I have a player who's all about stabilizing his team-mates during combat, etc. It's a good tactic and I applaud it, since they're not wasting resources to bring someone to a stable point. That said, would it be unfair to make a different ruling on it based on the situation?
Say a character has been disemboweled by a werewolf but is still alive, but their insides are falling out and they're making death saves. Would it be unfair to raise the DC slightly for that check from the base DC 10? So the character can see if they successfully pack the entrails, etc back inside the body?
I'm just curious mostly if anyone does anything different for stabilization checks.
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Death Saves are a flat 10 over/under on a die, but medicine checks for someone else to stabilize a downed character can be just as easy or hard as the situation calls for, just like any other skill check. In a disembowling scenario I’d set that check pretty high...probably at least a DC 20, or I’d make it multiple checks over multiple turns (check to reinsert the entrails, then a check to stabilize)
First and foremost: skill checks, and any other thing in the game, are completely up to the DM's whim to change if they want to. You aren't beholden to follow the books to the letter. No matter how strongly people shout RAW, the books are a framework with which to build your game around and adjust as you see fit. If you feel the DC of a Medicine check should be increased, do it
Page 7 of the PHB:
2. Apply circumstantial bonuses and penalties. A class feature, a spell, a particular circumstance, or some other effect might give a bonus or penalty to the check.
The next thing to consider is that stabilizing does cost a resource. If they choose Medicine as a proficiency it costs any other proficiency they have to pick from. If they use a Medicine Kit, it costs a charge from that kit, and, finally, it costs an Action during combat, costing them an attack, spell, or other choice. This cost should be rewarded, they should be able to accomplish their goal, and they should be able to succeed based on the cost. If it's just a player rolling to use Medicine to stabilize party members, no kit or proficiency, then they'll succeed when the DC is low enough. If the player has invested in a Medicine Kit, they'll succeed because the kit gives them the ability. If they've put their proficiency into Medicine, then they'll succeed more often, even with higher DCs.
Feel free to adjust it as you see fit, but remember to ask yourself why you're doing it. Making medicine checks more difficult because the player is doing something you feel is "ruining" certain elements of the game is the wrong mind set. Making medicine checks more difficult because it's something you feel will add to the game in some way is a much better mind set. Just remember to listen to the player feedback and pay attention to how the game changes from your decision, you may have to make adjustments to your changes, or remove it because it makes the game less fun.
I guess I treat injury descriptions as more of "flavor text" than mechanical. Because otherwise, if you have someone with their guts scattered across their room from dropping to 0 hp, then how do you describe it if no one stabilizes them but they roll a 20 on their save? "Suddenly their entrails suck back into their body, the wound magically closes, they regain consciousness and they stand up with 1 hp..."
Basically, don't paint yourself into a corner without thinking over all the ways you might need to get out of it. :)
I wouldn't consider the type of damage when amending a DC. Like Maestrino says, don't paint yourself into a corner by describing damage and then having to figure out a way to resolve it. Medical checks aren't magic. They're medicine. But I would very much alter DC based on environmental factors. For example....
You're in a small boat that has just been destroyed by a fireball, splintering into a million pieces and sending the party into the soup. Your wizard, who was lighting the way with his staff, also took the brunt of the blast as the enemy caster honed in on the light source. He's floating, unconscious, face down. You swim over to help him, pulling out your trusty medical kit and placing it on a large piece of flotsam that is nearby. Struggling to take out the contents without the lot getting dumped into the lake and kicking to stay afloat, you render what aid you can.
This is an example of an environmental situation where I would bump up the DC significantly.
then how do you describe it if no one stabilizes them but they roll a 20 on their save? "Suddenly their entrails suck back into their body, the wound magically closes, they regain consciousness and they stand up with 1 hp..."
Basically, don't paint yourself into a corner without thinking over all the ways you might need to get out of it. :)
It's basically cinematic. A number of movies have heroes and villains get up or struggle through horrendous injuries to accomplish a task when you thought they died.
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"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
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"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
That's kind of what I meant, though. If your description of the injuries is "flavor text" to make the scene more cinematic, great! But don't have it affect the mechanics of using the medicine skill to heal them. If you're going for a more "gritty realism" interpretation of serious injuries, that's fine too - but you have to think about how that interacts with the RAW mechanics of stabilization, death saves, and that sort of thing or else you wind up with some really immersion-breaking continuity problems.
I would probably raise the DC for two main reasons:
1) PC has gone down repeatedly. That level of repeated trauma is likely going to make it more difficult to stabilize, even with magical healing.
2) If the PC went down to one big attack or just chip damage over time. I’d make the one massive attack more difficult to stabilize since that is likely to be a more debilitating attack (think dragon’s breath weapon vs lots of little kobold attack’s). Maybe have the base DC at 10 and raise it by one for every 10% of HP lost in one attack, I.e. if the wizard goes down from 50% to zero in one attack, it would be a DC15 stabilization. Obviously would need some fiddling but I think it’s reasonable
But I would probably tell the PCs that is what’s going on. I think that makes a nice balance of adding a bit of realism without making stabilization seem like a waste.
