Re: (TFT) Experimental Injury and Healing rules

[Mark Tapley <mtapley@swri.edu>]

Charles,
	Thanks very much for putting those together! I like them, and 
I particularly (being a canon bigot) like the way they fit into the 
existing TFT structure.
	You mention several things you will want to reconsider based 
on the input you got. When you have finished, I'd appreciate it if 
you'd re-post, with modifications in place, so I can print out a 
clean set to put with my TFT set.
	I had a couple of very minor comments.

4.3.1 Remaining Conscious in Spite of Injuries (and followup discussion):
	I hate to add complexity, but I rather suspect this is 
heavily *situation* dependent, as well as to some extent personality 
dependent. When I get on my soccer shoes, stretch, go out on the 
field, and warm up, I can accept somebody smacking into me at full 
tilt with no real qualms. I hit the ground, roll, bounce up, and go 
on. If I got the same treatment just as I stumbled out of bed in the 
morning, the story would be totally different. I suspect this is a 
consequence of the different levels of (anticipatory) adrenaline in 
my bloodstream. Note that this explanation also applies to most of 
the examples quoted of badly injured combatants remaining active.
	To simulate this, I'd allow the remain-conscious check only 
for characters "keyed up" or prepared for battle *before* the injury 
takes place.

4.3.4.1 Physicker Revival
	Complicated table, though it sounds pretty realistic. Could 
it be streamlined more? Based on the idea that First Aid is maybe the 
first thing taught to medics (and even the general public), you might 
consider eliminating the distinction between Physickers and Master 
Physickers for the table. Also, the time-of-death section of the 
table might be reduced to (e.g)  <3 minutes, no penalty, 3-10 
minutes, +3 dice. In practice, most applications will probably be in 
less than one minute anyway, as most combats play out in less time 
than that. (I think?)
	Re: IQ loss: I've often heard the saw that brain damage sets 
in at 9 minutes (vs. 5 minutes in the proposed rule). Any medical 
people on the list that can comment on this?
	Re: transporting the patient: Yike! This is almost always 
going to happen, and 1 die is *very* likely to kill them again, I'd 
think. Is there any way to fold this probability into the original 
rules? Is there any way to move them safely (e.g. using a stretcher)?

BARBER
	At what IQ can this be learned? I might eliminate it, in 
favor of the existing talents.

PHYSICKER
	If the prerequisite is BARBER, should its IQ points be 
reduced by one? As is, it sounds like these rules actually increase 
the cost to become a PHYSICKER by one (one for BARBER, 2 more for 
PHYSICKER).

HEALING SALVE:
	If it isn't magic, I wouldn't let it work instantly. Granted 
a combined anti-inflammatory and analgesic could return some 
functionality in a lot less than a day, but I'd say at least 5 
minutes for effectiveness (you could just say it takes this long to 
apply). More seriously, slapping 10 salves on could return a pretty 
cut-up character to full effectiveness in a pretty short time, which 
is not in keeping with the effects of most non-magical topical 
treatments I've seen.
	It might be that a limit on the number of salves that are 
effective per day is in order (say, no more than 3 salves per day per 
character?)

ELIXIR OF HEALTH:
	(Magic is unpredictable.) Well, sort of. In most of AW, magic 
is all-or-nothing (FREEZE and damage (from missile spells or poison) 
being the most notable exceptions). Further, most potions have the 
all-or-nothing chance imbedded into their creation, so that at use 
time they are pretty known quantities. I would make this heal a 
standard 4 points, rather than include the die roll.
--
					- Mark
			210-522-6025, temporary cell 240-375-2995
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