[ICON] Revising Medical Overlays

We may soon have a new PC nurse joining our group. I would like some assistance in revising the Nurse Overlay before we set down to character creation. I was sure there was a Nurse Overlay floating around here somewhere, but have been unable to find it. So, if you have any recomendations on revising the one on the data sheet please let me know.

Also, if you have any ideas for the other three overlays on the sheet let me know. Just to let you know when I wrote up this up I had revised the Corpsman overlay by adding a computer skill to it (I belive that was the only change I made).

Also, has anyone had a PC Nurse in there games. I am a little unsure of having a PC Doctor and PC Nurse at the same time. Not really sure how to keep the nurse included in the action.

Thanks for the help.

[Edited to attach the new, revised .pdf sheet--again.]

Wow! If anything, we're going to end up using your worksheet to provide character detail for our games!

Re the Nurse Overlay: To the best of my knowledge, such a thing did not exist, either in the Core books or the Player's Guide. This is a question that simply hasn't come up before, and my congrats to the person who's planning on taking up this role; it's definitely making a foray into the "road less travelled".

I'll have a look in the LUG books and see if I've missed anything regarding medical support personnel, but again, I think you've likely laid down the first steps on the path with this.

The Counsellor is short by 3 DP (1 skill level).

My suggestion would be to replace the Medical Science (Psychology) 2 (3) with my house-rules skill Psychology (Psychoanalysis) or (Specific Race or Culture) 2 (3), and add Medical Science (First Aid) 1 (2) to bring the points up.

Here is the text of my Psychology skill, which can also be found in the House Rules section of my site:

Psychology (Intellect)
Abnormal Psychology, Forensic Psychology, Psychoanalysis, Psychology (Specific Race or Culture), Xenopsychology

The Psychology skill deals with the workings of the sapient mind. Abnormal Psychology deals with the study of mental illnesses; Forensic Psychology with reconstructing the motivations behind a particular act (usually as part of a criminal investigation), Psychoanalysis with the treatment of psychological disorders; Psychology (Specific Race or Culture) with the psychological processes of a specific species; and Xenopsychology with the study of the psychological processes of unfamiliar races.

I've never liked the concatenation of Psychology into the Medical Sciences skill, and think that this is much more reasonable.

You may also want to put an optional Code of Honour (Hippocratic Oath) (points to be balanced with equivalent Advantages or Skills) to the packages.

Oh, 'nother point...

Language (Terran)? Which Terran language - there are hundreds... The so-called "Federation Standard" in LUG and "Galacta" in FASA are essentially English, advanced by a few centuries, and explicitly stated to be so in TNG.

The first thing I did with both ICON and CODA, was split psychology off into it's own skill group. It simply doesn't work as a subset of medicine.

Great overlay.

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Originally posted by D.S.McBride
Wow! If anything, we're going to end up using your worksheet to provide character detail for our games!

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Oh, gee. Thanks. :o

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Originally posted by D.S.McBride
Re the Nurse Overlay: To the best of my knowledge, such a thing did not exist, either in the Core books or the Player's Guide. This is a question that simply hasn't come up before, and my congrats to the person who's planning on taking up this role; it's definitely making a foray into the "road less travelled".

I'll have a look in the LUG books and see if I've missed anything regarding medical support personnel, but again, I think you've likely laid down the first steps on the path with this.

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I ran through all the fan made Sourcebooks last night after I posted this thread, but I found no nursing overlay in those either. I would swear someone had posted one to these boards at one time. I have done a search for everything I could think of: nurse, nursing, medical and have found nothing. If anyone has a copy of it, or is able to find it, please let me know. I remember thinking it was better than the overlay on the datasheet.

I think Tina wants to play a nurse because it apparently has not been done. We can not find a single word in any book about playing medical support staff. Every book assumes the player will be a doctor. I did have an idea after posting this thread last night on keeping a nurse involved in the action. Have the nursing skills tests before allowing the doctor to role. Any successful nursing skills roles ads a bonus to the doctors roles. Nothing too big, just a one or two point bonus. That way I can keep her involved while having a PC doctor too. Any ideas/thoughts?

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Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
The Counsellor is short by 3 DP (1 skill level).