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I have a player who's all about stabilizing his team-mates during combat, etc. It's a good tactic and I applaud it, since they're not wasting resources to bring someone to a stable point. That said, would it be unfair to make a different ruling on it based on the situation?
Say a character has been disemboweled by a werewolf but is still alive, but their insides are falling out and they're making death saves. Would it be unfair to raise the DC slightly for that check from the base DC 10? So the character can see if they successfully pack the entrails, etc back inside the body?
I'm just curious mostly if anyone does anything different for stabilization checks.
DM/Founder for Mimics & Monstrosities, a D&D network.
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Death Saves are a flat 10 over/under on a die, but medicine checks for someone else to stabilize a downed character can be just as easy or hard as the situation calls for, just like any other skill check. In a disembowling scenario I’d set that check pretty high...probably at least a DC 20, or I’d make it multiple checks over multiple turns (check to reinsert the entrails, then a check to stabilize)
First and foremost: skill checks, and any other thing in the game, are completely up to the DM's whim to change if they want to. You aren't beholden to follow the books to the letter. No matter how strongly people shout RAW, the books are a framework with which to build your game around and adjust as you see fit. If you feel the DC of a Medicine check should be increased, do it
Page 7 of the PHB:
The next thing to consider is that stabilizing does cost a resource. If they choose Medicine as a proficiency it costs any other proficiency they have to pick from. If they use a Medicine Kit, it costs a charge from that kit, and, finally, it costs an Action during combat, costing them an attack, spell, or other choice. This cost should be rewarded, they should be able to accomplish their goal, and they should be able to succeed based on the cost. If it's just a player rolling to use Medicine to stabilize party members, no kit or proficiency, then they'll succeed when the DC is low enough. If the player has invested in a Medicine Kit, they'll succeed because the kit gives them the ability. If they've put their proficiency into Medicine, then they'll succeed more often, even with higher DCs.
Feel free to adjust it as you see fit, but remember to ask yourself why you're doing it. Making medicine checks more difficult because the player is doing something you feel is "ruining" certain elements of the game is the wrong mind set. Making medicine checks more difficult because it's something you feel will add to the game in some way is a much better mind set. Just remember to listen to the player feedback and pay attention to how the game changes from your decision, you may have to make adjustments to your changes, or remove it because it makes the game less fun.
I guess I treat injury descriptions as more of "flavor text" than mechanical. Because otherwise, if you have someone with their guts scattered across their room from dropping to 0 hp, then how do you describe it if no one stabilizes them but they roll a 20 on their save? "Suddenly their entrails suck back into their body, the wound magically closes, they regain consciousness and they stand up with 1 hp..."
Basically, don't paint yourself into a corner without thinking over all the ways you might need to get out of it. :)
I wouldn't consider the type of damage when amending a DC. Like Maestrino says, don't paint yourself into a corner by describing damage and then having to figure out a way to resolve it. Medical checks aren't magic. They're medicine. But I would very much alter DC based on environmental factors. For example....
You're in a small boat that has just been destroyed by a fireball, splintering into a million pieces and sending the party into the soup. Your wizard, who was lighting the way with his staff, also took the brunt of the blast as the enemy caster honed in on the light source. He's floating, unconscious, face down. You swim over to help him, pulling out your trusty medical kit and placing it on a large piece of flotsam that is nearby. Struggling to take out the contents without the lot getting dumped into the lake and kicking to stay afloat, you render what aid you can.
This is an example of an environmental situation where I would bump up the DC significantly.
It's basically cinematic. A number of movies have heroes and villains get up or struggle through horrendous injuries to accomplish a task when you thought they died.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
That's kind of what I meant, though. If your description of the injuries is "flavor text" to make the scene more cinematic, great! But don't have it affect the mechanics of using the medicine skill to heal them. If you're going for a more "gritty realism" interpretation of serious injuries, that's fine too - but you have to think about how that interacts with the RAW mechanics of stabilization, death saves, and that sort of thing or else you wind up with some really immersion-breaking continuity problems.
I would probably raise the DC for two main reasons:
1) PC has gone down repeatedly. That level of repeated trauma is likely going to make it more difficult to stabilize, even with magical healing.
2) If the PC went down to one big attack or just chip damage over time. I’d make the one massive attack more difficult to stabilize since that is likely to be a more debilitating attack (think dragon’s breath weapon vs lots of little kobold attack’s). Maybe have the base DC at 10 and raise it by one for every 10% of HP lost in one attack, I.e. if the wizard goes down from 50% to zero in one attack, it would be a DC15 stabilization. Obviously would need some fiddling but I think it’s reasonable
But I would probably tell the PCs that is what’s going on. I think that makes a nice balance of adding a bit of realism without making stabilization seem like a waste.
Harry Hoblin, the happy goblin, doin' all of the goblin things
He likes murder, loot, and pillage; he's doin' all of the goblin things
He'll eat your puppies and your babies; he's doin' all of the goblin things