Hey folks,

So my PC is getting up there in XP - 360 total XP - where I'm trying to figure out which my next major move is going to be to build him out. I play a Duros Doctor who has been very specifically focused on healing abilities so far. My Medicine roll doesn't seem to need any additional points put into it really - 3 yellows, 2 greens, and a blue. I have all the available ranks of Surgeon in the Spec tree, Natural Doctor, Master Doctor, and Dedication.

I'm considering buying a second Specialization, but I can't decide what I want. A few I've considered and why:

- Medic - The AoR healer, has some talents I don't have access to (Stimpack Specialization and Well Rounded most notably), and I could stack some more ranks of Surgeon. But there's also quite a bit of redundancy, and frankly it doesn't actually make my character much more interesting.

- Scholar - I was about to jump all over this after listening to the Order 66 episodes about Scholars and knowledge checks, but then I took a closer look at the tree. Well Rounded would be sweet for choosing a combat skill and making it cheaper to purchase ranks so I at least know which end of the gun to hold in a fight, but it costs 30 XP to get there, so it'd take 6+ ranks of a non-career skill for that to be worth it. Intense Focus and Stroke of Genius both look pretty great, but they're also very deep in the tree.

- Combat based specialization - I've looked at a variety of these, including Gadgeteer, Demolitionist, Mercenary Soldier, and Sharpshooter. While the idea of being able to effectively attack things in combat, I kind of don't want it to distract from my main role as a healer. I haven't really found one that has good synergy with Doctor.

And of course, I could always forego the second Spec, and just continue to pump XP into improving my Medicine skills and start working on some secondary skills the party doesn't have a whole lot of expertise in.

Anyways, just wondering what people think and if there are any Doctors out there who have made similar decisions and why.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

There is always the Force...the Sense power might come in especially handy, and the tree itself is pretty good.

There is always the Force...the Sense power might come in especially handy, and the tree itself is pretty good.

Interesting thought.. And looking at the Force Emergent Exile and Sense skill trees, there's definitely some stuff in there that would be useful. It doesn't really fit my character's story though, and we already have one Force sensitive in the group. Thanks for the idea though!

I say don't bother with medic, that's just more of the same. I assume you started with rank 4 in intellect, rank 3 in something else and rank 2 for the rest. Focus on the skills that use the rank 3 characteristic, and pick a specialization around that.

Honestly, it all depends on which route you want to take.

1) Filling a Niche: If you're in a small group, there's bound to be something that isn't filled. The group I have right now consists of an Archaeologist, a Pilot, a Slicer, a Heavy, and a Mercenary Soldier. As you can imagine, they lack anyone who can work with medicine, lack a mechanic, and depending on how things go with the Mercenary Soldier (a Selonian, at that), there may not be a Face.

The previous party had a Scoundrel (acting Pilot and pistoleer), a Doctor (a Dashade who loved vibro-weapons), a Politico (Zeltron, at that), and a Mechanic (Jawas, Jawas everywhere!). They lacked a combatant, which the Dashade started to remedy by taking Marauder (until we got the AoR beta; he went with Medic) when the group got into the 50-60XP range.

They eventually added a Commando when a new guy joined and brought along a copy of the AoR beta, but even then, there were areas that were lacking.

So, that said: is there a niche that isn't filled that makes sense for your character to pick up? If so, try it out!

2) Playing Backup: In every Star Wars/Sci-Fi game I ran, everyone was bound to pick up a skill from someone else so they can offer trained support or even fill in should something happen.

Trust me, it's great when a soldier in heavy armor takes the medicine skill when someone attempts to take out the party with a small explosive.

It also would make for some fun roleplaying: learning how to be a Pilot and getting flak from another player for not flying fast enough, RPing the duels in the cargo hold as you pick up Marauder, getting odd looks when you sterilize your hands when taking a droid apart. . .

There's fun to be had!

Also note that if you're trying to pick up some combat skills and you get the okay, you should consider picking up Recruit. This way it denotes some overall combat training but doesn't put you in the same rut as picking another specialization.

3) Doing What Fits The Character: So your character's been around the block a few times, apparently, and has seen a fair share of wounds. Maybe you've realized that if the ship were in better repair or piloting by a competent sentient, the group wouldn't be hurt as often. Perhaps they have come to the realization that having someone who's quick with their speech would be more beneficial than being quick with a blaster. If the group could get better armor or the right droids, injuries would go WAY down.

Maybe they've even gotten a love of xenobiology and want to see how various species evolved to the point they currently are!

All of these are ideal reasons to pick up Mechanic, Pilot, Politico, Trader,and Archaeologist. Put your mind to it, and you'll probably find the right one.

4) The Number Crunch: If you're more concerned about what you're already good at and building up around it, then stick with it! Medic will be a lot of the same but will give you a few new talents that might help. Scholar will allow you to still utilize your Intellect, so you'd really be looking at raising a few key skills and snagging talents; your chances of success are already pretty high with a high Intellect.

