"Everyone assumes the worst thing in my kit is a scalpel. That's adorable."
Medics are the difference between a squad that makes it home and one that doesn't. They stabilize the wounded, keep fighters in the battle, and pull off medical miracles under fire. The good ones do it with a pharmaceutical kit and steady hands. The best ones have something else in their kit; something that breathes, something that feeds, something that nobody asks too many questions about. When everything goes wrong, the Medic is the one who fixes it. They just don't always fix it cleanly.
Medics excel at:
They are the squad's lifeline; irreplaceable, invaluable, and carrying something in their kit that most people would rather not know about.
Medics see the cost of violence up close. They patch the holes, set the bones, and hold the hands of the dying. Some become hardened; others maintain fierce compassion despite everything. The specimen complicates the moral calculus; keeping something alive that could kill everyone in the room is a choice, and every Medic has their reasons for making it.
Consider:
| Skill | Application |
|---|---|
| Intel - Aliens | Specimen control, recall, harvest, and creature management |
| Medic - Triage | Emergency treatment, stabilization, battlefield assessment |
| Medic - Diagnosis | Identifying injuries, diseases, toxins, and specimen biology |
| Medic - Pharmaceutical | Drug synthesis, chemical treatments, Chem management |
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Meat Run | Sprinting across open ground to reach a casualty; a Medic's signature move |
| Juice | Any stim, painkiller, compound, or Chem in the kit |
| Red Clock | A patient who's bleeding out; time is measured in heartbeats |
| Patch Job | Emergency field repair on a wound; functional, not pretty |
| Bounce Back | A patient who should have died but didn't; the Medic's favourite outcome |
| Frequent Flyer | A squad mate who keeps getting injured; every Medic has one |
| Bag and Tag | When a patient is beyond saving; switch from treatment to documentation |
| Quiet Shift | A mission where nobody gets hurt; Medics never say it out loud because it jinxes the whole thing |
| Canister | The bio-containment unit; also "opening the canister"; you don't say this casually |
| Walk the Dog | Releasing the specimen; nobody wants to walk this dog |
| Cooking | Synthesizing pharmaceuticals from Chems in the field |
| Feral | When the specimen stops listening; the word nobody wants to hear twice |
Medical Logs: - "Zoe"; ICU Combat Medic, 4th Expeditionary, Kovak Station Docklands
The shooting started at the worst possible moment, which was the only moment shooting ever started.
Zoe was halfway through restocking her kit when the first round punched through the container wall six inches above her head. She didn't flinch. Flinching was a luxury for people who hadn't spent three years as a combat medic with the Fourth Expeditionary.
"Contact left! Two shooters on the gantry!" That was Joe, already returning fire from behind a cargo pallet. Precise, controlled, three-round bursts. Joe shot like he did everything else; exactly right, exactly on time.
"Zuck's down!" That was someone else. Didn't matter who. The words were what mattered.
Zoe looked. Forty metres of open dockyard between her position and Zuckburger's crumpled form. No cover. Two shooters on the gantry with clear sightlines. Zuckburger wasn't moving, but he was bleeding; she could see it pooling under him, catching the light from the overhead floods.
Red clock. Every second was a heartbeat he might not get back.
"Covering fire!" Zoe shouted, and she was already running before Joe acknowledged. That was the thing about meat runs, you didn't wait for permission. You calculated the odds, decided they were terrible, and ran anyway. The alternative was watching someone bleed out from a safe distance, and the people Zoe loved didn't get "safe distance." They got her.
Rounds sparked off the deck plating around her feet. She counted the impacts the way other people counted steps. Two metres. Ten. Twenty. A round tugged at her sleeve; close enough to feel the heat, not close enough to matter. Thirty metres. She slid the last ten on her knees, dropping beside Zuckburger in a cloud of grit and dock dust.
Abdominal wound. Through-and-through. He was conscious, which meant he was feeling all of it.
"You're fine," Zoe said, because that's what you told them. You told them they were fine while your hands found the wound and your fingers assessed the damage and your brain ran triage calculations faster than any scanner. "You're fine, Zuck. Stay with me."
She pulled the jet injector from her kit. Coagulant compound, directly into the wound channel. The bleeding slowed. Synth skin seal over the top, buying his body time to stop falling apart. His vitals were garbage, but they were stabilizing garbage.
"Joe, I need sixty seconds!"
"You've got thirty!"
Thirty would do. Zoe worked. Packed the wound. Applied the seal. Hit him with a stim that would keep him conscious and ambulatory for the next fifteen minutes; long enough to get clear, not long enough for the crash to matter.
