Medpacs - how do you use them?

[Volar the Healer]

OK, let's say you're right. Medpacks can heal wounds. Now answer the origional question; Why is bacta treatment so much less effective than medpacks?
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[Rathe Ehtar]

I play with smart players who have learned that "the greatest victory is the battle not fought." Still, some of my players, even Ragnar, get wounded status sometimes. The medpack easily negates this penalty and Ragnar's back in the fray. You guys have gotten more serious about the medpack than I believe the rules intended, but that is a good thing. It allows for a "wounded" penalty, even treated with medpack, to be rather serious later on.
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"I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings." -Max Payne

"I don't buy that cluck like a dog, bark like a chicken stuff." -Col. Jack O'Neill

[Blubbo the Hutt]

So are medpacks limited use, or can you use the same one over and over? We've opted to use the following rule (which I think we stole from Shadowrun).

Roll 1D6

1-3 Medpack is good
4-6 Medpack is used

Personally I'd like to change this system. My players use them too frequently and too easily.

[Volar the Healer]

Medpacks are 'one time use'. Mostly our characters carry one each, two each if we're going into battle, and the med tech carries one per die of first aid + (A)medicine. Seems to work well.
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[Rathe Ehtar]

Wow, that's a lot of packs!

He must be a walking target, assuming he can walk with all the wieght.
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"I don't know about angels, but it's fear that gives men wings." -Max Payne

"I don't buy that cluck like a dog, bark like a chicken stuff." -Col. Jack O'Neill

[Volar the Healer]

No more than the demo expert who carries the demolitions packs, or the gunner who carries the light repeating blaster and extra power packs, or the comm tech who carries the communications, computer hacking, and security breeching gear...and then, of course, there's the body armour...

Our special ops group tends to carry a lot of gear.
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[Hellcat]

[Trask]

One thing I don't see here is side-effects.

Our GM has a rule which he uses to stop us overusing medpacks whereby if you overuse them they will start doing more harm than good. Not only that, but my character recently was refused treatment by a medical droid on the grounds that he had been injected with too many drugs already and shouldn't be given any more for at least 24 hours.

[RedFox]

1. Medpacs take time to use. Sometimes, the heroes just don't have ten minutes to spare. It's not like a stimpack or healing potion or something. You actually have to take the time to do some medical stuff.
2. They're one-use only. Not only that but the difficulty rises for each successive use of a medpak in a single day. They're quick-fixes, but hardly health potions.
3. They require skill to use. Not terribly important, but with larger wounds it may be.
4. They're items. As such, they can be lost or stolen just like any other item (though a GM doing this too often is a real prick).
5. Do you really want to kill the heroes because they can't use or get to a medpak? Think about the purpose of the adventure. Star Wars is pulp action. Rarely do you see injuries that lastingly incapacitate Our Heroes (tm). More often, someone limps along a bit until they have the time to patch up, then they're fine again. Even Luke got back on his feet after the Wampa cavern with a bacta healing montage. The exception is limb loss, which serves a dramatic purpose in Star Wars and there are already special rules for.

So I don't find medpaks overly useful. I think they're just about right.
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[garhkal]

Ok. How i handle them..

1) Each medpack is usable once.
2) each medpack can be used 3 times for 'stun KO revival' But if you take this option, they cannot be used for proper healing.
3) If you roll a 1 on the wild die, then you push the person to the next damage level.
4) if you wish to use more than one, you can do so, but each successive one is 1 diff level higher (though it balances out as they get easier with the less damage needing to be healed)
5) If you roll 10 or more LOWER than the number needed, you have overdriven their system and no more can be used in 1 day.
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[KageRyu]

[ZzaphodD]

Warning!! Threadomancy in progress!!

Finding this thread finally got me to formalize rules for medpacks. I have used a 'by the seat of my pants' approach to medpacks before, partially inherited from an earlier GM.

How i handle Medpacks..

1) Each medpack is usable once.
2) After you have used one, you cannot use another until you have recieved another wound, ie you cannot use several to go from incapacitated to fully healed.
3) if you have already used a medpack, each successive use the same day is 1 diff level higher.
4) If you roll 10 or more lower than the number needed when using a medpack the second or successive times during a day you have actually worsened the wound level one level.
5) It takes 2D6x2 minutes to heal a wound level (or 15 min if I use a fixed number). This is increased by +2D6x2 minutes (+15 mins) for each successive use of a medpack the same day.

Using a Fastflesh is one difficulty higher than a Medpack. Using a Fastflesh without any dice in the Medicine skill is one difficulty higher. You can still use your First Aid + Medicine skill for the test. The healing time for a 'wound' is 1D minutes if you have not used a 'pack' (Medpack of Fastflesh) before during the same day. After that the healing time is halved.

If you roll high on your First Aid skill when using a Fastflesh or a Medpack healing times are slightly decreased. I still have no hard rules for this though.
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[jmanski]

Iirc, there is a rule about only using a medpak once per day on a person as more will actually increase the wounds, and a flash medpak may be used after a standard medpak to bypass that limitation (so you get healed twice per day).
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?

[garhkal]

[jmanski]

I stand corrected.
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Blasted rules. Why can't they just be perfect?