Medicine

You are skilled at tending to the ailments of others.

Check
The DC and effect depend on the task you attempt.

Action
Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a standard action. Treating a disease or tending a creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell takes 10 minutes of work. Treating deadly wounds takes 1 hour of work. Providing long-term care requires 8 hours of light activity. 1 Table: Actions in Combat states that administering First Aid provokes an attack of opportunity and using any skill that uses an action “usually” provokes an attack of opportunity.

Identify Drugs/Pharmaceuticals
Source: Technology Guide

The Heal skill is used to identify and understand pharmaceuticals. No further information was provided in the source material.

Provide First Aid
You usually use first aid to save a dying character. If a character has negative hit points and is losing hit points (at the rate of 1 per round, 1 per hour, or 1 per day), you can make him stable. A stable character regains no hit points but stops losing them. First aid also stops a character from losing hit points due to effects that cause bleed.

Action/Time: 1 standard action.

Retry? You can always retry a check to provide first aid, assuming the target of the previous attempt is still alive.

Provide Long-Term Care
Providing long-term care means treating a wounded person for a day or more. If your Heal check is successful, the patient recovers hit points or ability score points (lost to ability damage) at twice the normal rate: 2 hit points per level for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 hit points per level for each full day of complete rest; 2 ability score points for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 ability score points for each full day of complete rest.

You can tend as many as six patients at a time. You need a few items and supplies (bandages, salves, and so on) that are easy to come by in settled lands. Giving long-term care counts as light activity for the healer. You cannot give long-term care to yourself.

Action/Time: 8 hours.

Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Treat Deadly Wounds*
Requirement: You must expend two uses from a healer’s kit to perform this task. You take a –2 penalty on your check for each use from a healer’s kit that you lack.

When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores 1 hit point per level of the creature. If you exceed the DC by 5 or more, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount. A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day.

Action/Time: 1 hour.

Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Treat Disease
To treat a disease means to tend to a single diseased character. Every time the diseased character makes a saving throw against disease effects, you make a Heal check. If your Heal check exceeds the DC of the disease, the character receives a +4 competence bonus on his saving throw against the disease.

Action/Time: 10 minutes.

Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Treat Poison
To treat poison means to tend to a single character who has been poisoned and who is going to take more damage from the poison (or suffer some other effect). Every time the poisoned character makes a saving throw against the poison, you make a Heal check. If your Heal check exceeds the DC of the poison, the character receives a +4 competence bonus on his saving throw against the poison.

Action/Time: 1 standard action.

Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Treat Wounds from Caltrops, Spike Growth, or Spike Stones
A creature wounded by stepping on a caltrop moves at one-half normal speed. A successful Heal check removes this movement penalty.

A creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell must succeed on a Reflex save or take injuries that reduce his speed by one-third. Another character can remove this penalty by taking 10 minutes to dress the victim’s injuries and succeeding on a Heal check against the spell’s save DC.

Action/Time: 10 minutes.

Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Modifiers

 * Feats If you have the Self-Sufficient feat, you get a +2 bonus on all Heal checks. If you have 10 or more ranks in Heal, the bonus increases to +4.
 * Equipment A healer’s kit gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Heal checks.