My suggestion would be to replace the Medical Science (Psychology) 2 (3) with my house-rules skill Psychology (Psychoanalysis) or (Specific Race or Culture) 2 (3), and add Medical Science (First Aid) 1 (2) to bring the points up.

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Damn. I never even noticed that overlay was short. I really like your Psychology skill (would psychoanalysis be the necesarry skill for a councilor and the other skills just added skills for character flavor? I am afraid I don't know much about this branch of medicne.). I belive the overlay already has the First Aid skill, do you have anyother suggestions to get the point total up?

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Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
You may also want to put an optional Code of Honour (Hippocratic Oath) (points to be balanced with equivalent Advantages or Skills) to the packages.

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Damn. See that's why I love you guys. How could I have overlooked something so simple (and important) as the Hippocratic Oath? Question: do nurses also have the H.O. disadvantage? Would there be anything like it for the corpsman?

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Originally posted by Owen E Oulton
Language (Terran)?

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Oops. Didn't realize that was still in there. Everyone seems to speak english as their first language in Star Trek (since it was an american t.v show ;) ) so in our game English and Terran are the samething. I think I will change that to "Federation Basic" to get it back more in line with LUG.

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Originally posted by Capt Daniel Hunter
The first thing I did with both ICON and CODA, was split psychology off into it's own skill group. It simply doesn't work as a subset of medicine.

Great overlay.

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Yeah that does make a lot of sence, and I love Owens phychology skill. And thanks.


Please anyone with any thoughts/ideas let me know, if about the overlays or on how to include a PC nurse into the game with a PC doctor.

While this doesn't really apply to your campaign, since you already have a PC doctor, I've tended to use nurse NPCs as away team medics, instead of using the ship's doctor. I also think that some small ships might just have an EMH and a couple of nurses.

I think nurses have great potential as PCs (of course, being a nurse, I'm probably biased). I also think the nurses may potentially do a lot of the day to day running of sickbay, and handle all the minor cases without bothering the doctor.

I checked out my copy of the LUG Errata. It shows that the Councilor's Overlay should have included "Personal Equipment (choose) 1 (2)" which was left out. I have placed that into the overlay.

Capt Hunter, I too see great things for a PC nurse. I just which I did not currently have a PC doctor. I am thinking of trying out the nurse and see how it goes for a few sessions. I am sure the player would not mind coming up with a new character if we feel the nurse is not working out.

Any other thoughts/ideas? We will be working on creating the character Saturday afternoon, so I would welcome comments until then (hell, afterwards too ;) ).

I was sure there was a Nurse in the Players Guide, in the Enlisted Section. But that was just as an Enlisted (if its there at all), and agree that there is plenty of room for an Officer Nurse, among the senior staffing requirements.

In the Venture games, I also see the Chief Nurse as the deputy head of the Medical Deopartment. As this offers a good generic medical background rather than the more specialised Physicians (but then I also go with the smaller medical staffs seen on screen or in the tech manuals, ie; 12 on a Galaxy Class and 2 on an Intrepid, not including Lab Techs/Corpsman)

The Medical Specialist in the Player's Guide according to the description with the overlay says it can be used for nurses and corpsmen.

When I first made up the datasheet I had thought about using the same overlay for both nursing and corpsmen. But I felt it best to separate the two as they are vastly diffrent, and nursing demands much more education than being an E.M.T.; and thus deserving of a full 54 point overlay.

By tradition nurses have been commissioned officers, due to the extended education they receive for their nursing degree.

Just some thoughts I had about the subject. ;)

For those interested in the datasheet the newest version is posted at the top of this thread. If anyone has any further comments, suggestions or ideas please pass them along to me. Thanks.

Per request. . .a more printer friendly sheet has been posted to the first post of this thread. It also corrects some typo and other errors.

