Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

[Starcloud]

While contemplating how to stop a character from "bleeding to death" at < 0 body, I finally hit on a relatively workable solution that didn't also cost a ton of points.

 

Homeostasis: Paramedics 13-, Persistent (+1/4), Activates at negative Body (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, Trigger resets automatically, immediately after it activates, Character does not control activation of personal Trigger; +3/4) (6 Active Points); Only on Self Power loses about half its effectiveness (-1) (Real Cost: 3)

 

If I understand the way this works, it would trigger on the character reaching negative body, and on every phase where the character would have had an action if he or she were conscious, this power would make a Paramedic roll to try to stabilize.

 

Link this with a Detect Body and put it all in an IIF, and you have a Trauma Module that you can add to armor suits as well. Or give it Gestures, Incantation, and Extra Time (only to activate) and a Time Limit on the Trigger, and you have a Ritual of Binding Life to the Body.

 

Please comment, criticize, or point out gaping flaws in my knowledge of the rules, so that I can be sure I'm on the right track here.

[薔薇語]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Why not just buy a limited Regen?

 

La Rose.

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Because Regeneration doesn't stop the "bleeding to death effect" and even a Limited Regeneration like that ends up being expensive.

 

I should make it clear this is the 6e version, and I'm trying to figure this out as a "rules as written" effect, rather than a house ruled "Regeneration does stop bleeding to death."

[dmjalund]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

You could use a type of EDM (time travel) where you are sending the person into a future moment defined as when the effect ends. The special effect is the person is in Stasis, where the character cannot be harmed, without first destroying the stasis

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Um. I'm not entirely sure that would work. The idea is to stop the bleeding there and then, not put someone into a stasis field until an outsider breaks it and does the Paramedic roll to stop the bleeding, which would still be continuing.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

A successful Healing power for 1 BODY would be enough to stop the bleeding (6E1 p. 232). It's kind of curious that Regeneration doesn't, but it's not supposed to be a cheap "Does Not Bleed". I'd probably build it using Healing instead of Paramedic. Self Only is -1. Also, a Trigger doesn't have any special senses, but it can be assumed to use normal ones; you don't need to build a special Sense to detect -1 BODY. I'd say Healing 1d6 (Simplified, Standard Effect), Trigger (when bleeding; +3/4), 0 END (+1/2) (22 Active), Self Only (-1). 11 points.

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Sure, but by default, Healing only works once every twenty-four hours.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

At the GM's option, Healing can treat each wound separately for purposes of the one day reset time. This is my default way of handling it, YMMV. Also, I'd consider each BODY lost to bleeding to be considered a separate wound for these purposes.

 

Alternately, buy down the reset time to 1 Turn. This changes it to:

 

Homeostasis: Healing 1d6 (Simplified, Standard Effect), Trigger (when bleeding; +3/4), 0 END (+1/2), Decreased Re-Use Duration (1 Turn; +1 1/2) (37 Active), Self Only (-1). 18 points.

[Sociotard]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

I think a minor transform would work quite well.

[dmjalund]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

I think a minor transform would work quite well.

:gibbsslap:

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Minor Transform: Person bleeding to death into person not bleeding to death (ie losing one body per turn when reduced to 0 body or less)?

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

The Transform answer may have been at least partly facetious... running joke around here that the two Powers you can use when all else fails are Transform and Extradimensional Movement.

 

Oh, we got 'em both. You guys need to be nice to the newbies.

[dmjalund]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

The Transform answer may have been at least partly facetious... running joke around here that the two Powers you can use when all else fails are Transform and Extradimensional Movement.

 

Oh, we got 'em both. You guys need to be nice to the newbies.

And thus I stand behind my :gibbsslap:

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

I knew I should have added o.O to my post, because that's what I was thinking when I read it.

 

Also, the discussion has led me to realize that I am working under an assumption that doesn't necessarily apply for everyone; The world where this ability would be used is one where 'magical' healing is very rare and most healing is of the Paramedic / Surgery / long convalescence in a hospital type. The character I was originally trying to build the power for is an esper in a Kazei 5 type world.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

I knew I should have added o.O to my post, because that's what I was thinking when I read it.

 

Also, the discussion has led me to realize that I am working under an assumption that doesn't necessarily apply for everyone; The world where this ability would be used is one where 'magical' healing is very rare and most healing is of the Paramedic / Surgery / long convalescence in a hospital type. The character I was originally trying to build the power for is an esper in a Kazei 5 type world.

 

I think I see what you're getting at... you mean a sort of "poof, you're healed" sort of thing rather than specifically magic or whatnot. This particular ability doesn't have to represent anything like that. It's really nothing more than "an ability used to stop bleeding." You could, if you wanted, tack on a Limitation to the effect of "this doesn't actually restore BODY, only stops bleeding."

