Medic Guide

Fri Mar 22, 2024 7:19 am

How to Train Your Medic

This will be the first guide covering mechanical interactions in the game, starting with the people who keep the go-getters alive. Medics. Here, I'll be showing their perks and their descriptions, as well as how they implement them into applications. Medics are one of the fields that do not require custom perks, as their interactions are all front-loaded onto their techniques or their coded-in perks.

We'll start off with their perks.

Progression

The following showcases the Medic Perk Tree, as well as the requisites to them:

-- Physician (T2-T4): This individual is a competent Doctor, capable of performing basic surgical procedures and possessed of an intimate understanding of their own kinds bodies along with traditional medical science. Intellectually gifted and capable of saving lives with reliable professionalism, they earned the right to be called a Physician.
(After a full round spent treating a target, heals them for 5 HP (usable once per Engagement). Cannot be applied in combat even with sufficient equipment.)
(Can remove equal-tier Bleeds if two actions were given for treatment to run its course.)
Requires a Specialization Lock into Physician!

-- Surgeon (T2): Surgeons are professionals at doing the grittier, more specific treatments and understand the ins & outs of it. They can perform it all without any risk of messing up the process and are generally the main physicians expected to be able to carry out transplants of any sort. By this point, they’ve learned to safely employ the use of their reishi or reiryoku during treatment processes, but without a committed affinity, it is difficult for them to do such beyond basic applications of it.
(User can perform transplants. Their success rate is greatly elevated.)
(Able to prolong a character’s survival by treating a patient. Can stabilize them and keep them alive for an extra two rounds after treating them.)
Requires Physician!

-- On-Field Specialist (T3): Whether in the middle of heated conflict or in a full-blown war, this character is capable of applying treatment to those in need as though they’re in a perfectly sanitized & calm setting. They do not suffer from the stutter of distractions around them when it comes to getting the job done, and can easily alleviate the concerns of their allies.
(Can effectively treat patients onfield without penalty, fully proccing Physician’s benefits. Their treatment requires ‘1’ action and cannot remove mechanical injuries.)
(This character can help clear the effects of shock on targets they treat. Applies [Clear] to [Dazed], [Disable] & [Stun] if the sources for such are pain and/or trauma, and the source does not exceed this perk’s Tier. Alleviates [Physican Tier * 5] worth of HP Damage suffered from mental attacks as well, non-inclusive of the likes of pain.)
Requires Physician!

-- Knowledge of the Body (T3): This individual knows the ins and outs of the human anatomy and how to effectively interact with it for medical and malevolent purposes. Physiology is their ace in the hole against the average person, and there isn’t a singular part of the body they do not know the location of or the vague importance of. Pressure points and the like are incredibly well-known by this character, letting them take advantage of them.
(If this character has at least T3 Physician, their Targeted Action against a character with 15 or less HP can incapacitate if it fully hits the intended part of the neck, placing their adversary in a state of incapacitation for D5 rounds.)
(Of Death: This character can substitute their Marksman Tier with their Physician Tier for Damage Stacking, so long as they effectively land a Targeted Action.)
(Can study foreign bodies such as the likes of Devils & Soulborn, allowing treatment or harm of them through anatomical targeting.)
Requires Physician!

-- Treatment of Systems (T1-T4): A novice at treating more advanced systems in the body. They have tried to study a singular field of expertise in the body, but have yet to grasp it. For now, they simply reap more benefits in treatments.
(Can help with or create items. Usually pertinent to pharmaceuticals at this level.)
Requires Knowledge of the Body & Admin Approval to Upgrade!

Creation

Here, we'll break down how some of the perks above play into what you're capable of doing technique-wise. You'll probably notice that Treatment of Systems is not in the list - don't worry about that for now. It gets its own section because the most important perk in any Physician's repertoire!