Essentially, look at what you're already decent with due to being a Doctor and play up on those.

5) The Wild Card: Pick whatever you want and let the party squirm :-D

Go Marauder. You might think I'm joking but the Doctor has that cool talent that works with Brawl. Marauder has great talents that would make Brawl pretty awesome even with a low Brawn.

I say don't bother with medic, that's just more of the same. I assume you started with rank 4 in intellect, rank 3 in something else and rank 2 for the rest. Focus on the skills that use the rank 3 characteristic, and pick a specialization around that.

Yep, that's exactly what I have - 4 in Intellect to start (now 5 thanks to Dedication) and 3 in Presence. Maybe I'll take a closer look at what skills are based on Presence that we could use in the group, thanks!

Honestly, it all depends on which route you want to take.

(And a bunch of stuff.)

Awesome detailed feedback, thanks! This gives me a couple new angles to look at it I hadn't considered, very interesting.

Go Marauder. You might think I'm joking but the Doctor has that cool talent that works with Brawl. Marauder has great talents that would make Brawl pretty awesome even with a low Brawn.

Now there's a crazy idea. So crazy it might just work! Two Brawn seems really low to try and be a melee character. Looks like Feral Strength is what I'd want to try and rank up in a few times for damage, but that extra damage won't help if I can't hit in the first place, right?

Honestly, it all depends on which route you want to take.

(And a bunch of stuff.)

Awesome detailed feedback, thanks! This gives me a couple new angles to look at it I hadn't considered, very interesting.

This is what I do! I figured why hoard that kind of experience when it can be useful to someone, ne?

Go Marauder. You might think I'm joking but the Doctor has that cool talent that works with Brawl. Marauder has great talents that would make Brawl pretty awesome even with a low Brawn.

Now there's a crazy idea. So crazy it might just work! Two Brawn seems really low to try and be a melee character. Looks like Feral Strength is what I'd want to try and rank up in a few times for damage, but that extra damage won't help if I can't hit in the first place, right?

The Dashade Marauder in my group started with 2 Brawn, 3 Agility and 4 Intellect. He was still a powerhouse with Lethal Blows and Feral Strength, and the damage output just went up after a while. . .

Brawn really doesn't matter that much when you ignore soak. You can also pick a tree with deadly accuracy to pack on the ridiculousness. Although it's really not needed at all. Neither is Marauder.

I played a Doctor with just 3 brawn and maxed out force Sense and became a brawling monster while still being the "face" of the party. IIRC I did a minimum of 9 damage that ignored soak. It was fun to play a Super Saiyan.

How about the Recruit specialization? 25 XP gets you access to the talent tree and the Basic Combat Training talent...netting you some great career skills, including Brawl, which goes very nicely with Pressure Point additionally,

• 3 ranks in Second Wind ends up as a nice once-per-encounter ability.
• Quick Draw lets you be that much faster at getting your medkit out (or stimpacks) to heal up your allies mid-combat
• And the other talents are just gravy, depending on your character concept.

I like Technician/Doctor because of the incredible amount of overlap with Int.

How about the Recruit specialization? 25 XP gets you access to the talent tree and the Basic Combat Training talent...netting you some great career skills, including Brawl, which goes very nicely with Pressure Point additionally,

• 3 ranks in Second Wind ends up as a nice once-per-encounter ability.
• Quick Draw lets you be that much faster at getting your medkit out (or stimpacks) to heal up your allies mid-combat
• And the other talents are just gravy, depending on your character concept.

This suggestion is interesting, I hadn't looked at that tree at all yet. I like that you get the ability to make some combat skills into career skills on the very first tier. Other than that though, I don't see anything that's jumping out at me as must have.

I like Technician/Doctor because of the incredible amount of overlap with Int.

Yes, totally. But our group already has a dedicated Technician, so it'd be pretty redundant.

I roleplay my doctor character pretty heavily, so I find the combination of doctor and some form of combat specialization highly distasteful. Primum non nocere, and such. Relatedly, I'd skip the medic tree, since it is largely similar.

If you want to stay in your Career, Scholar's not a bad choice, but why not go for Explorer? Fringer or Trader would be a good choice from the base book, and Archaeologist from EtU rolls in a lot of useful skills from Scholar. If your concern is for widening your useful skills, you could take Driver.

I had the same problem you did. I reached the end of the doctor tree and there wasn't much left I wanted to explore for that career.

We already have 2 technicians and my character was more of a pacifist. I decided to go Force Sensitive. Obviously you do not want to go that direction, but I do know how you are feeling.

