[DF] Healing costs

[Kilo]

Any ideas/advice/direction for physician assisted healing costs in Dungeon Fantasy settings? The local temple to the God of Healing handles all the doctoring in the setting, minimal magical assistance available.

The Fantasy book suggests $1,000 monthly pay for a surgeon; Campaigns says a TL-3 physician can attend 10 patients at a time. That's $100 per person, per month. Would it be reasonable to assume an extra $100 - $200 cost of living per month while resting? The extra cost goes for medicine, food, shelter and other incidental costs associated with taking care of the patients.

[ericbsmith]

Cost of Living for Status 0 is $600 per month - that includes food, shelter, and normal incidentals. I would assume that a stay in a hospital will be more than that - at least $1,000 per month, in lieu of normal Cost of Living expenses. This would cover the Physician, his staff (Nurses, Orderlies, Secretaries, etc.), medications, housing, food, and any other incidentals.

[Kilo]

True, but if I'm stuck in the hospital, the bank and anyone in my employ is not going to say, "Well, as long as he's paying his hospital bill, I'm not going to make him pay rent/salary." That's why I don't want to disregard cost of living, either. I hadn't considered paying the salaries of all the other assistants though.

Perhaps +60% cost of living; modify the physician's roll by the Status of the patient? A Status -2 character might get away with a token donation ($60), but won't receive any special treatment in return. "Take two of these, get some rest and see me next week."

A Status 0 character pays much more, comparatively, and receives much more attentive service, to say nothing of the potential Status 2 or 3 characters. Doing it that way might simulate a wealthier character paying more for a better doctor with better tools and skills, more assistants and a good alchemist.

Plus that's an easy cost to calculate.

P.S. - For that matter, letting the players choose what "Status Level" they want to pay the physician at would give them some more leeway on how much they pay vs. services received.

"$60 donation? You're going to want to see Dr. Jenkins."
"The one armed surgeon with a lazy eye?"
"Yeah, he's our $60 doctor."

[Dragondog]

If you live in a country where this is covered, or mostly covered, by taxes, the difference might not be that great.

[Kilo]

Nah, Dragondog, half the point of it is to add another reason for the players to spend extra money on things.

"Do I buy that new sword with +1 against gnarfgnobblers or pay for medical attention after that last gnarfgnobbler ambush? Better equipment means better slaying, but medical attention means faster healing and a quicker return to slaying."

I just don't want to price-gouge them too much to do it.

[Bruno]

I like to charge players in quests, or go straight for magical healing (soaking them appropriately) to get them up and out of town again before someone decides to burn the whole place down while drunk. Or whatever.

[gilbertocarlos]

If you're status -2, you don't even receive medical treatment, you try eating the herbs the priest told you to, and maybe receive +1HT to natural healing rolls.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Kilo

Any ideas/advice/direction for physician assisted healing costs in Dungeon Fantasy settings? The local temple to the God of Healing handles all the doctoring in the setting, minimal magical assistance available.

This is religion, so economics are secondary, hidden behind a curtain in the back. Maybe the church requires a 'donation' appropriate to your status and/or wealth. Maybe it's all completely free but donations are appreciated, popular with the masses, and a good way to ensure a good afterlife. Maybe Heroes like the PCs are always treated for free. Maybe Scum like the PCs aren't allowed in the door. Maybe all of these at once.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Dragondog

If you live in a country where this is covered, or mostly covered, by taxes, the difference might not be that great.

That could be a Perk in a modern setting, to have legal residence in a country with tax-funded healthcare. In a more primitive setting, it would probably work better as an Enhancement on Claim to Hospitality. It should certainly cost more an 1 CP.

[ULFGARD]

Some questions come to mind. Are the PCs itinerant, or do they have a permanent base in said town? If they have a base, they'll still have to pay rent. If not, they can stay in the hospital, if in fact it is such a facility. The next question is related: does the local temple function as a hospital, complete with beds for patients? If so, then the room itself probably costs as much as temporary lodgings plus the cost of medical care. Finally, do the doctors/priests make house calls? That's more likely, I would think. This will work just fine if there's a permanent base of operations, less well if the PCs simply stay in an inn. What innkeeper wants a sick person in a room moaning and groaning and making OTHER customers wonder if they'll get sick, too, even if the sick person *IS* sick because of wounds -- infections spread, and regular doctor/priest visits won't go unnoticed. Just some thoughts.

Since it *IS* DF, at the end of the day, some of these details might just not matter and your +60% might be a good abstraction if there isn't any adventure potential (even local color) from staying in town and dealing with these problems. This is pretty much the reason why I just allow PCs to sell stuff for a flat rate abstracted by me if none of them is a mercantile type (and if none of the players want to have a go at it anyway), but why if that isn't the case it becomes much more interesting to spend 5 minutes of game time (or more!) selling things off. Especially if one of the PCs is a bard.