Tutorial 12: Health (as a single page)
From FiranMUX
| This page includes all the text of the "Health" Advanced Firan Survival Guide tutorial. It's on one page for ease of searching, reading, or printing. |
Contents |
WARNING! The information contained here is based on the state of the game as of this writing. Since FiranMUX is an evolving game the health system is, as with everything, subject to change. Odds are the basics will remain the same, but the details may be tweaked. Also, there are things I don't know about the health systems, and worse yet, things I might be wrong about, so don't put 100% faith in this.
On the subject of code mechanics, rolls are done according to a very slight modification of White Wolf dice rules. Ask around if you don't know how it works, it's a popular dice system. Code mechanics are especially subject to tweaking so what's described may quite possibly be out of date, or else temporarily altered for plot reasons.
| Health Introduction | Some general information about the health system, pregnancy, and aging. |
| Getting Hurt | Information about ways in which you can get hurt. |
| Getting Healed | Information about ways to get healed. |
Health Introduction
Firan Survival Guide: Introduction to Health
A person's health is, for the most part, point-based. Unlike some gaming systems, characters do not have a set number of health points. Instead, they take damage points, with damage ratings going from 0 (fully healed) to 100 (very likely dead) or even higher. The higher the number of damage points, the more seriously hurt a person is. Damage is inflicted on a specific body part (right knee, stomach, left eyebrow, etc.) and is of a particular type (bruise, gash, break, etc.). If you're wearing armor, some physical forms of damage may be absorbed by your armor. To see how much damage you've currently taken, you can use the @sheet/damage command. Damage can heal naturally over time, with medicinal teas, or by healing commands.
There are a few ways to determine how injured another person is. One way is by simply looking at them. You'll see a description of the areas they're injured in (if not covered by armor), a listing of any bandaged body parts, and a general description of how hurt they look. As a person is actually taking damage, such as during a fight, each injury will cause a description of how hurt the person is to be displayed. Finally, those with the healing skill can use the diagnose command to determine how injured a person is.
Animals, incidentally, have the same health system that Firan characters have. Where Firans are healed with the healing skill, animals are healed in a near identical fashion with the farrier skill.
Pregnancy
Giving birth is a potentially dangerous affair that can lead to permanent injury, or even death of the mother or child. After the child is born via the code, a wizard makes two sets of rolls: one for the mother, and one for the baby. The check for the mother is a Health + Endurance roll made at a variable difficulty dependent on age, stress, current health, etc. As a basis of comparison, a young and healthy woman would probably have a difficulty of 7. Failing this roll results in a permanent injury, while fumbling it results in death. The check for the baby is Health + Luck, with the difficulty again based on variable factors. Failing this roll means the baby will be sickly for at least the first year, while fumbling it leads to the death of the baby. Having a midwife present can reduce (or, in some cases, raise) the difficulties of these rolls; see help midwifery for more details.
It is possible to lose a baby before the end of its term through miscarriage. Every IC month (currently on the 28th at 9 am) a check for miscarriage is made on all pregnant women. Miscarrying during a monthly check is fairly rare, however. Any time a pregnant woman takes damage a check is made for miscarriage. This check is based on Health + Child Rearing, at a base diff of 5 plus one for every 10 points of damage caused by the last injury (as contrasted with the total damage). Fumbling this roll will result in a miscarriage.
Growing old
As characters grow older there is the possibility that they may die of old age. Any character aged 50 or older will make a "death check" on a RL monthly basis (currently scheduled for the first of the month at 5:00 am). The check is based off Health + Luck. The difficulty of the roll is determined by their age:
| Age | Difficult of "Death Check" |
| 50-54 years old | Difficulty 4 |
| 55-59 years old | Difficulty 5 |
| 60-64 years old | Difficulty 6 |
| 65-69 years old | Difficulty 7 |
| 70+ years old | Difficulty 8 |
| TABLE 1: "Death Check" Difficulties |
If a character fails a death check, their health score is decreased by one. If the health score ever reaches 0, then the character has died of old age. Otherwise, if their health score drops they should roleplay some sort of illness that weakens them further.
For female characters, growing old means the possibility of going into a menopausal-like state where they are unable to have children. Monthly checks for this begin at age 35, with the base check being Health + Luck at difficulty 5 and increasing with age. Botching a roll leads to the menopausal-like state.
Getting Hurt
WARNING! The information contained here is based on the state of the game as of this writing. Since FiranMUX is an evolving game the health system is, as with everything, subject to change. Odds are the basics will remain the same, but the details may be tweaked. Also, there are things I don't know about the health systems, and worse yet, things I might be wrong about, so don't put 100% faith in this.
