Wood Skin

[Neverbourne]

Ok, I have a wood skin question. I know in 1st edition, wood skin was a great way for a character to suffer a slow death (if you got dmg over your death threshold and couldn't heal it before the talent wore off), but it was very rare to not find some form of healing within the 24 hrs that wood skin lasted. As it is in 3rd edition (lasting a possible 1 hour for low levels) it seems to be even easier to have a death by wood skin moment. Have the rules changed? Can I now treat the increase gained by wood skin as temporary hitpoints, that take the dmg with them when they disappear?
They way I always interpreted wood skin was like growing an extra layer of barky skin, and when it ends, it rots and flakes off, therefor it would be easy to say that any cuts on the extra skin would go with it.

This would in turn lead to questions about Temper Self and any other hitpoint boosting ability.

[arma]

Aside from the Duration, the rules haven't changed.
Lasting a whole day, Wood Skin was too much of a "free hit points" kind of deal, IMO, because it was always better than your basic Recovery Test (being based off of TOU). So, if the intention were to just give the adept a few hit points, why not just do that?
With a lower duration, you'll have to think about using it a bit more. It's not as bad as it seems on first glance, because increased healing is a bit more widespread in ED3.
Also, the main combat application is to increase your Unconsciousness Rating (because that is what matters most), so you can cross over that, might not get any additional damage, and if the Wood Skin should end, you're not too much past your Death Rating. Or, you use it in the middle of combat to prevent falling unconscious. Sure, it's dangerous, but if it means saving the rest of the group so someone can stick around to heal/resurrect you later...

[galafrone]

so basically say that i use woodskin on the round 1 and add 12 to my Unc and Dth thresholds.
when the Woodskin wears off (rnk hours) i LOOSE that amount of hp i got and if that brings me under Unc or worst Dth i pass off or die ?
right ?
so is a good way to stay alive IF you can heal yourself after the encounter, in case you have got dmg (strain or hp loss via hits)

[arma]

Yes.
The thing is (example numbers): You can go unconscious at 40 and they'll slit your throat while you're just lying there, or you can use Wood Skin and don't go unconscious because that would now require 50. You can worry about dying from Wood Skin ending after surviving the initial fight...

Sidenote:
An alternative to healing (if you need more time to find healing) is to use Wood Skin again...
...that results in the new bonuses replacing the old ones and spending another Recovery Test. But it may give you some time to reach your friendly local healing potion supplier...