Topic: First Aid - How to

[PiXeL01]

This is a bit embarrassing for me, but I keep going back to First Aid and then I cannot figure out how to use it properly. I find that RM2 Character Law, Arms Law, nor CompII are of little use in helping me.
 I think back in the day we just said “roll d100, add your skill bonus and get to 100 to succeed” but that was then and now i want to “do it right” also maybe cut down on death-by-bleeding
So I turn to you.

First Aid is a Static Maneuver, but what modifiers and column? Misc?

What’s the difficulty for stopping a 2/rnd wound versus a 5/rnd? And Light Injury versus Medium?

I guess my worries extend to Surgery and Second Aid.

Thank you in advance!

[Spectre771]

RMC-II pg 19 has five methods for resolving Static Actions, which First Aid is.  Method A is what you described above; break 100 after all modifiers are applied, the action is a success.  This is "... with the proper tools and bandages..." First Aid can stop bleeding up to 5/round.

First Aid difficulty is -10 per rate of bleeding.  Of course, you can always add more modifiers such as lighting, under active attack, in the middle of a muddy battlefield, have a +5 Med Kit, etc.

  Roll + FA Skill - (10*bleed rate) => 100 SUCCESS!   

The other methods for resolving static actions get more complex and it is up to you how nitty-gritty you want to get with it.

[Aspire2Hope]

In paramedic circles, there is the adage that it doesn't matter what you do if it is that severe they are probably dead unless you get the patient to the hospital. Slapping a compression bandage on a major wound requires no real skill and can buy you time, but unless you fix the major blood vessel through surgery (amputation or repair) the bleeding won't stop. Most of First Aid training is about not panicking in a critical situation - the less-known medical skills of how to treat a burn, CPR and choking. Generally, everyone knows to slap something on a wound and to try not to move something that is broken.

So at the basic level of the game, you can ask your players what they want to do and any readily available idea will give them some breathing time to get a trained medic (second aid and surgery) to treat the patient (in a world specific way). Each wound should be treated separately. If there is sufficient material for compression or tourniquet then the bleeding rate can be cut by the percentage of a straight d100 roll. Internal bleeds - make them comfortable and say your prayers.

With fractures its a little more complicated because if you immobilise them poorly then the resetting might be hampered. But again some immobilisation is better than none. So stick with a d100 success and that can be used to modify future Second Aid and Surgery rolls.

If you pop over to the Rolemaster blog there was a post about hits per round and survival. Rolemaster crits are not kind to you and in a low tech world really every adventurer should be retired with at least a limp or missing limb.

[Spectre771]

Slapping a compression bandage on a major wound requires no real skill and can buy you time, but unless you fix the major blood vessel through surgery (amputation or repair) the bleeding won't stop.

Don't sell your profession short and don't minimize what you do.   I've been a firefighter for 19 years and have worked with dozens of EMTs and Paramedics and of course I've had training but not at the level they have.  It's not as simple as slapping a compression bandage on.  The First Aid skill in RM2 is stopping the bleeding with appropriate equipment and NOT resorting to a tourniquet and knowing which wounds to address.

Second Aid is suturing wounds (bleeding more than 5/rnd)  and setting bones and can still be done in the field, but beyond that, if the wounds are that bad, far more skill is needed than battlefield triage.

Most of First Aid training is about not panicking in a critical situation

You are 100% correct.  This is the First Aid skill at work.  Not panicking, knowing which wounds to treat first and how.  Knowing what not to move because the jagged bone could sever another blood vessel.  Knowing to leave the arrow in the wound because it could be plugging a bleeder. 

In game play, one modifier is -10 per bleed per round.  First Aid can stop up to 5/round of bleeding... that means -50 to the First Aid skill roll.  Without First Aid skill (or a low First Aid skill) just slapping a bandage on it, success is pretty low.  In real life, and in gaming terms, I don't want anyone just "slapping a compression bandage" on me if their end result is -50 to their success! LOL  With my luck, they'll apply pressure and make the blood squirt out faster from other holes.