Health & Medical Guide

Intermediate 18 min read

How Health Works

Your character has HP (hit points). That's your health bar. When you take damage — from getting shot, falling off a building, getting hit by a car, getting stabbed, whatever — your HP goes down. If it hits 0, you go down. Simple as that.

But there's more to it than just a number. The health system also tracks injuries, bleeding, and illness on top of your basic HP. You can be walking around with 80 HP but still bleeding out from a gunshot wound to the leg. You can have full health and catch the flu. These all layer on top of each other.

Tip

Think of HP as your overall condition. Injuries, bleeding, and illness are separate problems that drain your HP over time if you don't deal with them. Getting healed at a hospital fixes the root cause — bandages and painkillers just buy you time.

Injuries

When you take damage, you don't just lose HP — you get an actual injury logged on your character. Each injury has a type, a body zone, and a severity.

Injury Types

There are four types of injury:

  • Gunshot Wound — from getting shot
  • Blunt Force Trauma — from punches, bats, vehicle impacts, falls
  • Stab Wound — from knives and bladed weapons
  • Burn Injury — from fire and explosions

Body Zones

There are 8 body zones where injuries can land:

  • Head
  • Neck
  • Chest
  • Abdomen
  • Left Arm
  • Right Arm
  • Left Leg
  • Right Leg

Where the injury lands matters. Leg injuries cause limping — your character will move slower until the injury is treated.

Severity Levels

Every injury is rated on a 4-tier severity scale:

  • Minor — not a big deal, but still bleeds
  • Moderate — noticeable, bleeds faster
  • Severe — serious, you need a hospital soon
  • Critical — life-threatening, get help immediately
Instant Death Risk

Some body zones have a chance of killing you instantly on impact, regardless of your current HP. Head wounds have a 40% chance of instant death. Neck wounds have a 30% chance. Chest wounds have a 5% chance. Every other zone is safe from instant death.

Bleeding

Every untreated injury causes bleeding. Every 5 seconds, your injuries drain a bit of your HP. How much depends on two things: where the injury is and how bad it is.

Base Bleed Rate by Zone

Each body zone bleeds at a different base rate per tick (every 5 seconds):

Body ZoneBase Bleed Rate
Head3.0 HP per tick
Neck2.5 HP per tick
Chest2.0 HP per tick
Abdomen1.5 HP per tick
Left Leg / Right Leg1.0 HP per tick
Left Arm / Right Arm0.8 HP per tick

Severity Multipliers

The base bleed rate gets multiplied by the injury's severity:

SeverityMultiplier
Minorx0.5
Moderatex1.0
Severex1.5
Criticalx2.5

So for example, a moderate chest wound would drain 2.0 x 1.0 = 2.0 HP every 5 seconds. A critical head wound would drain 3.0 x 2.5 = 7.5 HP every 5 seconds. That's brutal — you'd be dead in under a minute.

If you have multiple injuries, the bleeding stacks. Two injuries means double the drain. Three injuries means triple. You get the idea.

Important

Bleeding will never kill you on its own — it won't drop your HP below 5. But at 5 HP, any additional damage source (a punch, a fall, another shot) will put you down. Don't rely on this safety net.

Bandages & Painkillers

These are your field first-aid options. They don't cure anything, but they keep you alive long enough to get to a hospital.

Bandages

Use a bandage item from your inventory. When you apply it, it covers all of your current bleeding injuries at once — not just one. The bandage halves your bleed rate for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, the bandage wears off and your full bleed rate resumes.

Painkillers

There are two ways to get pain relief:

  • Painkiller item (from your inventory) — lasts 10 minutes
  • IV Pain Relief (hospital treatment) — lasts 20 minutes

Painkillers reduce the pain effects but, like bandages, they don't actually fix the underlying injury. You still need proper hospital treatment to clear the injury from your record.

Tip

Always carry a couple of bandages and painkillers in your inventory. If you get shot during a robbery or a car crash out in the desert, a bandage can be the difference between making it to a hospital or bleeding out on the side of the road.

Illness

Every 10 minutes, there's a 2% chance your character gets sick. It's random — you can't avoid it. If you do get sick, one of four illnesses is picked:

IllnessChanceSeverityHP Drain / TickAuto-Resolves?Cure
Cold40%Mild0.3 HPYes (30 min)Cold medicine item
Flu30%Moderate0.5 HPYes (30 min)Cold medicine item
Food Poisoning20%Moderate0.8 HPYes (20 min)Antacids item
Infection10%Severe0.6 HPNoHospital only

The HP drain from illness stacks with injury bleeding. So if you're sick and injured at the same time, you're losing HP from both sources every tick. Not a fun combo.

Watch Out

Infection is the dangerous one. It doesn't go away on its own and there's no item that cures it. You have to get to a hospital for Infection Treatment. If you ignore it, you'll just keep losing 0.6 HP every tick until you go down.

