[DF] Healing costs

[Kilo]

@ Bruno:
What do you mean you "charge them in quests"? I don't understand what you're referring to. As for magical healing, the short story is that after the evil wizard tried to take over the world a long time ago, magic is borderline heretical now. Some of the priests may use it, but most people consider any type of spellcasting to be dangerous.

@ Martinl
I've limited the options available to the players for this stage of the game as we playtest ideas and I finish fleshing out the world. Right now everyone is still Status 0, Average Wealth and barely a good reputation in the capital of the country they're in. I'm looking at the suggestions in DF 2 for selling things as an optional way to get better treatment for less $$. As far as the 'afterlife' goes, I'm leaning more towards reincarnation rather than Heaven/Hell. The God of Death either takes you to the place where your soul is recycled or puts you in his bag of 'unworthy' souls. Either way, you're eventually 'reborn' into the world as a different person (not using any Extra Life advantages).

@ Ulfgard
Very much itinerant. 3 of the 4 PC's aren't even from this country. When they're in the capital there's a spare room at the castle the king's steward lets them use, very low cost of living but they can get kicked out at any time and they can't store extra stuff there while they're out adventuring.
As for house calls vs. temple housing, I think it would depend on the situation. Local people have their own houses they can stay at, visiting the temple as they are able. If they are either unable to be moved regularly or live too far away for the doctor to travel regularly (as needed), the temple might have rooms set aside that can hold multiple patients. At any rate, if they're staying in the inn and getting herbs to take, they'll be paying cost of living, if they're staying at the temple they should be making a much larger donation to cover all the costs of housing/feeding/caring for them, but again it might just be a donation, not an option from a menu at the front door.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kilo

@ Bruno:
What do you mean you "charge them in quests"? I don't understand what you're referring to.

"Ah, an adventurer. I'll be happy to treat you, but it seems our temple has lost the sacred book of the holy words and the gem of pure good and the swift sword of terrible wrath and the belt of mighty divinity and the sandals of only one set of footprints..."

As for magical healing, the short story is that after the evil wizard tried to take over the world a long time ago, magic is borderline heretical now. Some of the priests may use it, but most people consider any type of spellcasting to be dangerous.

Dungeon Fantasy with realistic TL3-4 Medicine? I hope they have a Paranioa style six-pack of reinforcements! :)

[Kilo]

This is what I've come up with to make the whole thing go as fast as possible:

Physician's Skill/$$ per week of treatment
12/$15
13/$45
14/$90
15/$180
16/$450
etc.

Consider skill 12 as 60% cost of living increase for Status -2; each +1 to skill is the next step up in cost living.

I figured (CoL*.6)/4. Status 0 = $600.
600 * .6 = $360
360/4 = $90

This is an abstraction and refers to the level of care received, not just the skill of the physician.

Surgeons cost (Weekly cost x 4) for a single surgery. Obviously you'd want to pay for the best surgeon you could.

They also would sell the Minor/Major/Great Healing pots, as well as Balm of Regen and Universal Antidote.

Is the $33 per point of energy cost for enchanting a good guideline for magical healing as well? 3-point Minor Healing spell costs $99?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kilo

Is the $33 per point of energy cost for enchanting a good guideline for magical healing as well? 3-point Minor Healing spell costs $99?

No, that's based on the time that Slow and Sure takes. The cost of spells should be based off the $5 it takes to charge a Power Item. Kromm has a post about this somewhere.

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by Kilo

Is the $33 per point of energy cost for enchanting a good guideline for magical healing as well? 3-point Minor Healing spell costs $99?

The $33/point enchanting cost is for Slow and Sure enchanting, and represents a full mage-day of work. Items that can be enchanted Quick and Dirty cost just $1/point. However, I think spells-on-demand would be somewhere in between - maybe around $10/point. More than the actual energy expended, you're paying for the convenience and time of the caster.

EDIT:

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

The cost of spells should be based off the $5 it takes to charge a Power Item. Kromm has post about this somewhere.

Or that =P

[Kilo]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

"Ah, an adventurer. I'll be happy to treat you, but it seems our temple has lost the sacred book of the holy words and the gem of pure good and the swift sword of terrible wrath and the belt of mighty divinity and the sandals of only one set of footprints..."

"Great, you may have noticed I'm still bleeding on your floor though. Patch me up and I'll go look for that stuff..."

-or-

"(/sigh) Fine. Me, my three friends and our combined 2 HP will be back with all of that crap..."

So the priests heal them up, then they go on the quest, or they go on the quest so the priests will heal them when they get back? Free healing with a promise to go pick up the laundry seems like a good way to get exploited, while making someone go (potentially) get stabbed again before you'll heal them seems rather exploitative. Either way, I'd rather just say, "It's not the Swift Sword of Terrible Wrath, but I'll give you this Fast Falchion of Horrible Punishment instead. Close enough for some stitches and band-aids?"

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kilo

So the priests heal them up, then they go on the quest, or they go on the quest so the priests will heal them when they get back?

The former usually.

Free healing with a promise to go pick up the laundry seems like a good way to get exploited, while making someone go (potentially) get stabbed again before you'll heal them seems rather exploitative.

"Brother Lucas will be going with you to aid you in your quest."
"And remember failing Nethrock the Undying god of horrible burning death will result in a terrible curse!"
"I don't think so, buddy, we heard about what you lot did for the Temple of Huroxes. Painted a ordinary rock purple and tried to pass it off as the Great Stone, eh? Well around here you'll find us a bit less gullible. Go fall in a hole and die. Good day!"

[Kilo]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

... The cost of spells should be based off the $5 it takes to charge a Power Item...

Derp. Must've missed that little ditty. On a side note, I'm not using Power Items either. I'm using Threshold magic and I want its use to be as dangerous as the magic itself. No Bufferstones either.

That would make a 3-point Minor Healing spell cost the same as a 3-point major healing spell, so I guess there's no reason they'd use the former.


Setting: High Mana, magic is based on the language of "Wyrmtongue". Fluency in this language is required for magic use. The highest comprehension level anyone can have of this is Accented, unless they're born with the 0-Point feature of "Wyrmspeaker" which comes with drawbacks and basically reverses the language barrier: you can learn Wyrmtongue at Native, but no other languages past Accented. It's a physical deformity in the mouth/tongue/vocal cords and a dead giveaway that you're one of those "shifty-eyed magic types" (even if you don't know the language at all). It's Threshold Limited Ritual Magic based on the skill "Wyrmtongue" (IQ/VH) which replaces the suggested skill of Thaumatology. 1 out of 100 people might be born with Magery 0, 1 out of 10,000 might have Magery 1, 1 out of 1,000,000 might have Magery 2, but no higher; requires Unusual Background worth points equal to those in Magery. Calculated with IQ + Magery - Penalties for Comprehension Level. That all looks so complicated when I write it down...

[Kilo]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

"I don't think so, buddy, we heard about what you lot did for the Temple of Huroxes. Painted a ordinary rock purple and tried to pass it off as the Great Stone, eh? Well around here you'll find us a bit less gullible. Go fall in a hole and die. Good day!"

I've also burdened them with Honesty that they're not allowed to buy off, to keep them from going too crazy with the hijinks.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by Kilo

That would make a 3-point Minor Healing spell cost the same as a 3-point major healing spell, so I guess there's no reason they'd use the former.

Multiple re-castings by the same caster on the same subject in the same day incur a cumulative -3 skill penalty. If you're seriously injured, unless there are multiple healers available, you may be stuck having to pay for a Minor Healing (or a Great Healing) if you want to be fully healed quickly.