Medtech
UNSANCTIONED STREET DOCTORS AND CYBERWARE MEDICS PATCHING UP MEAT AND METAL
"I've been fixing what's broken since I was young. The first time was when the front of our Kombi smacked into a bird on the way through the Los Angeles ruins. We were traveling alone, and my old man, knowing I was sensitive to that sort of thing, stopped the rollers and let me out to collect the carcass. Turned out it was a live red-tail hawk. I splinted its busted wing and nursed it back to health. Mom saw what I did and apprenticed me to our Pack's healer. Now I'm the healer. No, I don't have initials after my name, but I can still fix that mangled arm of yours. Or you can lose it. Your choice."
You're an artist, and the human body is your canvas. You've got the best tools 2020 can offer, and you know how to use them. If you're lucky, you got to attend a real med schools scattered around the wreck of the Old United States. If not, there's always an old ripperdoc or two out there who hearken back to that old science fiction story called The Bladerunner — that really old sci-fi book about renegade doctors who performed illegal street surgery in one of the first dystopian novels. Maybe one of those guys trained you. Maybe that's where you are right now, patching up the wounded, mending up the sick, and keeping the locals alive. For love, commitment, or maybe a just a fat payday on the side.
If you're really lucky, you've scored a berth in the local Trauma Team franchise. Trauma Teams are groups of licensed paramedicals who patrol the city looking for patients. You operate from an AV-4 Urban Assault Vehicle, redesigned into an ambulance configuration, and armed with a belly-mounted minigun. It's the best of the best — Trauma Team charges some heavy subscription fees to save its clients, and that translates into new medical toys, faster AV ambulances, and hefty salaries for the best surgeons around.
It doesn't matter how you got here. What matters is that you're here, on The Street, doing the job. And you'd be doing it no matter what the reason. It's what marks you as a Medtech.
Role Ability: Medicine
The Medtech's Role Ability is Medicine. With this ability, Medtechs can keep people alive who should be dead with their knowledge, tools, and training. In 2020, they are as much doctors as they are mechanics, caring for people who are often more machine than human. Whenever the Medtech increases their Medicine Rank, they also choose one of three Medicine Specialties to allocate a single point to: Surgery, Pharmaceuticals, or Cryosystems operation.
Medtechs keep people alive who should be dead with their knowledge and training. In the Time of the Red, they are as much mechanics as they are doctors, caring for people who are oftentimes more machine than human. The Medtech Role Ability is Medicine. Whenever the Medtech increases their Medicine Rank, they also choose one of the following three Medicine Specialties (Surgery, Medical Tech Pharmaceuticals, or Medical Tech Cryosystem Operation) to allocate 1 point to.
The Medical Section contains additional uses for both the Surgery and Medical Tech Skills, which are only available to Medtechs through this Role Ability. These include Cyberware installation and harvesting, Bodysculpting, and Therapy!
Surgery
For every point you allocate to Surgery, you gain 2 points in the Surgery Skill (up to a maximum of 10). The Surgery Skill is the TECH Skill used to treat the most severe Critical Injuries, as well as implant cyberware, and is only available to Medtechs through this Medicine Specialty.
Medical Tech (Pharmaceuticals)
Your Medical Tech Skill Level equals your points in Pharmaceuticals plus your points in CryoSystem Operation.
For every point you allocate to Medical Tech (Pharmaceuticals), you gain 1 point in the Medical Tech Skill (up to a maximum of 10). The Medical Tech Skill is the TECH Skill used to operate, understand, and repair (as other non-vehicle Tech Skills) medical machinery. This Skill is only available to Medtechs, and only through either this Medicine Specialty or Cryosystem Operation. You can only put a maximum of 5 points into this specialty.
Each time you allocate a point into Pharmaceuticals you also gain access to one of the following pharmaceuticals, which your Character can synthesize by rolling a DV13 Medical Tech Check, wasting the materials used on a failure. A Medtech can make a number of doses from 200eb of materials equal to their Medical Tech Skill in 1 hour. You can't synthesize Street Drugs with Medical Tech (Pharmaceuticals).
| Pharmaceutical | Effect |
|---|---|
| Antibiotic | When injected with a dose of Antibiotic, a target who has already started the natural healing process heals an extra 2 Hit Points every day for a week. A person can only benefit from one use of Antibiotic at a time. |
| Rapidetox | When injected with a dose of Rapidetox, a target who is affected by a drug, poison, or intoxicant is immediately purged of the effects of that substance. |
| Speedheal | When injected with a dose of Speedheal, a target who is not in the Mortally Wounded Wound State immediately heals an amount of HP equal to their BODY + WILL. A person can only benefit from one use of Speedheal per day. |
| Stim | When injected with a dose of Stim, a target can ignore all penalties from being in the Seriously Wounded Wound State for an hour. A person can only benefit from one use of Stim per day. |
| Surge | When injected with a dose of Surge, a target can function unimpaired without sleep for a full 24 hours. A person can only benefit from one use of Surge per week. |
Applying a single dose of a drug to a target takes an Action. If the target is unwilling, the Medtech can use their Action to attempt to make a single Melee Weapon Attack with their Airhypo against the target, that administers a single dose to their target on a hit instead of dealing damage.
A Character who is not a Medtech cannot administer Pharmaceuticals correctly. These aren't Street Drugs, they require training to get the medically correct proportions.
Medical Tech (Cryosystem Operation)
You'll find more information on Cryopumps and Cryotanks on the Master Gear List page.
For every point you allocate to Medical Tech (Cryosystem Operation), you gain 1 point in the Medical Tech Skill (up to a maximum of 10). The Medical Tech Skill is the TECH Skill used to operate, understand, and repair (as other non-vehicle Tech Skills) medical machinery. This Skill is only available to Medtechs, and only through either this Medicine Specialty or Pharmaceuticals. You can only put a maximum of 5 points into this specialty.
When you allocate points into Cryosystem Operation you also gain a benefit as detailed below:
| Level | Benefit |
|---|---|
| 1 | With 1 point in Cryosystem Operation you gain one Cryopump. |
| 2 | With 2 points in Cryosystem Operation you become a Registered Cryotank Technician and gain unlimited 24/7 access to 1 Cryotank at a time at any cryotank facility operated by medical corporations or government agencies. |
| 3 | With 3 points in Cryosystem Operation you gain 1 Cryotank, installed in a room of your choosing. |
| 4 | With 4 points in Cryosystem Operation you gain 2 more Cryotanks that can fit in the same room as your first one and your Cryopump has 2 charges and its maximum carrying capacity increases to 2 people in stasis. |
| 5 | With 5 points in Cryosystem Operation you gain 3 more Cryotanks that can fit in the same room as the first three and your Cryopump has 3 charges and its maximum carrying capacity increases to three people in stasis. |
Role-Based Life Path
Some things are universal. Other things are pretty specific. One of these is how your day job (or night job or side job or whatever - we won't judge you) affects your life. The things that a hard-bitten Lawman on the Street has to face are way different from the glittering club life of a Rockerboy, and they both deal with shit no pampered or privileged Corpo could even imagine. To that end, find below a series of Role-based questions that supplement the regular Lifepath.
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