Hopefully something there may be something in the new colonist book that you like. Marshal could be fun,

Yep, that's exactly what I have - 4 in Intellect to start (now 5 thanks to Dedication) and 3 in Presence. Maybe I'll take a closer look at what skills are based on Presence that we could use in the group, thanks!

Maybe your group could benefit from some Leadership? The left side of the Mercenary tree has some pretty effective group coordination talents.

How about Politico? As you said you have Presence 3 so the ground work is there, it's a career spec, AND you get Well Rounded for the odd combat skill or something else.

...AND you get Well Rounded for the odd combat skill or something else.

Just saying

Yes, my number one build if I ever get the chance to play this game instead of GMing is Doctor Brawler, with Stun Gloves. I just can't resist (and, if he's a pacifist, it still works because all he's doing is Vulcan neck-pinching everybody! Win-win!)

How about Politico? As you said you have Presence 3 so the ground work is there, it's a career spec, AND you get Well Rounded for the odd combat skill or something else.

I was going to suggest this, or one of the talent trees with Field Commander (Mercenary Soldier, Squadron Leader and Tactician the ones that I can think of off the top of my head)--you already have a decent Presence, and these would give you some ways to contribute in combat without taking away from your devotion to healing: With Politico you could use Inspiring Rhetoric to bolster your allies (and also avoid having to deal with Strain damage as much) and Scathing Tirade to demoralize your opponents, while the Field Commander option would allow you to help out your side by giving your team free maneuvers and/or actions. Plus, each of those trees have slightly different flavors--a focus on combat abilities, or starship combat, protecting yourself and others...

Yes, totally. But our group already has a dedicated Technician, so it'd be pretty redundant.

Well, another vote for Politico, then.

Mechanic, so you can 'heal' droids also, plus you'll get Brawl as a career skill for Pressure Point.

I roleplay my doctor character pretty heavily, so I find the combination of doctor and some form of combat specialization highly distasteful. Primum non nocere, and such. Relatedly, I'd skip the medic tree, since it is largely similar.

If you want to stay in your Career, Scholar's not a bad choice, but why not go for Explorer? Fringer or Trader would be a good choice from the base book, and Archaeologist from EtU rolls in a lot of useful skills from Scholar. If your concern is for widening your useful skills, you could take Driver.

Thanks. I consider my character's RP angle important to this decision, so that's making this decision a bit more difficult. I like and respect the idea of a Doctor who isn't really into hurting other people, but that's not my guy.

Explorer is an interesting choice I hadn't considered before, I'll take a closer look, thanks!

I had the same problem you did. I reached the end of the doctor tree and there wasn't much left I wanted to explore for that career.

We already have 2 technicians and my character was more of a pacifist. I decided to go Force Sensitive. Obviously you do not want to go that direction, but I do know how you are feeling.

Hopefully something there may be something in the new colonist book that you like. Marshal could be fun,

Thanks, glad I'm not the only one struggling with this, haha. Waiting for the new Colonist book might be my favorite suggestion so far. Looks like we may be seeing this book sooner than some may have expected - some sites say it'll be out in August.

Yep, that's exactly what I have - 4 in Intellect to start (now 5 thanks to Dedication) and 3 in Presence. Maybe I'll take a closer look at what skills are based on Presence that we could use in the group, thanks!

Maybe your group could benefit from some Leadership? The left side of the Mercenary tree has some pretty effective group coordination talents.

Leadership is something I've used a bit in our gameplay, and I like that it can be used creatively in quite a few different situations. Finding a way to buff that up a bit could be interesting, thanks for the idea.

How about Politico? As you said you have Presence 3 so the ground work is there, it's a career spec, AND you get Well Rounded for the odd combat skill or something else.

Going down the left side to grab Inspiring Rhetoric is interesting. I'm not too crazy about how far down the right side Well Rounded is. Thanks for the feedback.

Yes, my number one build if I ever get the chance to play this game instead of GMing is Doctor Brawler, with Stun Gloves. I just can't resist (and, if he's a pacifist, it still works because all he's doing is Vulcan neck-pinching everybody! Win-win!)

Just remember that Pressure Point can't be used with Brawl weapons.

If I were you, I would ask myself, "What do I find myself trying to do in my adventures?". The answer would flow from there. Unless your game is like a medical drama such as House or ER, you are likely with your team. When nobody's splean is exposed or turning yellow due to Vethuvian Rash, what do yu d? Act as an extra gun for your team? Chase leads? Are you the wheel man? You've got your core function fleshed out, time to expand.

Yes, my number one build if I ever get the chance to play this game instead of GMing is Doctor Brawler, with Stun Gloves. I just can't resist (and, if he's a pacifist, it still works because all he's doing is Vulcan neck-pinching everybody! Win-win!)

Just remember that Pressure Point can't be used with Brawl weapons.

Ah, missed that line. Oh well... I'll use the Stun Gloves up until I pick up Pressure Point. Would take me a while anyways.