Please discard all previous sheets in favor of this one. :)

I had this in my files, must be the one that was posted waaaaaaaaay back:

Nurse (54)

Administration (Infirmary/Hospital/Sickbay) 1 (2)
Athletics (choose Specialization) 1 (2)
Computer (choose Specialization) 1 (2)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapons (Phaser) 1 (2)
First Aid (choose Specialization) 2 (3)
History (Federation) 1 (2)
Language
Federation Standard 1
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 1 (2)
Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 2 (3)
Planetside Survival (choose Specialization) 1 (2)
Science, Medical (Choose specialization) 1 (2)
Science, Physical (Chemistry) 1 (2)
Shipboard Systems (Medical) 2 (3)
Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2)

Hrm, I don't see a nurse dealing with Administrative issues unless they are the head nurse or nurse administrator. Probably a skill they pick up in a tour of duty as head nurse/nurse admin rather than a skill picked up in the overlay.

Yep, might make sense to drop that & up the medical science to 2 (3)

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Originally Posted by redwood973

Hrm, I don't see a nurse dealing with Administrative issues unless they are the head nurse or nurse administrator. Probably a skill they pick up in a tour of duty as head nurse/nurse admin rather than a skill picked up in the overlay.

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I can't say about Starfleet Nurses, but in modern day USA, Admin issues area major component of a nurses workload. PCAs now do a lot of the patient care stuff that nurses used to, and nurses do a lot of admimistative and paperwork.

Nurses becoming bureaucrats? Sounds bad for the patients. I didn't get much time to tinker with it today, but this thread has given me an idea. I'm fiddling with some tours of duty for nurses: starship duty, starbase duty, charge/head nurse duty. Now that I think about it I may even see about one for something like an outbreak/pandemic or natural disaster too. Unless someone beats me to these of course. ;)

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Originally Posted by redwood973

Nurses becoming bureaucrats? Sounds bad for the patients.

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It is. After spending a few years working at a hospital I lost the whole "angels of mercy" myth about nurses. Doctors didn't hold up much better. Don't get me wrong, there are still some very good dedicated people out there, a few of which I hold is awe. But for most of the people I saw, it was just their job, and treated that way.

At work, the nice, kind person who was friendly, sympathetic, brought patients their medicine, took their pulse and found them a pillow was the PCA. The one who sat behind the desk all day, was the nurse. :(

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Originally Posted by redwood973

I'm fiddling with some tours of duty for nurses: starship duty, starbase duty, charge/head nurse duty. Now that I think about it I may even see about one for something like an outbreak/pandemic or natural disaster too. Unless someone beats me to these of course. ;)

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Sounds cool. How about a rapid response/EMT/trama team package?

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Originally Posted by tonyg

Sounds cool. How about a rapid response/EMT/trama team package?

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And the battlefield Medic. I can see Phaser and/or Dodge in that one, along with Triage/patching skills.

And finally, perhaps a corpsman training package. To sit alongside those advanced training packages, but basically the same Training that Tom Paris underwent that gives another Branch Officer basic medical training (First Aid, medical Tri-corder, Life Sciences) at very low level, allowing them to be a touch more useful on away teams or as emergency medics...

I just flipped through the Players Guide, there you can find the Medical Specialist (p. 91). I think this is the only official version you could find.

Also you can find a Benzite Rapid Response Field Medic Archetype on p. 111.

The Specialist does not have any admin skills at all.

Okay, got a good start on a bunch of new tour of duty packages. With any luck I'll be posting them yet this afternoon. :D

Dan, there is already an Emergency Medical Training Package for Academy Life in the Players' Guide but it is rather lacking IMO. So it's on the list of new packages as well.

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Originally Posted by Dan Gurden

And the battlefield Medic. I can see Phaser and/or Dodge in that one, along with Triage/patching skills.

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Yeah!

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Originally Posted by Dan Gurden

And finally, perhaps a corpsman training package. To sit alongside those advanced training packages, but basically the same Training that Tom Paris underwent that gives another Branch Officer basic medical training (First Aid, medical Tri-corder, Life Sciences) at very low level, allowing them to be a touch more useful on away teams or as emergency medics...

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You know that opens the door for a bunch of "cross training" tour of duty packageas. Perhaps Each branch, or even each postion could have a cross training tour of duty, where character could get some basic proficiency in another area.

Very Trek-like, and makes a lot of sense too.

Academy Specialized Training Packages (Each cost 8 Development Points)
Basic Corpsman Training: First Aid (choose) 1 (2); Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 1 (2); Science, Physical OR Life (Biology OR Chemistry) 1 (2); Rival OR Other Appropriate Disadvantage -1.

