[Basic] Skill of the week: Veterinary

[lachimba]

So in the Cops and Robbers movie the crim ends up in the Vet's office.

The Vet roles at Diagnosis -5 to work out the injury?

Veterinary -5 to perform first aid/treat the wound?

Surgery -5 to pull the bullets out?

and finally Veterinary -5 to care for the patient long term?


It actually seems a little harsh for those movies unless the Vets all have 15+ skill.

[dcarson]

If a criminal go to a vet instead of a doctor it is because they don't want to explain how they got shot or stabbed. So a bonus for facilities and equipment, a bonus for being a obvious problem. Together they should at least get rid of the -5.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by lachimba

So in the Cops and Robbers movie the crim ends up in the Vet's office.

The Vet roles at Diagnosis -5 to work out the injury?

Veterinary -5 to perform first aid/treat the wound?

Surgery -5 to pull the bullets out?

and finally Veterinary -5 to care for the patient long term?

Don't forget that some or all of these will probably also get decent bonuses to help compensate. Diagnosis probably gets a bonus for an obvious wound - it doesn't take too much skill at Diagnosis to say "Yeah, that's an entry wound, the bullet channel goes this direction, and there's no exit wound, so the bullet's still in there, somewhere around here". Veterinary and Surgery probably both benefit from equipment quality bonuses - a fully-stocked vet's office probably qualifies as Fine quality equipment, for +2 - and the vet can take extra time as well. And the long-term treatment doesn't even technically require a roll, simply having Physician at 12+ would be enough to give the patient +1 on their own healing rolls, and I'd be inclined to give the quality bonus to the vet for their equipment to that, too, not to mention a decent bonus for being able to focus on just one patient, which is somewhere between 1/20th and 1/50th of how many a physician can treat.

So, put that all together - if the vet has skills in the "professional" range, 12 or 13, they could be rolling Diagnosis at straight skill if you give +5 for a really obvious wound, can probably roll against Veterinary and Surgery at -1 or so if you give them +2 for equipment quality and they take four times as long for another +2. Then, as long as they can scrape together +5 worth of bonus for the long-term treatment, they even get that, since their effective Physician would be 12+. At that skill level, they could quite possibly fail one of the Surgery rolls, but unless it's a crit fail, they're unlikely to do the patient serious harm, just have to try again. All that, I feel, fits into the sort of narrative one tends to see when someone is going to a shady veterinarian for medical treatment instead of a proper hospital.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by (E)

My take on that is how familiar the vet is with the patient. When you know animals behaviour you can spot what is out of place easier.

This.
Vets should really have a penalty compared to people doctors as you cant ask them questions to help with diagnosis. And some treatment options more difficult as well.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Refplace

This.
Vets should really have a penalty compared to people doctors as you cant ask them questions to help with diagnosis. And some treatment options more difficult as well.

What can most humans say other than where something hurts and for how long? Not really anything that animal caretakers couldn't also tell you.

Information in addition to how the patient looks at that time should be a bonus. And of course how accurate that info is matters.
Many doctors have stories about patients that say they don't have any health problems until asked about the giant rib spreader scar across their sternums, or giant vat of daily medications, etc.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

What can most humans say other than where something hurts and for how long?

An arbitrary number between one and ten calibrated to no discernable reference!

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

An arbitrary number between one and ten calibrated to no discernable reference!

"One."

https://www.xkcd.com/883/

More seriously, you can tell humans to hold still, hold their breath, etc., and may be able to get similar effects from a well-trained intelligent creature; that's not available for random animals.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

Ooh, I know! My druid should take four levels each of Healer and Animal Friend and cast Shapeshift Other onto his wounded patients in order to treat them for an additional +5. It's the perfect plan!

Thumbs up!

I mean what could go wrong?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

Ooh, I know! My druid should take four levels each of Healer and Animal Friend and cast Shapeshift Other onto his wounded patients in order to treat them for an additional +5. It's the perfect plan!

We had a druid in our party who used Plant Form Other to turn people into pumpkin vines (with one large gourd wearing your hat... or horns if you're a Minotaur) and then used Heal Plant on us. Plant Form Other is supposed to turn you into an inconspicuous bush, but Rule of Funny took over.

[buddpaul]

I've been away from this board for A VERY LONG TIME. It's nice to back to a place where talk of giant clams isn't weird!