Tip

Colds and flu can both be cured with the same cold medicine item. Food poisoning uses antacids. Keep one of each in your inventory and you'll only ever need the hospital for infections.

Hospital Locations

There are 4 hospitals across the map. You need to be within 50 metres of one to access treatments.

Pillbox Hill Medical Center

Downtown Los Santos. The most central hospital — this is the one you'll use most of the time. Easy to reach from almost anywhere in the city.

Mount Zonah Medical Center

West Los Santos. The second city hospital, near the coast. Handy if you're on the west side of town.

Sandy Shores Medical Center

Out in the desert. If you're up in Blaine County, this is your closest option. Don't bleed out on the drive up there.

Paleto Bay Medical Center

Far north. The most remote hospital. If you're up in Paleto, this saves you a very long drive back to the city.

Tip

Set a GPS waypoint to the nearest hospital as soon as you get injured. Every second counts when you're bleeding, especially with a critical wound.

Hospital Treatments

Once you're within 50 metres of a hospital, you can access the treatment menu. The treatments available depend on your current condition — you'll only see options that are relevant to whatever injuries or illnesses you actually have.

Here's the full list of treatments:

TreatmentCostDurationHP RestoredNotes
Diagnosis$50Instant0Assessment only
X-Ray Scan$15030s0Diagnostic test
Blood Test$20030s0Diagnostic test
Blood Typing$10020s0Reveals your blood type
MRI Scan$30045s0Diagnostic test
Minor GSW Treatment$50060s40Minor gunshot wounds
GSW Treatment$1,00090s40Moderate gunshot wounds
Major GSW Treatment$1,500120s40Severe gunshot wounds
Emergency GSW Surgery$2,000120s40Critical gunshot wounds
Major Surgery$4,000180s60All critical injuries
Trauma Treatment$30045s40Blunt force injuries
Laceration Repair$60060s40Stab wounds
Burn Treatment$40060s40Burns
Cold & Flu Treatment$10015s20Cures cold or flu
Food Poisoning Treatment$15015s20Cures food poisoning
Infection Treatment$30030s20Cures infection
IV Saline Drip$15060s30Rehydration
IV Pain Relief$20045s020-minute painkiller effect
Blood Transfusion$50090s50Requires blood type to be known
Physical Therapy$300120s20Leg injuries
Stitches$15020s20Stab wounds
Tetanus Shot$755s5Stab wounds
Heal All InjuriesSum of allSum of all100Full heal — fixes everything at once
Tip

If you have multiple injuries and just want to get back on your feet quickly, the Heal All Injuries option treats everything in one go. The cost and duration are the combined total of all the individual treatments you'd need, but it saves you from clicking through each one separately.

Important

Blood Transfusion won't show up as an option unless the hospital already knows your blood type. You'll need to get a Blood Typing test ($100) first. Once done, your blood type is saved permanently — you only need to do it once ever.

Payment & Invoices

When you get treatment at a hospital, you need to pay. There are 4 payment methods:

  • Cash — pay from the money in your pocket
  • ATM Card — pay from your bank account (you need an ATM card item in your inventory)
  • Credit Card — pay from your bank account (you need a credit card item in your inventory)
  • Installment Plan — split the bill into 3 payments over 30-day intervals. This adds a 5% surcharge to the total cost

If you can't pay at all — no cash, no cards, no nothing — a medical invoice is created automatically. It's basically a bill that follows you around until you pay it. You can check your outstanding invoices any time with /invoices.

Tip

The installment plan is great if you've just been hit with a $4,000 major surgery bill and you're low on funds. Yes, you pay 5% extra, but spreading it over three payments is a lot easier on your wallet than one lump sum.

Going Down & Death

When your HP reaches 0, you go down. This is called the "downed state." You can't move, you can't use items, you can't do anything. You're lying on the ground waiting for help.

From here, you have a few options: wait for another player to help you up, pick yourself up, or wait for EMS. If none of that happens, you can choose to respawn.

When you respawn, two things happen:

  • A body clone is left behind at the exact spot you died, wearing the clothes you had on at the time. Other players can examine this body.
  • You're charged $500 from your bank account. If you don't have $500 in your bank, a medical invoice is created for the amount.
Important

The body clone left behind can be examined by anyone using /examine. It shows your name, cause of death, injuries, blood type, who killed you, and how long ago you died. Keep that in mind for roleplay — your death leaves evidence.

Getting Revived

There are three ways to get back on your feet after going down:

/helpup

Any player within 5 metres can type /helpup to pull you back up. Your health is set to 30 HP. Your injuries are still there — you're alive, but not fixed. Get to a hospital.

