As you might know, I'm not a big fan of healing in Fate. It's easily adjusted for any given game by speeding up the general recovery rate, if it becomes an issue.
I don't necessarily want to speed up healing...I just want to have some kind of mechanical advantage for actually seeking medical help: whether that's going to the hospital, psychologist, paramedic, first aid.
I like the idea of getting rid of the ability to tag/invoke the consequence. tags only happen in the scene the consequence is created (usually) - although, I'd allow someone to tag a consequence in a later scene if they hadn't already tagged it.
Invoking consequences with Fp's almost never comes up.
Also, a stunt that applies a broad effect allows a +1 bonus. Being able to affect any physical injury is pretty broad, so the magnitude should only be around +1. With that in mind, what if any tagged consequence that has been treated only provides a +1 bonus or short-lived effect rather than a +2 or lasting effect?
This is a good idea - and it's simple. There's already a stunt that does this. You could even include times when enemies tag for a re-roll and lock down one of the dice. It doesn't really affect 'invokes for effect' but if you re-name the consequence, there'll be less leeway on what you can 'effect'.
Didn't sped a ton of time working this out but I think the basic seed is there:
Broken legs in a cast don’t let you run like normal. Broken arms in casts don’t let you lift and such like normal. A belly full of stitches is still vulnerable to a solid blow. There are signs of a person’s debilitation due to physical injury. I’m sure we can think of similar ‘signs’ for mental and even social damage. Prosecuting a ‘wound’ (whether physical, mental or social) can still affect the character – if the opponent knows to do it. I would suggest leaving the consequence in place as is (that broken leg is still broken). Just allow the treatment to temporarily mitigate some of the negatives.
Treat a consequence as though it were one less for the purpose of dice rolls (a -6 Severe is treated as a -4 Moderate after treatment), but it’s still there until the proper time elapses. Opponents can still invoke/tag it for use if they know it’s there (obviously the guy that did it would but others might not). Some sign might show – limping, bloody bandages dangling out a shirt sleeve, the PC flinches or cringes in the presence of open flame bigger than a match, etc. The opponent can do an Assessment to figure it out and then prosecute the consequence.
If they manage to do stress/damage at all to the affected area (doesn’t even have to be deliberate, they could get lucky too – and it would have to be pretty precise – two stress to the shoulder won’t damage that wounded leg any further), the dice roll mitigation is lost (cast shattered, stitches pulled out, character has PTSD flashbacks, whatever) and the character reverts to full handicap at the appropriate level until further treatment can be received.
If the stressed area has not yet had time to decline to the next lower level, more damage now can (and maybe should?) bump it up to the next higher level – thus Moderate becomes Severe (simple fracture becomes compound, etc.). If it has had time to recover at least one level (Severe down to Moderate) and it’s damaged again, then it rises right back up to the appropriate level based on the ‘injury’ and recovery has to start over – and at better treatment than applied originally must be used to let it begin.
If the stress/damage to that already wounded area is enough to take the character out (a ‘knockout punch’ or equivalent) then it increases on the scale to the next higher consequence (severe becomes extreme) and the character would need even more intensive medical treatment to justify beginning recovery. If it was already an extreme consequence, well… double the healing time? Saddle the character with a second horrid aspect to haunt them? Perhaps make the debilitation permanent? Your call...
(Note: For those with a more ‘grimdark’ game style it might mean death (bleed out, suicide, etc., just sayin’)
I don't quite understand where you're going. That said, I like the idea of having a treated wound getting worse. I'm just not sure how best to do it without piles of bookkeeping. If you use the method mentioned above, you could revert a consequence back to being tagged for a regular +2.
Brainstorming...
There are three levels of medical treatment possible.
The first, with difficulty 3 for moderate consequences and 5 for severe consequences, renames the consequence and starts healing. BROKEN LEG becomes LEG IN A CAST, EVISCERATED becomes STOMACHFUL OF STITCHES, and so on.
The second, with difficulty 6 for moderate consequences and 8 for severe consequences, speeds Recovery. Each consequence has two possible durations, one with this level of treatment and one without.
The third, with difficulty 8 for moderate consequences and 12 for severe consequences, suppresses the consequence. The slot is still full, but the consequence is gone. It can't be invoked or compelled, and the effects of earlier invokes/compels are generally ended.
This kind of also touches on sdfds68's comment.
Would you create a longer recovery period from the books (when you don't get medical treatment)
Or shorten the current recovery period (if you do get medical treatment).
The former would mitigate some of the pacing issues Haru has problems with.
Mild consequences are too minor to bother with this way. Extreme consequences are too unique to put standard rules on.
I think you should be able to mitigate the effects of a mild consequence. In fact, they seem the easiest to do. Even if you don't heal it, you could always replace "fatigued" with "hopped up on adrenaline" or something. It also seems the most useful since, as I said, most consequences don't get invoked in later scenes - they just fill slots preventing you from soaking damage. being able to prevent(or limit) a tag on a mild consequence seems like it would be useful but not game breaking if it didn't actually cure the consequence.
I agree with the Extreme, though.
In order to do any of this, you need a medical facility and "Medical Treatment" trapping on the skill you're using. Doctor expands Scholarship's existing medical trapping into that, other stunts might add it to another skill.
It isn't possible to do this with thaumaturgy unless you have a Medical Treatment trapping on one of your skills.
I especially like the thaumaturgy rule...it's basically a skill replacement ritual but you still need to have medical knowledge. But scholarship automatically has that.
