Rancke mentioned the issue of gradual healing. I propose the following:
NO PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC AT ZERO
1. If the character is injured but has no physical characteristic reduced to zero, the character remains conscious and functions at normal characteristic levels until the end of the combat in which the wounds were received.
2. At the end of combat, all wounded characteristics are placed midway between wounded and full levels, rounding fractions down. The character functions at the reduced levels until he receives rest or medical treatment.
3a. Wounded characteristics are restored after 3 days rest at a rate of 1/3 the lost points in each affected characteristic per day (round down); at the end of the third day of rest, all characteristics are returned to normal level.
3b. Alternately, wounded characteristics will be restored to normal levels after 30 minutes treatment by someone with Medical-1+ skill and a medical kit or equivalent equipment (a hospital emergency room, fully equipped ambulance, fully equipped sick bay).
ONE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTIC AT ZERO
1. If the character is injured and one characteristic is reduced to zero, the character is unconscious and regains consciousness in 10 minutes.
2. When the character regains consciousness, all wounded characteristics are placed midway between wounded and full levels, rounding fractions down.
3a. Wounded characteristics are restored after 3 days rest at a rate of 1/3 the lost points in each affected characteristic per day (round down); at the end of the third day of rest, all characteristics are returned to normal level.
3b. Alternately, wounded characteristics will be restored to normal levels after 30 minutes treatment by someone with Medical-1+ skill and a medical kit or equivalent equipment (a hospital emergency room, fully equipped ambulance, fully equipped sick bay).
TWO PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AT ZERO
1. If the character is injured and two characteristics are reduced to zero, the character is unconscious and regains consciousness in 3 hours.
2. When the character regains consciousness, the wounded characteristics that had been reduced to 0 are raised to 1. Any wounded characteristic that was not reduced to 0 remains at the wounded level.
3. Serious wounds require 5d6 days in a medical facility (local hospital or aid station, the sick bay of a ship, etc.) under the care of someone with a skill of medical-3 or greater. The character continues to function at the reduced levels until that care is received. Should care be interrupted (if the member leaves the medical facility early for some reason), recovery will be pro-rated: divide the number of days that the member was in the facility by the number of days that was originally rolled, multiply the result by the number of wounds taken in each characteristic (rounding down), and restore each characteristic by only that amount. The character continues to function at the reduced level until he can return to a medical facility to complete the period of healing.
THREE PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS AT ZERO
1. If three characteristics are reduced to zero, the character is dead.
2a. Place the body in a low berth for transport to a TL13+ world within 5 minutes of death, hope that your gamemaster is willing to develop or import and implement rules for reanimation, and have a very large amount of money available to pay for the procedure; some small contribution to persuade the gamemaster may also be advisable. If the gamemaster is uncooperative, see 2b below. Any period over 5 minutes between death and low berth placement may result in permanent loss of intelligence and education and loss of skills; the players may consider having the medical facility help them petition the Trin Institute for Neurocybernetic Research to take guardianship of an impaired character.
2b. If reanimation is not an option, consider promptly donating or selling the body to the local medical service for transplant purposes. Otherwise, the party must see to disposal of the remains; if local law level permits, taxidermy may be an option.
