Surgical skills

The physick and the chirurgeon wrestle with death every day.

Surgical Skills

• You cannot use any surgical skills on yourself
• Surgical skills require both hands free and your attention on your patient

Chirurgeon

• 1-point skill
• You must purchase this skill before you can take any other surgical skills

If you spend at least 30 seconds of appropriate roleplaying treating a character who is bleeding to death, then you can restore a single lost hit. The bleeding character's death count is paused while you treat them. This skill has no effect on a character who is not on zero hits. You must complete this time without being interrupted; if you or your patient attacks another character, or either of you are hit, then the attempt to use the chirurgeon skill fails and must be begun again.

If your character also has the physick skill then you may also apply a single herb during this time.

Physick

• 3-point skill
• You can use appropriate roleplaying to treat a range of conditions
• You can also apply herbs to an affected character to treat them
• You cannot use this skill on yourself

If you spend at least 2 minutes of appropriate roleplaying treating a character then you may restore the use of a limb ruined by the CLEAVE or IMPALE call or treat the effects of a traumatic wound. Some traumatic wounds require longer than 2 minutes of treatment, as directed by the trauma card.

Herb	Benefit
Bladeroot	Removes the WEAKNESS condition
Cerulean Mazzarine	Repairs a ruined limb
Imperial Roseweald	Removes the VENOM condition
Marrowort	Allows a character to ignore the roleplaying effects of traumatic wounds
True Vervain	Restores all lost hits to a character

If you spend at least 3 minutes of appropriate roleplaying treating a character who is terminal then you may allow the character to act as if they are not in pain.

If you spend at least 5 minutes of appropriate roleplaying treating a character who is wounded then they regain all lost global hits after ten minutes of rest and relaxation. This roleplaying can only be performed in a tent or similar building suited for use as a physick's chamber - it cannot be performed on a battlefield.

You can also use this skill to attempt to diagnose what is wrong with a patient. You must ask a ref if there is anything else you can tell about your patient, and what you can do to fix the problem.

You can also apply medicinal herbs directly to a patient to treat them. There are five herbs in Empire; each can be used to treat a different effect. You must spend at least 30 seconds of appropriate roleplaying to apply a herb, but it is also possible to apply a single herb while treating a character using the chirurgeon skill.

If you or your patient attacks another character, or either of you are hit, then the attempt to use the herb fails. The herb is not lost but you must begin the roleplaying again.

Herbs are produced by a herb garden, and are measured in drams. Any character can choose to start with a herb garden, which is a personal resource. A starting herb garden produces fourteen herbs per event, six drams of true vervain and two of each of the others.

The greatest heroes have scars

Apothecary

• 2-point skill
• Herbs can be mixed to produce a potion that can be taken by any character

You are able to mix herbs together at an event to produce a potion that recreates the effects of the herbs but that can be drunk by any character. It requires five seconds of appropriate roleplaying to drink a potion.

This skill gives you the ability to mix all five of the Apothecary Potions automatically. You can take the extra recipe skill to learn how to make additional potions.

Extra Recipe

• 1-point skill
• The cost of this skill is the same each time

You can choose one additional recipe set of potions that your character knows how to make each time you purchase this skill.

Further Reading

• You can find a useful, short article about medicine and healing in the Empire world here.