulation Pack". They are a temporary boost that allows a person to keep operating while suffering minor injuries. They aren’t a magical healing potion that suddenly heals up all wounds. The bacta portion of a Stimpak does stimulate some quick healing, but much of the affect is only a temporary boost to vitals.

After approximately 1 hour, a stimpak user will receive damage equal to 2 Wounds per Stimpak administered (10 Wounds maximum after applying 5 stimpaks) as the stimulants subside and the person feels the full affect of his unhealed wounds. Ex: Torn receives 9 Wounds of damage. He administers a Stimpak healing 5 Wounds. He thinks he needs more. He applies a second Stimpak healing 4 Wounds. This leaves him with no Wounds. An hour later the stimulants subside and he receives 4 of the Wounds back (2 per Stimpak). Only 5 of the Wounds remain permanently healed.