[Basic] Skill of the week: First Aid

[Adversary]

One thing that I've seen come up frequently, and which may be a good off-label use for First Aid, is "How badly wounded is this combatant?" Suppose you hit a foe and he drops, and you want to quickly know whether he is out or just knocked down/stunned before turning your back to go after the next foe. Or you toss a hand grenade into a bunker, then go in, and want to scan the room for anyone who might be playing possum.

Obviously these are situations where, if you take a few seconds to check, anyone can know the answer without a skill roll. I'm talking about a quick Per check in the middle of the action. Why not a Perception-based First Aid roll?

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

If going full-realism, probably depends greatly on the specific task. Of things that I suspect are quite different: proper rules of joint positioning during bandaging, arterial positioning (important when plugging an arterial bleeding directly), dosage and other specifics of first-response medchemicals etc.

That and rebreathing and chest compressions are different for cats and dogs.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Adversary

... use for First Aid, is "How badly wounded is this combatant?" ... I'm talking about a quick Per check in the middle of the action. Why not a Perception-based First Aid roll?

Sounds credible to me, I'd allow "Per-based best medical skill", but that's First Aid for most characters.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

If going full-realism, probably depends greatly on the specific task. Of things that I suspect are quite different: proper rules of joint positioning during bandaging, arterial positioning (important when plugging an arterial bleeding directly), dosage and other specifics of first-response medchemicals etc.

I'd still call it more a familiarity issue than a completely different skill.
Every tetrapod has a major leg / femoral artery even if it's in a slightly different location. Homologous structures are still mostly the same even if functionally quite different.
At least for First Aid trauma management, in my opinion.
Maybe I just don't like the idea of a vet having to learn dozens of skills just to treat basic wounds.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by evileeyore

That and rebreathing and chest compressions are different for cats and dogs.

And babies, so First Aid should be specialized for species and age? I ask mostly joking.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

And babies, so First Aid should be specialized for species and age? I ask mostly joking.

Specialized? No. For humans I'd file that under 'Familiarity" if I cared at all (and honestly I'd treat it as "if you succeed you knew how to treat it").

For children, babies, and the elderly I'd see that as at worst familiarity penalties. After all even in basic First Aid Training you hear about the differences, it's the extra classes that cover 'children and babies' and 'the elderly, and mostly that's "and these are the more common problems they have that 'general adults' won't necessarily suffer from (and "you can't pump their chest as hard or blow with your lungs, puff only with your mouth" - or you can kill a baby). In some cases this is has regional differences.

Regionally it's stuff like: In Colorado I learned more about treating rashes from poison oak and ivy then I did in Chicago (didn't even cover it) and up north you learn about frostbite and hyperthermia, which is barely mentioned down here in Florida (where they speak more on kids eating poisonous 'berry' plants and what symptoms to look for, stuff that tends to only grow in the South).



For another species, yes I'd call that a Specialization. I might go so far as to group animals by 'type': House pets, farm animals, etc, if someone wanted their skill to have a broader coverage.

[Flyndaran]

But what I'm trying to convey is that CPR differences between adult humans and adult dogs aren't any more different than between adult humans and baby humans. That's why I think it should be familiarity issues for basic trauma First Aid which is by far the most common use in gaming.

You don't need to know that cats' neurochemistry is very different from ours, while dogs' are oddly similar. Such that ketamine is a good sedative for cats while human drugs work fine on dogs, for the most part.

Even if one were to believe real world skills differ that much, I don't think it makes sense to require Farm Vets to know a dozens First Aid skills just to do their job.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Adversary

One thing that I've seen come up frequently, and which may be a good off-label use for First Aid, is "How badly wounded is this combatant?" Suppose you hit a foe and he drops, and you want to quickly know whether he is out or just knocked down/stunned before turning your back to go after the next foe. Or you toss a hand grenade into a bunker, then go in, and want to scan the room for anyone who might be playing possum.

Obviously these are situations where, if you take a few seconds to check, anyone can know the answer without a skill roll. I'm talking about a quick Per check in the middle of the action. Why not a Perception-based First Aid roll?

Because it seems much more fitting to Diagnosis?

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Because it seems much more fitting to Diagnosis?

Diagnosis +4 for obvious trauma?

[weby]

In games I have run and played in first-aid has been always there and often used.

Part of the thing I think is because we tend to use the bleeding rules and such.

In the current fantasy campaign combat bandaging(First Aid at -10) is very popular way to quickly restore some hit points before starting to use magic for healing.

One of the characters has a +3 magic to First Aid ring to aid that, another has the efficient(First Aid) perk.