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.

Yea that's what I did. I had a hard time coming up with a second spec for my Doctor as well. I took Force Sense and still can't figure out what to take. I was thinking about taking Entertainer and call my band The Hong Kong Cavaliers.

Politico, for Inspiring Rhetoric, and the ability to heal your group's Strain more effectively.

Can you wait until August? Maybe you can save up for the inevitable Colonist signature ability, which might be awesome...

If you have high Leadership, and don't want to violate your Hippocratic Oath, another possibility is the Tactician tree from AoR. It has good defensive talents, like Side Step and Toughened, helps you protect party members with Body Guard, and lets you put your Leadership skill to good use with talents like Commanding Presence, Field Commander, and Coordinated Assault. And you don't even have to draw your blaster (though if you did, it would be as an incidental with Quick Draw)

Politico, for Inspiring Rhetoric, and the ability to heal your group's Strain more effectively.

This is one I'm strongly considering now, thanks.

Can you wait until August? Maybe you can save up for the inevitable Colonist signature ability, which might be awesome...

Yeah, I think I'm going to wait for the book at this point. I'm curious to see what Marshall looks like. Although the Colonist signature abilities seem pretty underwhelming to me as described here:

http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=4924

If you have high Leadership, and don't want to violate your Hippocratic Oath, another possibility is the Tactician tree from AoR. It has good defensive talents, like Side Step and Toughened, helps you protect party members with Body Guard, and lets you put your Leadership skill to good use with talents like Commanding Presence, Field Commander, and Coordinated Assault. And you don't even have to draw your blaster (though if you did, it would be as an incidental with Quick Draw)

That's one I hadn't considered, I'll totally look into it, thanks for the suggestion!

The doctor in my group took Gadgeteer as a second spec. Mostly for the Ranged (light) career skill, but it also gives some excellent boosts to survivabllity with stuff like Armour Master. Jury Rigged and Tinkerer are always great, and there's a nice synergy with the Mechanics skill running off Intellect, just like Medicine.

The doctor in my group took Gadgeteer as a second spec. Mostly for the Ranged (light) career skill, but it also gives some excellent boosts to survivabllity with stuff like Armour Master. Jury Rigged and Tinkerer are always great, and there's a nice synergy with the Mechanics skill running off Intellect, just like Medicine.

That's interesting. Does the doctor apply any flavor to his new specialization? Or is the doc just learning to be more survivable and contribute in different ways?

You've probably already made your decision, but I just wandered onto these forums and am playing a doctor as well so thought I'd offer in my 2 cents.

I'm playing a doctor, with the second specialization politico. The doctor had so many social skills that I also raised my presence at chargen and became the face of the group. When I wanted a second specialty, politico was the obvious choice for me to add to my face duties.

Inspiring rhetoric was a complete game changer for my character.

Now, the bounty hunter and scout in the group can use their abilities that cost strain more freely. A great tactic is also to spend the strain to buy a second maneuver and turn stim application and inspired rhetoric into maneuvers. Then you boost a character's stat, use IA to offset the strain cost to them and you still have an action to use. You're down a decent chunk of strain, so I only do that when we're in trouble, but it can be a lifesaving tactic when we've just been ambushed.

Of course, my GM reacts to this. Hahaha. Now I'm a prime target that intelligent foes start shooting at after I've opened my mouth. "Geek the mage!!" With Kavadh the doctor/politico playing the part of the mage. Of course, this just makes it more fun. The rest of the group loves it, too; not only do they get to use their abilities more (as I refresh their strain), but they get improved dice pools as well and there's a lot of drama when the doctor gets shot once and loses half his health so the non-combative characters have something to do besides shooting as they work to protect me.

It may not work for all groups, but we've had a lot of fun with my doctor/politico pairing.

You've probably already made your decision, but I just wandered onto these forums and am playing a doctor as well so thought I'd offer in my 2 cents.

I actually haven't decided yet, since I figured I've waited this long, I can wait a little longer to see what the Colonist book has to offer. (And we should be seeing it hit shelves any day now!) Marshall has me intrigued. And while the preview of the signature abilities make them seem a little overwhelming, I do want to give them a closer look and maybe invest some of this excess XP in one of those.

Thanks for the feedback. Politico is near the top of my list at this point.

I am eagerly awaiting the colonist book as well, and am likely to pick up the marshal as my third specialization. My character's long term goal is to become something like Travolta's character in Swordfish, so he needs to get some combat in there and I suspect the marshal will have it.

If you do pick up politico, one thing you should do is talk to your GM about possible uses for triumphs in inspiring rhetoric and scathing tirade before you roll one. That way when you do, you're ready to rock rather than having to pause the action to figure out what to do with them. It never occurred to me as in general I roll super badly, so when I rolled 2 triumphs in an IR attempt the action stalled out because none of us had any idea what to do with it.

Here's another "vote" for Politico.

You can heal strain, buff, and lay down the smack talk!

Okay, so I finally got my hands on Far Horizons, and Marshall has me intrigued a second profession, but I think it might be a little too combat focused for me. Good Cop is interesting, but seems to be more of a support ability (upgrade a party member's next social check) then something to use to benefit your own social actions.

The final section in the book about creating different types of colonists by combining multiple specs is awesome and has some really interesting stuff... Except that of the 12 examples, only one (Chop Doc) leverages the Doctor profession.

Any new thoughts on this now that we have some new material to draw from?

Well, recently in the game where I play a doctor, we've started working for the Rebel Alliance. I've taken the Recruit universal specialization, and once I've put some points into that I intend on taking Ambassador, Quartermaster, or Scientist.

Doctor fits so nicely with anything, you can just choose whatever.

Actually we have "created" a new career called Nurse, where you pick the Doctor tree and just grab all the Grits, Resolves and the Dedication with any doctory stuff you need to get there. Getting Cool as a class skill halfway pays for the career cost making it a super awesome career.

As you have 3 Presence already, I would likely go with Politico. Or Mercenary Leader if you want to be weaponised. Hang back and heal while throwing stun granades on medium range ...wooop