Heal

• Wis

With Heal, you can tend to wounds and ailments. The table shows uses of Heal, the time they take, and whether you can try again with them.

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.

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 to 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.

Treat Wounds from Caltrops: A creature wounded by stepping on a caltrop moves at half normal speed. A successful Heal check removes this movement penalty

Treat Wounds from Spikes: 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.

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

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.

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.

Faith Healing: You must be trained in Heal and be capable of casting psychic spells or who have the Psychic Sensitivity feat to use this functionality of the skill. You can use faith healing once per day. The DC and effect of the Heal check depend on the task you attempt. You can’t use faith healing on yourself, and a creature can’t be the subject of faith healing more than once per day.

Restore Vitality: You suppress ability damage. You perform a 1-hour ceremony, after which you attempt a Heal check against the DC of the effect that caused the ability damage. If you succeed at the check, you temporarily suppress 1 point of ability damage for 1 hour, plus 1 additional point and hour for every 5 by which the check result exceeds the DC. A creature can benefit from this treatment no more than once per day.

Suspend Affliction: You treat one curse, disease, or poison affecting a creature. You enter into a deep trance for 1 hour while you treat the subject, after which you attempt your Heal check. If the check is successful, you suspend the effects of the affliction by 1 hour, plus 1 hour for every 5 by which you exceed the DC. This time doesn’t count against the effect’s duration (if any). The affliction can still be cured by other means while it’s suspended.

Remove Affliction: You can attempt to permanently remove an affliction in an 8-hour ceremony, after which you attempt a Heal check. If the result of the check is at least double the DC of the original affliction, the sufferer can attempt another saving throw using the original DC to permanently cast off the effect. You can’t try to permanently remove an affliction again.

Skill Unlocks

If you have the Signature Skill feat, the rogue’s edge ability, or another ability that grants you the skill unlocks for this skill, you gain access to the following abilities when you have sufficient ranks.

5 Ranks: When you treat deadly wounds, the target recovers hit points and ability damage as if it had rested for a full day.

10 Ranks: When you treat deadly wounds, the target recovers hit points as if it had rested for a full day with long-term care.

15 Ranks: When you treat deadly wounds, the creature recovers hit point and ability damage as if it had rested for 3 days.

20 Ranks: When you treat deadly wounds, the target recovers hit point and ability damage as if it had rested for 3 days with long-term care.