Physician: What could already be done is frontloaded to the perk. If you have an affinity oriented around healing, blood or physical matter (and something specifying you can lean into medicinal stuff with it) you can stretch into treating HP and higher-end injuries; this is capped to a maximum # of uses in a combat situation, costs a lot, and generally cannot treat Majors until B-Rank minimum, or Lethals until A-Rank minimum unless it's one.
Surgeon: Might be able to shape reiryoku into threads or other tools to cover the absence of preexisting ones. Not that useful on its lonesome for techniques.
On-Field Specialist: Sterilization techniques that cleanse wounds. This can delay the efficacy of drugs, poisons or other harmful substances in somebody if the physician got to the injury within a few rounds-time.
Knowledge of the Body: Targeting of important parts of the body, namely pressure points, major arteries & nerve endings. Easy time gaining small amounts bonus Damage whenever targeting these locations, as well as inflicting heightened iterations of Bleed, Severe Bleeding -- or in the case of higher-end techniques, limited Disable toward some actions/movements, or inflicting Dazed.

Treatment of Systems

Treatment of Systems is lead by being at the pinnacle of medicinal arts and understanding parts of the body. This extends further beyond the notion of grasping just the physiological composition of others and into the complexities of their inner systems, addressing the likes of nerves, muscles, immune systems and so on. The following establishes how many of these you can have, alongside the small benefit you get alongside choosing one as a field of expertise. While breaking down what each field entails, that breakdown also establishes what field of the body a character's techniques can interact with.

Upon upgrading Treatment of Systems to T2, you gain access to one 'slot' to acquire an -ology. An additional is unlocked every time you upgrade this perk; allowing the acquisition of up to 3' in total.

-- Neurologist: Very much skilled with the brain, nerves & spine. You excel at treating any harm that comes there way, including disease. (Removes -10 penalty from the roll reduction for performing surgery on the brain. Can interact with the nerves better; able to decrease or increase nerve interactions (i.e. Shock etc.) by 1.5X, and force involuntary or disrupted actions.)

-- Cardiologist: Strong grasp of blood & passage issues, especially regarding the heart. (Removes -10 penalty from the roll reduction for performing surgery on the heart. Can promote the flow of blood, preventing Bleeds or amplifying their drain by an additional -100 per turn; can forcibly induce adrenaline for small physical stat bonuses -or- stamina in exchange for 'crashing' in stamina later.])

-- Immunologist: Knowledge of the immune system and its interactions with things. (Increases or decreases the effectiveness of foreign substances by 25%. Can accelerate their rate of development by 3 rounds upon initial introduction of them to an individual. Able to overdrive an immune system, inducing a -6 base stat penalty upon an individual facing a foreign substance made by the Immunologist.)

-- Anesthesiologist: Excel in understanding how to stabilize the body, pain, and means to stall critical statuses in failing parts of the physique. (Can increase or decrease pain-related interactions by +-3. Able to amp Stun/Daze and other shock-relative effects. Can delay the demise of a patient or part of their body by a few days with the appropriate equipment.)

-- Psychiatrist: Comprehension of the mind, the typical ticks of people, and so on. (+10 to calculations related to mental interactions. These calculations are -25% as effective to the Psychiatrist. Can induce deeply-seated psychological responses into people often through adding to or exploiting traumas. Easy access to Reflex / Physical Stat penalties built off of 'fear' or other negative sentiments, or alleviating them in the case of effects.)

-- Orthopedist: Specialises in interacting with the musculoskeletal system. (Able to better exploit Defense Busting, starting off with a flat -8 reduction to the defense they target. Can forcibly exacerbate or limit the influence of specific injury mechanics temporarily, or outright have them be ignored at the cost of later concern.)

-- Respiratory Specialist: Proficient in matters concerning breathing. (Asphyxiation from this character starts two rounds sooner, or can be delayed by that amonut. Increases or decreases stamina drains related to asphyxiation or breathing issues by 1.5X. Can induce upon a target more easily.)