Tour of Duty Packages (Each costs 10 Development Points)
Battlefield Medic: Dodge 1; First Aid (Wound/Combat Trauma) 1 (2); Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 1 (2); Weapon, Energy (Phaser) 1 (2); Hides Emotions -2.
Charge/Head Nurse Duty: Administration (Infirmary OR Sickbay) (Logistics) 1 (2) (2); Shipboard Systems (Medical Systems) 2 (3).
EMT/First Responder Duty: First Aid (choose two) 1 (2) (2); Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 1 (2); Science, Physical OR Life (choose) 1 (2).
Natural Disaster Response Mission: First Aid (Wound/Combat Trauma) (Species Specific) 1 (2) (2); Personal Equipment (Medical Tricorder) 1 (2); Vehicle Operation (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2).
[Nurse] Starbase Duty: Engineering, Systems (Medical Systems) 1 (2); Science, Physical (Chemistry) 1 (2); Science, Medical (Nursing) 1 (2); Contact (choose appropriate) OR Cultural Flexibility +1.
[Nurse] Starship Duty: Computer (Research) 1 (2); Science, Life (Exobiology) 1 (2); Science, Medical (Nursing) 1 (2); Innovative +1.
Outbreak/Pandemic Mission: First Aid (Chemical/Biological) OR Science, Medical (Nursing) 1 (2); Personal Equipment (Containment Suit) 1 (2); Science, Life (Biology OR Microbiology) 1 (2); +1 Empathy Edge.

Additional Tours (Each costs 5 Development Points)
Battlefield Medic: First Aid (choose) 1 (2); +1 Reaction Edge; +1 Renown (skill).
Charge/Head Nurse Duty: Administration (choose) 1 (2); Science, Medical (Nursing) 1 (2); Stubborn -1.
EMT/First Responder Duty: First Aid OR Science, Any (choose) 1 (2); Athletic Ability +2
Natural Disaster Response Mission: Science, Life (Biology) 1 (2); +2 Renown (Initiative AND/OR Skill).
[Nurse] Starbase Duty: First Aid (choose) 1 (2); Science, Life (Anatomy) 1 (2); -1 Reaction Edge.
[Nurse] Starship Duty: First Aid (choose) 1 (2); Science, Life (Anatomy) 1 (2); Romantic Attachment (choose appropriate) -2; +1 Renown (Discipline OR Skill).
Outbreak/Pandemic Mission: First Aid (Chemical/Biological) 1 (2); +2 Renown (Skill).

Three days. . .lots of views but no comments, not even flames! :eek:

Changes, revisons or additons?

Anyone want those in a .pdf or should I move on?

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Originally Posted by redwood973

Three days. . .lots of views but no comments, not even flames! :eek:

Changes, revisons or additons?

Anyone want those in a .pdf or should I move on?

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Sorry. It looked good so I think we all just sat back and were willing to let you run with it. :o

Looks good, I happen to have a campaign where the main character is a Starfleet Ensign, brand new and took Emergency Medical training, so this stuff fits in nice ... I THINK Athletic Ability is just +1 though and I believe every DP gets 2 renown, so you may need to double it to bring your DP to 5 on the one additional tour ...

Oh, okay. Got a little worried when there were not even any flames. lol

RealPity, I double checked the NG corebook. The Athletic Ability Trait is plus two. Unless one of the other corebooks revamped something it looks like Renown is a one for one deal regarding DP's (at least that is what other history packages are seeming to use). I never checked the actual rules though, just ran through the existing history packages and seen how they delt with it.

For those intersted, I've attached the .pdf file of the history packages to the first post of this topic along with the overlay .pdf file. Any typos, or anything else anyone wants to add/edit/revise let me know.

By the way, does anyone know if CODA had anything like these? Maybe whatever they had could prove inspiration for some more packages?

Fair enough ! I was going by memory, it may have been Artistic Ability I'm thinking of as I used it in a Romulan early life package I posted awhile back.

RealPity, you are totally right on the two renown per point spent. So even though it only provides one or two points to even out the cost of the package you are actually getting double the Renown. (Found it in the description of the Famous Incident Advantage.)