Surgeons have the medical knowledge required to patch-up badly mangled characters. To avoid infection, extensive treatment is better performed outside the adventuring environment, in properly equipped surroundings, free from interruption. The GM may apply whatever modifiers seem appropriate if the surgeon is attempting to operate without proper equipment or facilities. For example, if a character is trying to treat an amputee in a damp, dark, underground cave while a hand-to-hand combat rages around him, the chances of success should be reduced to about 5 or 10%.
Essentially, the surgeon may perform six types of treatment:
Treat Heavy Wounds: By making a successful Int test, the surgeon can restore 1D3 W points to heavily wounded characters, who are then treated as lightly wounded. The procedure takes 1 game turn.
Stop Wound Loss: By making a successful Int test, the surgeon can prevent a critically wounded character from losing further W. This is the only treatment that can be made "in the field" without penalty. The treatment takes 1 combat round to apply and may be repeated as long as the patient still lives. Note that, unless the patient is treated as described under Heal Severe Wounds, they will still die.
Heal Severe Wounds: By making a successful Int test, a surgeon can prevent the death of a character who has been successfully treated for terminal bleeded. The operation takes 2 hours. The surgeon must make an Int test and, if successful, the patient will sleep for 24 hours, after which time they are considered to have 1 W point and recover as though lightly wounded. If the test is failed, the patient dies.
Set Broken/Dislocated Limbs: The surgeon must make a successful Int test - with a bonus of +10 - whereupon the character is considered to have 1 W point and is treated as though only lightly wounded. The limb will remained strapped up and incapacitated for a further D4 + 1 weeks. The operation takes 2 hours and may be repeated as necessary, but with a penalty of -10 for each previous failure. If the operation is not successfuly performed within 1 week of the injury, the limb will be permanently incapacitated.
Treat Amputation: Under no circumstances can a surgeon replace a severed limb. The victim will first need to be treated to prevent further W loss and must then have the wound cauterised and so on. The surgeon must make a successful Int test to save the patient's life, although they will not recover to a lightly wounded state (with 1 W point) until a further 6 + D6 days have passed. If the test is failed, the patient dies.
Accelerate Recovery: Characters with the Surgery skill who attend wounded patients for at least half an hour per day reduce all recovery times by one third, provided they make a successful Int test. Failure still means that recovery takes only half as long. Thus, for example, lightly wounded characters may regain up to 3 times their T per day of rest, if successfully treated by a surgeon.