How to get hurt
There are lots of ways a person can potentially get hurt, and these ways cause different amounts and types of damage. The following is a potentially incomplete list of things that may, depending on circumstances, cause a person damage:
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Unconsciousness and potential death
As you take more damage you will eventually fall unconscious, and can potentially die. Take too much damage -- at or over 60 points worth in total -- and you'll suffer a permanent injury (or "perm") which will lower one of your attribute points. There are certain areas or times in the game where damage is not lethal. For example, in the combat training center no fights are lethal, though "dying" as determined by the code will result in a permanent injury. The same holds through for combat-oriented festival events.
Theoretically any amount of damage can kill a person. In reality, very very few people die unless their damage is over 30 points, and even then most deaths occur when it gets over 50 or 60 points. People can fall unconscious at any amount of damage -- it's happened at even just a single point -- but usually this happens when they've taken 30 or so points worth. The way it works is that when a person takes damage they automatically perform a shock check, to see if they fall unconscious. If they do, they automatically perform a death check, to see if they die. The way the code is set up you are much more likely to pass out before you're in danger of dying.
For those who like to deal with numbers and stats, the following table describes how unconsciousness and death checks are performed:
| Type of Check | Stats to Roll | Difficulty |
| Shock Resistance | Best and worst of Health, Endurance, and Willpower | Base of 3, plus one for every 8 points of total damage taken |
| Death Resistance | Best two of Favor, Passion, Luck, and Willpower | Base of 0, plus one for every 10 points of total damage taken |
| TABLE 2: Shock and Death Rolls |
If you go unconscious, you can't do anything except communicate OOCly. No posing of any sort is allowed. Periodic checks are performed automatically to see if you wake up. Currently these checks are performed at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour, in real time. In order to regain consciousness, you must succeed at a shock resistance check based on your current level of damage.
Getting Healed
Okay, so now you're injured. What do you do? There are a number of ways you can heal injuries, as described below.
Automatic daily healing
Every IC day at 6:00 am the healing code runs and certain wounds are healed automatically. The number of wounds that can be healed automatically per day is determined directly by your Health attribute, so that people with 3 Health will heal (potentially) 3 wounds a day, and so on. Some wounds, however, heal much slower than others. Though most wounds heal a point at a time, bandaging a wound can make it heal faster, 3 points a day for things like bruises, lacerations, punctures, and the like. See the table on healing for specific details.
The Heal command
Anyone with the healing skill can attempt to use the heal command. It can be used on yourself or on others. Those with low skill (or poor luck) run the risk of further damaging the patient with a botched healing attempt. The heal command takes energy (ERPs) and requires the appropriate medical supply. See help medical supplies, or else the table on healing below, for specific details. Healing attempts can be made once per RL hour, computer per patient, not per healer. Note also that you can be healed by someone else even while you're offline, if you remember to use the sleep command before disconnecting.
For those interested in the code, a healing check is made by rolling the healer's Healing + Memory, at a difficulty of 10 minus their Intuition attribute. A higher number of successes will lead to more damage being healed. There is no longer any such thing as 'unbotchable' healers -- the new dice system changed that. Your success rate will hinge on how good you are at healing and the better you are, the less chance you have of botching. However, it still might happen.
High quality medical supplies can heal more than low quality supplies.
Drinking medicinal teas
Certain damage can be healed a point by drinking the appropriate medicinal tea. These teas can be effective either once per RL hour, or once per RL day, depending on the type. Note that teas don't always work, so sometimes you'll drink them and receive no benefit. See the table on healing below for specifics.
The Bandage command
The bandage command doesn't heal any damage at that point in time, but it does make the automatic daily healings more efficient. Bandaged wounds heal a number of point equal to the character's Health attribute, as opposed to 1, points per day. Plus it's just a good idea to bandage your large, gaping flesh wounds. Things that are slow to heal, like breaks or lung trauma, are unaffected by bandages. When a wound is completely healed up, the bandage will be automatically removed.
The Splint command
In general, Firans aren't medically advanced enough to know how to splint bones. There are, however, three PCs on the game -- Wylma, Balinda, and Odoni -- who are legendary healers with this ability. Splints can be applied once per IC day per patient, and typically heal 0-1 points of damage when applied (though occasionally as much as 2 or 3).
Table on Healing
| Type of Injury | Automatic Healing | Medical Supply |
| Bruise | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | Yarrow tea can potentially, once every RL hour, heal 1 point |
| Gash | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | Comfrey ointment applied by healer |
| Puncture | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | Tea tree oil applied by healer |
| Laceration | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | Calendula lotion applied by healer |
| Break | 1 point every 4 IC days | Splint, once per RL day (legendary healers only) |
| Lung Trauma | 1 point every 4 IC days | Breathing compress applied by healer |
| Nerve Damage | 1 point every IC day | Mint tea once every RL day may potentially heal 1 additional point |
| Burn | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | Burn salve applied by healer |
| Stabbing Pain | 1 point (3 if bandaged) every IC day | None |
| Headache | (unknown) | Feverfew powder applied by healer |
| Nausea | (unknown) | Drinking ginger tea, unknown how often |
