Medic Guide

Key Stats

• Ability Scores: Treat Injury is keyed off of Wisdom, but you can swap that to Intelligence with a feat. Intelligence gives more skills which is always good. Dexterity helps you dodge fire. Constitution keeps you alive. If you're going the Nanite Control route, you'll need Intelligence. If you're going the Magic route, you'll need Wisdom. If you're going the Nanospell route, you'll need both Intelligence and Wisdom.
• Skills: Knowledge [Life Sciences] represents your actual medical knowledge, while Treat Injury represents your ability to put it into practice. In theory there's also Profession [Doctor] and the like.

Key Mechanics

Healing in this game is accomplished through the following methods:

• Natural Healing: A living creature that gets a full night's rest for its species regains hit points equal to its level. However, if it has any persistent conditions it gains no healing at all. A creature can only benefit from natural healing once per day-equivalent. Nanotech characters get a nice boost here since one of the 'core nanoaugmentations' doubles your recovery rate.
• First Aid: Simple enough - make a Treat Injury check as a standard action, expend a medpac, and heal the target 1 HP for every point you exceed the DC 15 by. Gets better with talents, you get advantage if you have a full medical kit, improvable with specialization features from the Medic advanced specialization...you get the idea. Its biggest drawback is that unless you have a specific feature from Medic, you can only use it on a given target once per day.
• Long-Term Care: Decidedly non-combat healing, but you can double the rate of natural healing if you tend to a creature for 8 hours. Can't use it on yourself though.
• Magic: Vital Transfer can heal hit points, but unless the caster spends a Hero Point they take damage equal to half the HP healed. Not really an efficient method of healing but it works in a pinch. Yeah, when mage techniques and talents come into play its a bit better since it becomes more efficient and you can use it at range, but you get the idea. The big thing it has going for it is you can use it multiple times per day.
• Nanotech: Kinda has a similar problem to Magic. Nanite Transfer doesn't deal damage to the user, but the healing takes place super slowly (2 HP/hour base), and the user moves a persistent step down on the condition track each time they use it since they're giving up their own nanites. Spending a hero point bypasses this, but now we're talking more hero point expenditure.
• Magic and Nanotech Together: Ah, PROJECT VULCAN. Sure, technically it was a failure. But hey, look at Accelerated Healing. Heals instantaneously and overcast adds more HP. Only downside is a bit of nonlethal to the caster and that pesky condition track movement.
• Second Wind: Second Wind is kind of the mechanic that keeps characters from dying at low levels until Medic comes online. When you're below 50% HP you can spend a swift action to heal HP equal to your CON score or 25% of your Max HP. Usable 1/day, feats give more, feats make it better, etc.

Backgrounds

In theory any work, but if you're looking for ones that specifically boost your key skills or stats...

• Animal Handler
• Artisan
• Calengil Shotgunner
• College Educated
• Criminal Past
• Help Desk
• Lore-Keeper
• Magical Family
• One of the Masses
• Out in the Wilds
• Religious Devotee
• Upper Class Upbringing