Thought experiment: PC gets poisoned

Dune: The Roleplaying Game
1

let me set the scene:

(edited)

During a skirmish, player A, a smuggler with a half shield gets hit by a poisoned dart and gets 2 damage + Poised trait, player B using a Suk Doctor with Combat Doctor talent will try to help player A.

Let’s suppose that the initial difficulty for this test is 3, let’s add +1D for the poison that has a “fast action” trait, and +1D since they are in the midst of a battle, this sets the total difficulty at 5.
Player B will then use 1 momentum to allow him to use his Battle Doctor talent that reduces this test difficulty in 2, and then (I don’t know if it’s possible/allowed) he uses his trait “Suk Doctor” to reduce the difficulty further in 1, making the final test a D2 test. with his 3 dice he scores 2 successes and saves player A from the poison.

At the same time I’d ask player A a Discipline test to see how he handles the poison, since the treatment isn’t instantaneous. it will be a D4 for the same reasons as above, minus the combat situation, he then uses the fact (trait) of being treated to lower it down to a D3 test. He then uses three momentum to by two more dice and rolls 3 successes. Which allows him not to suffer any further complications or negative traits.

I’m using my players’ characters as examples, and the doctor doesn’t have a focus on poison, that could have helped him further.

any thoughts or ideas for this scenario?

now let me suppose that player A did not have enough successess for a complete recovery, but since he didn’t have any complications, he won’t have lasting effects for life. So, even though he has been saved by player B, the poison had hurt him, so untill he can get a longer rest, and more an appropriate treatment, he will suffer some negative traits (probably in all physical skills), and his Discipline score will be lowered by 2, the same as his battle skill during the fight, but those point will be recovered more slowly, and not by the end of the scene.

I know that the players could use momentum/generate threat to deal with the situation, but i’d only allow them to buy off the traits that were created after the treatment, not the Poisoned treait itself.

1 Like
2

So, I have just reread the section “aiding an ally” that has the following bullet points:

If the defeat would have a lasting or permanent
effect (death, adding a new character trait, or some
other long-lasting consequence), then you may
attempt to prevent that lasting effect. Describe
how you wish to aid the defeated character and
attempt a skill test with a Difficulty of 2. If you pass,
then the ally is still defeated, but the lasting effect is
prevented: you’ve stabilized a dying ally, or you’ve
helped alleviate the lasting effect, but the ally still
needs time to recover and can’t rejoin the scene.

If the defeat has no lasting or permanent effect, then
you can try to recover the defeat directly. Describe
how you wish to recover the defeat, and begin an
extended task, with a requirement equal to 4 plus
the Quality of the asset used to defeat that ally. If
the extended task is completed, then the ally is no
longer defeated and they may rejoin the scene.

honestly, I think the rules should be the inverse, besides the rejoing the scene part. For me, a lasting injury should be more difficult to cure than a simple defeat, otherwise the talent Battle Doctor would be more useful for a dying character, since it would reduce the difficulty to zero, than for a simply defeated one, which would still require a D2 + quality test, specially because to cause a lasting effect on someone you have to spend two momentum as stated in the rules:

If you want to inflict a lasting injury on an opponent, spend 2 points of Momentum after the attack which defeats that opponent.

1 Like
3

The actual scenario sounds fine (and I may nick it for my game. :grin:). The only tweak is that I would make is to change the poison to doing damage over time until the Suk can cure it. Otherwise a one off D5 test which could be fatal seems a bit harsh.

For the second post looking at the two points you have to bear in mind that the test for the permanent defeat is a one off test. It is a high stakes success or failure roll which I don’t think the Combat Medic talent will help with.

Combat Medic

  • You may spend 1 point of momentum to reduce the extended test track of an ally in physical combat by 2 as an action. (My bold)

As I read it this means it will only apply to the second scenario where the PC is trying to recover over time to rejoin the action. They will eventually succeed, the Suk is just making it faster.
On the other hand you can fail the first scenario, which means the character is stuck with the effect.

2 Likes
4

The difference between both scenarios is, that a dying character gets one chance - it is either hit or miss, while a defeated character will be sooner or later recovered as it is an extended test.

Also I fail to see the Talent Battle Doctor. Do you mean Combat Medic? If so I guess it won’t apply at either test, as it reduces the extended test track of an ally … so presumably recovers hit points (this extended test track is where you would apply “damage” right?).