03-07-2018, 01:49 PM | #51 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
I posted this in the other thread but...
IMO Esoteric Medicine _IS_ Physician at TL4 and below. They only branch at TL5 and above. Also, the Basic rules say this about Pharmacy: Herbal: The ability to make and administer remedies prepared from plants. Make a Naturalist roll to locate herbs. Before TL5, this is the only specialty available. It replaces Physician (below) and is frequently used in conjunction with Esoteric Medicine So Pharmacy (Herbal) replaces Physician at TL4 and lower. I'd argue this allows an herbalist to care for patients, default First Aid skill and any other benefits that Physician might confer. A TL4 and lower healer might not have Esoteric Medicine at all... just Pharmacy (Herbal) and Surgery (Trauma) + the Bonesetting technique. Last edited by tanksoldier; 03-07-2018 at 01:52 PM. |
03-07-2018, 03:09 PM | #52 | |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Quote:
|
|
03-07-2018, 03:33 PM | #53 | |||
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
No-one would mistake orthotics for esoteric medicine. Esoteric medicine does not mean non-traditional medicine, it means medicine associated with an esoteric tradition (as noted, this usually means magical or spiritual). |
|||
03-07-2018, 04:58 PM | #54 | ||
Night Watchman
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: Cambridge, UK
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Quote:
Quote:
__________________
The Path of Cunning. Indexes: DFRPG Characters, Advantage of the Week, Disadvantage of the Week, Skill of the Week, Techniques. |
||
03-08-2018, 02:57 AM | #55 | |||
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
|
|||
03-08-2018, 03:52 AM | #56 |
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: Berkeley, CA
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Generally, it includes supernatural elements, or the belief in them (obviously, those elements may not actually exist, but if they don't esoteric medicine is likely to be inferior). Most of the examples in basic are dependent on power source (chi).
|
03-08-2018, 05:30 AM | #57 |
GURPS FAQ Keeper
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Kyïv, Ukraine
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Most examples in basic don't encompass all possibilities, a listing of some of which I have mentioned. Just like most Powers in Basic rely on PM (Psi), but that wasn't meant to mean that only Psi-related powers can fall under the powers umbrella. Furthermore, 'supernatural elements' is a very slippery criterion: electricity is traditionally a supernatural (divine) phenomenon, and yet it's actually useful for healthcare when properly applied in certain situations.
|
03-08-2018, 07:59 AM | #58 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Portland, Oregon
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Quote:
__________________
"The navy could probably win a war without coffee but would prefer not to try"-Samuel Eliot Morrison |
|
09-11-2018, 12:39 AM | #59 |
Join Date: Oct 2014
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Thinking about it, here's how I would handle Esoteric Medicine in a setting where magic coexists with science as we know it:
Esoteric Medicine would be the go-to skill for curing supernatural wounds (mostly caused by psychic powers or necromantic spells), as well as being able to cure minor ailments like headaches. It could allow use of first aid without actually needing supplies, but adequate supplies provide the usual bonuses. And I would allow it to work as Physician but at the lowest of the actual Physician and Esoteric Medicine skills. The justification being yes, you can influence the body with whatever esoteric tricks you know, but it's only useful if you actually know enough of how the body works to do it properly. But at least you can use Physician without supplies without taking penalties, so it's not a miracle cure like true healing spells, it just means you can practice medicine even in harsh conditions and take less penalties. |
09-12-2018, 06:04 PM | #60 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
|
Re: [Basic] Skill of the week: Esoteric Medicine
Remember that Esoteric Medicine is the GURPS 4E "generic" version of various GURPS 3E low-tech medical skills such as Moxa Burning or Ancient/Medieval Galenic medicine.
It combines a mixture of practical (not necessarily effective) medical treatment with "non-scientific" or assumptions about how the body, and sometimes the universe, works. As such, its effectiveness depends on campaign assumptions about culture and the supernatural. Realistically, it's going to be a grab bag of practical low tech First Aid, Pharmacy, and Physician techniques and treatments which are dangerously misinformed by modern standards. In a campaign where supernatural elements work, it can be the equivalent of First Aid or Physician skill, or even a form of super-healing which can treat ailments that conventional medicine cannot. |
Tags |
basic, esoteric medicine, skill of the week |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|