 

A HERO System Power doesn't have to represent things like superpowers, psionics, magic, etc. It often does, but it can also be used for things like super skills, action hero stunts ("surfing the explosion" that Arnold does in so many movies), better-than-normal Talents, mundane equipment, and so forth. The ability you've described fits right in with the last group, and (especially given the low power level) could very easily be defined with the Healing.

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

Perhaps a better phrase would be "instant healing".

Now, the problem is this: How do I get a power that can reasonably be described as the body's own automatic response cranked up a notch and supplemented by the unconscious use of telekinesis?

People do stop bleeding on their own. It takes a variable amount of time, and in some cases it's impossible to stop the bleeding by the body's natural response, because a major artery or vein is severed.

 

What's the simplest way to simulate this? Since the character is an esper and a telekinetic, a Paramedic roll bought as a Power would seem to be the way to go. Stopping "bleeding to death" is a direct use of the skill, the telekinetic use involved wouldn't be a major effort, and it might not succeed immediately, but it will eventually stop the bleeding. There's no need to limit it by saying "Only to stop bleeding to death", there's no need to buy it down to 0 end, there's no need to ask the game master to let it work in the case where someone damages the character a second time while at negative body.

 

And on a personal note, when I see a thirty-seven point power that's been bought with a ton of advantages and limitations to simulate exactly the same effect that a six point skill bought as a power is doing, I cringe. In fact, even the power I proposed is uncomfortably complex for the effect I want.

 

It's bought this way for some very specific reasons; I want that level of unreliability that represents the body's natural response, and not something automatic that always is guaranteed to work. Say it's adapted for a Star Hero campaign; it might represent an auto-injector that puts "medical gel" into the bloodstream, where it's carried to the wound locations and seals the bleeding, along with having a variety of anti-trauma chemicals. Because it relies on the body's own circulatory system, it might not work immediately, and there's a chance it won't work at all before the character dies.

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

And on a personal note' date=' when I see a thirty-seven point power that's been bought with a ton of advantages and limitations to simulate exactly the same effect that a six point skill bought as a power is doing, I cringe. In fact, even the power I proposed is uncomfortably complex for the effect I want.[/quote']

 

Sometimes a Power is overbuilt, but sometimes it needs to be. 37 Active and 18 Real; it could actually be dropped lower than that if the Trigger takes a full Turn to reset (no point in anything faster than that because of the reset time). Not a whole lot cheaper, but...

 

Homeostasis: Healing 1d6 (Simplified, Standard Effect), Trigger (when bleeding, takes a full Turn to reset; +1/4), 0 END (+1/2), Decreased Re-Use Duration (1 Turn; +1 1/2) (22 Active), Self Only (-1). 11 points.

 

To put into some perspective, the Does Not Bleed Automaton Power is 15 points.

 

There are other ways to do it, though:

 

Homeostasis: Aid BODY 2d6, Trigger (when bleeding; automatically resets; triggering is an action that takes no time; +3/4), 0 END (+1/2) (27 Active) Self Only (-1), Only For Stopping Bleeding (-1). 9 points.

 

It's bought this way for some very specific reasons; I want that level of unreliability that represents the body's natural response, and not something automatic that always is guaranteed to work. Say it's adapted for a Star Hero campaign; it might represent an auto-injector that puts "medical gel" into the bloodstream, where it's carried to the wound locations and seals the bleeding, along with having a variety of anti-trauma chemicals. Because it relies on the body's own circulatory system, it might not work immediately, and there's a chance it won't work at all before the character dies.

 

There's nothing inherent about a Power or a Skill that makes one more suitable than another for a particular effect. What you've described could as easily be described by one of the builds as any of the others; unreliability could be reflected by adding an Activation Roll to the Power builds. I actually don't have a whole lot of quibble with the build you came up with; it wouldn't be my first choice, but it would do the job.

[Starcloud]

Re: Homeostasis: a power to stop bleeding to death

 

A question I have, then, is this: Trigger at any level other than "resets automatically" is stated to take a conscious action from the character.

 

Since at negative body the character is unconscious, can you really have Trigger bought at a level other than "resets automatically" with this power?

 

Generally, when building powers, I try to avoid Warning and Stop Sign powers, but this seems reasonable too:

 

Homeostasis: Does Not Bleed, Trigger: when bleeding condition would occur (Activating the Trigger is an Action that takes no time, automatically resets; +3/4) (26 Active Points); Extra Time (1 Turn (Post-Segment 12), -1 1/4), Requires A Roll (11- roll; -1/2) Real Cost: 9