Greetings; gentlebeings; Last session, I had a player use "It's not that bad" on himself to shrug off a crit. I didn't want to slow the game down with a rules lawyer session, but is this rules as intended? Should a character be able to use this and similarly worded talents on themselves?

I'm going with no, it states an Ally, and there's other talents that specifically mitigate crits on oneself.

Most of the talents seem to be specifying 'you or an ally' if the intent is to work on either. I don't recognize that one, personally - but it looks like the intent is for the doctor to look at the soldier and say 'grow a pair and get back to the fight'.

No. You got fast-talked. Only Willem Defoe gets to use Ally talents on themself:

(Mirror scene from Spiderman, where Willem Defoe argues with himself about killing his board members).

I go with the Pathfinder rule: You're always considered your own ally.

Otherwise the Scout in EotE makes everyone else better at seeing things while being blind himself.

I go with the Pathfinder rule: You're always considered your own ally.

Otherwise the Scout in EotE makes everyone else better at seeing things while being blind himself.

The Heightened Awareness talent says: "Allies within close range of the character add <B> to their Perception and Vigilance checks. Allies engaged with him add <B><B> instead."

Besides specifically saying "allies" and not "you and your allies", it also mentions "their" checks, not yours. And besides, would you be within close range of yourself, or are you always engaged with yourself? Or does that not even make sense?

I think the intent of this talent is to make you a point man in your squad or squadron to help contribute to group or personal awareness checks for your team. And scouts aren't blind themselves. They have Natural Hunter which allows them to re-roll a Perception or Vigilance check, plus Perception is a career skill for Explorers.

It is pretty simple: when it states "an ally", it means "an ally"...
You are never your own ally, it is counter to the meaning of th word. Also if you are indeed your own ally in Pathfinder then that just shows how awfully convoluted that game is by now.

In D&D 4e you were your own enemy. They defined You, Allies, and Enemies. You is you. Allies were the other PCs in your party and any NPCs fighting with you. Enemies were everyone who was not an ally. Since You was defined separately as Ally, then You must be your own Enemy.

But that's a weird RAW/RAI thing. This game isn't as precise with the rules and defining game terms. I agree with the rest that you are not your own ally in this game. If they intended it to work on yourself then I'd think they would've said target or something that could include yourself. However if you want to play that you are then that should be fine and not too game breaking.

Side question. Would an innocent bystander be an ally?

It is pretty simple: when it states "an ally", it means "an ally"...

You are never your own ally, it is counter to the meaning of th word. Also if you are indeed your own ally in Pathfinder then that just shows how awfully convoluted that game is by now.

Why is it sometimes people say that you are your own worst enemy

I still say ally means secondary or tertiary person

Cool thing though. If someone cuts you head off with a luck blow (or arm), but does not do enough damage to kill you... you can get there in one round and use it is not that bad and he is fine

There aren't many movies or situations where doctors and medics do major surgery on themselves:

Master and commander,

Saving private Ryan,

And that's all I can think of right now. In each of these instances the doctor still needed to be treated by someone else because you need to be able to see what you're doing. Sure the doc from master and commander pulled the bullet out but he needed help with everything up to that point and everyone was worried he might pass out or go into shock. It just makes sense to only do it on allies.

There aren't many movies or situations where doctors and medics do major surgery on themselves:

Master and commander,

Saving private Ryan,

And that's all I can think of right now. In each of these instances the doctor still needed to be treated by someone else because you need to be able to see what you're doing. Sure the doc from master and commander pulled the bullet out but he needed help with everything up to that point and everyone was worried he might pass out or go into shock.

This is true, and there are already rules in place to deal with the increased difficulty of operating on oneself.

But the It's Not That Bad talent is literally just the medic looking at the wound and saying, "it's not that bad." "You'll live," "get over it and get back on your feet." Kinda like the reverse of the Bad Motivator talent; it's a cross between a game-mechanical morale effect, in-game knowledgable expertise, and meta-level story altering.