/getup

You pick yourself up off the ground. Same result: health set to 30 HP, injuries persist. This is your option if nobody's around to help.

/revive (EMS Only)

Only EMS members (faction 3, on-duty, rank 2 or higher) can use this. They need to be within 3 metres. There's a 5-second CPR animation. Your health is set to 50 HP — higher than the other two methods. Injuries still persist, but no body clone is spawned. This is the best outcome.

Remember

No matter which method gets you back up, your injuries are still there. You're still bleeding. You're still hurt. Being revived just means you can move again — it doesn't heal anything. Get to a hospital as fast as you can.

Body Examination

There are two commands for dealing with bodies and checking on players:

/examine (or /ex)

Stand within 5 metres of a dead body or a living player and type /examine (or just /ex for short).

  • On a dead body: shows the person's name, cause of death, blood type, all their injuries, who killed them, and how long ago they died.
  • On a living player: shows their current health, any active injuries, any illnesses, and any medications they're on.

/collectbody (EMS Only)

EMS members can use /collectbody within 5 metres of a dead body to collect and remove it from the scene. Once collected, the body is gone. This is used to clean up after incidents have been dealt with.

Tip

/examine is useful for more than just dead bodies. If you're roleplaying as a doctor or paramedic, you can examine living patients to see exactly what's wrong with them before deciding on treatment.

Prescriptions

The server has a full prescription system for ongoing medical conditions. This isn't about patching up a gunshot wound — this is for things like depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and other conditions that require regular medication.

The process works like this:

  1. Book an appointment at a hospital (more on this below)
  2. See a doctor — they diagnose you with a condition
  3. Receive a prescription — the doctor writes you a script for medication
  4. Fill the prescription — go to the hospital pharmacy (within 50 metres of any hospital) and pick up your meds

Each prescription has a limited number of refills. Once you've used them all, you'll need to book a Prescription Refill appointment to get a new script.

Booking Appointments

Here's how the appointment system works:

  • Booking fee: $50 per appointment
  • Max scheduled: you can only have 2 appointments booked at the same time
  • Cancellation: cancel more than 1 hour before your appointment and you get a full refund. Cancel within 1 hour of the appointment and you get nothing back.
  • No-shows: if you're more than 10 minutes late, you're marked as a no-show and charged a $50 fee
  • Check-in: you must be at a hospital and check in within 5 minutes of your scheduled time

Appointment Types

There are 4 types of appointments you can book:

  • General — for new diagnoses and general health concerns
  • Psychiatric — for mental health conditions (depression, anxiety, PTSD, etc.)
  • Follow Up — for checking in on an existing condition
  • Prescription Refill — for getting a new prescription when your refills run out
Important

Don't forget about your appointments. A no-show costs you $50 and wastes the booking fee too. Set a reminder for yourself if you need to.

Medications

Available Conditions

Here are all the conditions that can be diagnosed and treated with prescriptions:

ConditionFirst MedicationFollow-up Interval
ADHDAdderall XR30 days
DepressionProzac21 days
AnxietyXanax21 days
PTSDPrazosin14 days
BipolarLithium14 days
InsomniaAmbien30 days
Chronic PainTramadol14 days
Panic DisorderKlonopin21 days
OCDFluvoxamine21 days
Social AnxietyPropranolol30 days

The "follow-up interval" is how often you need to come back for a follow-up appointment to keep your prescription active.

Medication Details

Here's what each medication costs and how the prescriptions work:

MedicationCostDosageRefillsExpiry
Adderall XR$8520mg daily130 days
Prozac$4020mg daily590 days
Xanax$700.5mg as needed230 days
Prazosin$302mg at bedtime590 days
Lithium$25300mg twice daily360 days
Ambien$8010mg at bedtime130 days
Tramadol$5050mg every 6hrs130 days
Klonopin$600.5mg twice daily230 days
Fluvoxamine$5050mg at bedtime590 days
Propranolol$2520mg as needed590 days

To fill a prescription, you need to be within 50 metres of a hospital. The cost is paid in cash. When your refills run out, you'll need to book a Prescription Refill appointment to get a fresh prescription.

Tip

Pay attention to the refill count. Medications like Prozac and Prazosin come with 5 refills and a 90-day expiry, so you won't need to see a doctor again for a while. But Adderall XR, Ambien, and Tramadol only have 1 refill each — you'll be back at the doctor's office a lot more often for those.

Commands Reference

Here's a quick reference of all the health and medical commands:

CommandWhat It Does
/helpupHelp up a downed player within 5 metres of you
/getupPick yourself up when you're downed
/reviveRevive a downed player with CPR (EMS only, on-duty, rank 2+)
/examine or /exExamine a dead body or a living player within 5 metres
/collectbodyCollect and remove a dead body (EMS only)
/invoicesView your unpaid medical invoices