Medical Treatment (Medicae & Chirugeons)

Providing First Aid Treatment

Basic First Aid

All characters in DuD are treated as being capable enough to aid someone who is obviously bleeding this is represented by the First Aid trait which is free for all characters to take which allows them to;

• Providing they are healthy and haven’t got a limb disabled by a call of Rend, a character using both hands (there is no need to make physical contact if you or the casualty to not wish it) may pause a character’s bleed count by applying pressure to the wound, holding the injured limb braced or fussing with a medkit and so on. Should at any point you stop doing this, the bleed count resumes from where it left off, so make sure the casualty knows to keep in mind where they last were. This cannot be done on a Casualty who is being moved by a character who is not a Medicae.

Medicae and Chirugeon Training

However trained medics such as the Medicae who tend to battlefield casualties and Chirugeons who studied at the Imperium’s Medical Academies to hone their arts have a more significant role to play in treating Casualties. The individual abilities of each type of medic is covered in detail below.

Medicae

Medicae can perform effective medical treatment in the field and under fire;

• They can perform First Aid with one hand enabling them to do it to two Bleeding casualties at the same time providing both limbs are functional. Alternatively they can continue to treat someone while using a Pistol in their free hand, or move a casualty and keep their bleed count paused while they do so.

• They can 'mend' the injuries of characters who have suffered the debilitating hit from a Bolt round with 30s of medical roleplay.

• They can perform Triage Checks on characters who are Bleeding - making draws from the Complications Deck to see if they discover a complication while doing the check.

• • If they discover a Complication with a Medicae Intervention option on it they can perform Surgery to return the casualty to a healthy state. They cannot operate on other complications.

Chirurgeons

Chirurgeons the pinnacle of medical expertise, and with access to a proper operating theatre they can achieve almost anything.

• They can 'mend' the injuries of characters who have suffered the debilitating hit from a Bolt round with 60s of medical roleplay.

• They can perform Triage Checks on characters who are Bleeding - making draws from the Complications Deck if they discover a complication while doing the check.

• Provided they have access to a Medbay, they may perform Surgery to return a casualty to good health and resolve all Complications.

They can perform experimental surgery' or, if they are a Tech Priest or under the Instruction ' of one, install bionics. This requires Game Team permission and may or may not be approved depending on your intended results.

Triage

Whether a Bleeding casualty is still bleeding or has been stabilized an attendant Medicae or Chirugeon can perform a Triage Check to see if there is a complication. A character cannot perform a Triage Check on themselves, or if they are Bleeding.

The base chance of finding a Complication is 25%. A standard method of making the check would be to use a bag of beads, 9 white and 3 red; on blind-drawing a bead from the bag, a Complication occurs if a red bead is drawn. Digital randomisers, dice or other methods are also appropriate, at the player’s preference.

• If no Complication is found the character is not too badly injured, with 20 seconds of medical roleplay by a Medicae or Chirugeon they can be returned to a fit state with half their endurance (rounding up) restored.

• • In Imperial Medicae terms they are a Category III (Minor) casualty, the Medicae Manuals say patch them up and get them back in the fight.

• If a Complication occurs then you should draw a card from the Complications Deck read it and hand it to the patient, if you can treat it then you may immediately attempt Surgery if you cannot then the casualty remains in the Bleeding state until the complication can be treated. There are two forms of Complication Category II (Delayed) and Category I (Immediate) Casualties

• • Category II (Delayed) Complications are not immediately dangerous, a "Cat II" Casualty won't be able to recover from the Bleeding state until they have Surgery but they don't present an immediate risk to life

• • Category I (Immediate) Casualties are incredibly bad news the casualty in a critical condition. These complications are life threatening and if they are not prioritised for surgery they may suffer permanent injury or death.

• • In the rare cases where a card tells you to discard it if certain conditions are not met do not draw another card, the patient has a lucky escape and just need to be treated as if they hadn't had a complication after all.

Performing Surgery

When a Complication is drawn from the Complication deck there will one or more options from the three possible forms of surgery written on it, these are;

• Medicae Intervention: These treatments represent the few instances where a Medicae can perform Surgery, they can be done in the field without a Medbay. They are battlefield treatments to get a casualty on their feet but often don’t deal with the problem entirely. They take no more than a minute of roleplay to perform.

Quick Fixes: Performed by a Chirugeon these can be done in the field without a Medbay and can be done by a Medicae if there is a Chirugeon present to instruct them. These are quick and brutal solutions to get a casualty back on their feet but often cause more issues going forwards. They take no more than thirty seconds of roleplay to perform.

Proper Procedures: Performed by a Chirugeon in a Medbay these are the correct surgical methods for dealing with injuries but often the resources needed to do them are not available. They should take upwards of a few minutes of roleplay to perform.

To perform any form of surgery, a Medicae or Chirurgeon must make use of tools to perform a period of roleplay treating a character’s wounds. Casualties must be given a dose of the Chem Opia in order to hold still for surgery without restraint otherwise they should be instructed to roleplay extreme pain and make a lot of noise while you work.

A Bleeding character's Bleed Count pauses once Surgery begins, but will resume if the surgery is stopped or interrupted for whatever reason and First Aid or Coag are not being given.

When surgery is completed, the treated character is restored to a healthy state with Half Endurance (round up) unless a complication specifically states otherwise. Some treatments may have additional conditions attached, be sure to inform the casualty of them.

Medbays

A Medbay is defined as a well equipped medical facility such as a small surgery or a field hospital. Medbays are set up as part of the game environment and in some cases may be deliberately absent to present a challenge to players. A medbay is usable as such if an Officio Medicae Banner is set up in the environment by the Game Team or if the Game Team tells you otherwise.

It is possible for players to bring their own Field Hospital setups with Game Team approval you must have your own Officio Medicae Banner to set up - you may ONLY set up the banner after getting approval from a member of the Game Team that your medbay is ready to take casualties.