This was in the Errata/FAQ thread but that’s getting a tad unwieldly with the number of posts. Given that the First Aid action is a combat action (and not useable outside combat) and that treating Injuries is under the “Healing in Combat” subsection I have some questions.
Does that mean the character with the chest wound dies as soon as combat is over as they bleed out? Do you keep combat time going until they’re either treated or dead?
Is a character with a wounded leg prone for the duration?
How does one handle injuries that come about outside of combat, like say from a fall or other hazard?
I am not seeing where you can’t use First Aid outside combat. The long term stuff just refers to poisons, injuries, and diseases. I would assume you can keep on rolling till your healed once combat is over, risking the complications (and a ton of dice rolling).
Might be better to assume one roll to heal all HP damage once combat is over and time is spent to speed up play. Regaining HP doesn’t seem to be a limiting factor in Fallout, just complications, reductions in Max HP from radiation, time spent (for hazards/encounters) and injuries.
From what I’m seeing from the Rulebook and from Nathan in the FAQ thread, it seems that if you’re dying, time is still important, so "combat " would continue until all parties are either dead, or good enough to move to Long Term Recovery.
For the rest of your questions I think I would have to do more research before I would be comfortable answering them.
Yes, if you don’t do it quickly it will be to latea nd you have to use othe rmethods to heal. Like resting or getting some nutrients (eating food or drinking) to feel more healthy. Injuries can still be treated outside of combat. In fact treating injuries with first aid only suppress their negative effects.
Treating Injuries even without first aid only treats them. The only way to heal them is time. It’s just a poorly written section of the book made all the more confusing because of the RAW that First Aid can only be done in combat.
As I posted in the FAQ thread, I’m going to house rule that First Aid can only be performed on a PC once, either during combat or immediately following combat. (If a character is dying, we would stay in turn-based combat mode until they die or are stabilized.) If a character receives First Aid during combat, they cannot receive it again unless they take more damage. This also gives the party incentive to spend AP to increase the healing, since it can only be done once.
Since stimpaks should be rare and expensive, and as Nathan said are best used during combat, I would probably allow multiple stimpaks to be used on a PC.
This is what I ended up doing, at least for HP. I allow treating an injury as often as narratively make sense, since those have serious impact. It also keeps food important. I also use the survival rules for hunger, hydration, sleep, etc.
StimPaks can be used whenever. They are a limited resource so be careful!