Detoxification (sage ability)

Detoxification is an authority-status sage ability in the study of Medicine that enables the physician to reduce the effects of poisoning and other toxic damage to the body, with the use of diuretics, emetics, purgatives, anti-toxins and anti-venom. To succeed, the physician must collect a number of herbs and other curatives that enable treatment (most of these easily obtained), which are then employed at the appropriate time to reduce toxification.

Poisoning

The physician is able to reduce amount of damage that poisoning causes, as well as the speed with which poison invests the body. Poison that is introduced to the body through injection (by stingers or bites) or some other invasive attack (weapons) is treated by constricting parts of the body to slow circulation, bloodletting and adding anti-toxins. Poison that is swallowed is relieved through the use of an emetic (vomiting) or the consumption of a substance that will absorb the poison in the stomach and intestinal tract.

Physicians through these means are able to reduce the damage per hit die and level by a potential of 1 point per 20 points of medical knowledge possessed. Thus, a physician with 34 points of knowledge could reduce a woe to a distress; a physician with 40 points, however, could reduce the effects to a rueful.

Once the physician has begun this treatment, the patient is then entitled to another saving throw, which is thrown without any modifying adjustment (reducing a poison to a grieve, for instance, would not include a -1 penalty). This saving throw has the potential for reducing the full damage to 50% of the maximum.

Finally, with regards to the onset of the poison, the PME (potential maximum effect per round) should be rolled every other round, rather than every round, providing that the patient is resting and fully under the physician's care.

Treating Addiction

Once a character has acquired an addiction, they will feel compelled to feed that addiction on a daily basis. In practice, this removes the character's resistance by means of ability checks, as the modifier (-18) on those checks precludes any possibility of success. Up to two physicians may contribute to the detoxification of the patient at one time.

Physicians with knowledge of detoxification understand how to effectively restrain an addicted character without causing undue harm to their body. As well, the physician may substitute their own ability scores when helping the patient build a resistance to the addiction. In the case of physical addictions, such as drink, tobacco, opium and the like, the physician may draw on the abilities of intelligence or wisdom, even charisma, to encourage the patient to resist and let go of the addiction. One roll may be made per day; the ability stat attempted on a given day cannot be the one used the day before.

With each three successes in a row made by the physician, the patient's overall modifier to all abilities lessens by one point. Once the modifier decreases to where any stat of the patient except dexterity or charisma allows a chance of success, the patient may also begin to roll once per day as well. The patient must also change the stat each day.

A "success" occurs on any day where either the patient or the physician succeeds in their roll. On a successful day, the patient is able to function and act according to their modified ability stats.

Success

The physician must make two successful forms of sequence. In the first case, a total of 10 successful rolls must be made out of 15. This allows 5 failures in a given fifteen rolls; as a sequence is foiled by one too many fails, the earliest parts of the sequence are discarded in favour of a better chance.

For a full detoxification, to where the patient may be expected not to relapse, the last four rolls of the 10 of 15 sequence MUST be successes.