Zuckburger looked up at her with the glassy expression of a man whose blood volume had recently been insufficient. "How bad?"
"You'll live," Zoe said. "You owe me a drink."
"I owe you twelve drinks."
"Fourteen. I'm counting the time on Meridian." She hauled him upright. Joe's covering fire had pushed the shooters back. "Move. Now. Complain later."
Then Joe's rifle stopped.
Not the pause of a reload. Not the rhythm break of a position shift. It just stopped, and the silence it left behind was the loudest sound Zoe had ever heard.
She looked. Joe was on his back behind the cargo pallet. He wasn't shooting because he wasn't conscious. There was blood on the pallet that hadn't been there before, and a third shooter on the gantry that hadn't been there before either.
Three shooters. No covering fire. Zuckburger couldn't stand on his own. Joe was forty metres away and bleeding and Joe never went down. Joe was the constant. Joe was the reliable one. Joe was the reason she could do meat runs in the first place, because Joe was always, always shooting.
Zoe's hand went to her kit. Three Chems left. Stabilization serum already used on Zuck. The jet injector was programmed for the next compound but she was out of coagulant base and the shooters on the gantry had clear sightlines on Joe's position and the math was wrong. The math didn't work. She couldn't cross forty metres of open ground again with three hostiles and no covering fire and a patient who couldn't walk.
The math didn't work.
She changed the math.
Something shifted in Zoe's expression. Zuckburger saw it happen; saw the warmth drain out of her face like someone had pulled a plug. The woman kneeling next to him was still Zoe. She was wearing Zoe's face and using Zoe's hands. But the eyes were different. The eyes were doing calculations that didn't involve medicine.
"Zuck," she said. Her voice was flat. No humor. No warmth. Not unkind; just empty, the way an operating theatre is empty. "Don't move. Close your eyes."
"Zoe, what—"
"Close your eyes."
Her hand moved to her belt. Not to the kit. To the other thing on her belt; the cylindrical case that hummed faintly, the one the squad didn't ask about, the one she fed during stim breaks when she thought no one was watching.
The canister opened with a sound like a pressure seal releasing, which is exactly what it was. What came out was small and fast and wrong in a way that Zuckburger couldn't have described even if he'd had his eyes open. It moved like liquid with purpose. It moved like something that had been waiting.
Zoe raised her hand. Two fingers extended toward the gantry. A gesture that had nothing to do with medicine. The thing on the ground oriented on the direction she was pointing and went.
It covered the distance to the gantry in seconds. The first shooter started screaming almost immediately. The second shooter lasted longer; long enough to turn his weapon on it, which didn't help. The third shooter tried to run.
Zoe watched. Her hand was still raised, two fingers extended, and her breathing was even and her pulse was controlled and she was tracking the specimen's movement with the focus of someone threading a needle, not someone watching three people die. Each time it moved to a new target, her fingers adjusted slightly. Directing. Guiding. Keeping it pointed at the right problems.
The gantry went quiet.
Then came the hard part.
Zoe lowered her hand. She whispered something; a sound, not quite a word, a frequency she'd learned through practice and repetition and the kind of patience you develop when the consequence of failure is that your biological weapon eats your squad instead. The specimen paused. It was on the gantry, crouched over what remained of the third shooter, and it paused.
It looked at her.
For two seconds, Zoe and the specimen regarded each other across forty metres of dockyard, and in those two seconds the air was the thinnest it had ever been. Then it moved; back down the gantry, across the deck plating, and into the canister she was holding open with hands that did not shake.
The seal closed. The hum resumed.
Zoe stood up. She blinked twice, fast, like someone waking from a dream they'd rather not remember. Then she grabbed Zuckburger's arm and hauled him toward Joe's position.
"Come on. Joe needs me."
Her voice was almost normal. Almost warm. The gap was small enough that you could pretend you hadn't heard it.
She reached Joe in thirty seconds. Lateral wound, below the vest line. Ugly but survivable; if you were being treated by a medic who'd spent three years in the Fourth Expeditionary. Zoe's hands found the wound and her fingers assessed the damage and she was talking before she'd finished the assessment.
"You're fine, Joe. You're fine."
Joe's eyes opened. He looked at Zoe. He looked past her, at the gantry, where nothing was moving anymore. He looked at the canister on her belt.
He didn't ask.
Zoe worked. She used her last Chem on a compound for the wound. She sealed it, stabilized him, and administered what she had left. Her hands were shaking now; small tremors, the kind you'd miss if you weren't looking. She was looking. She hid them by repacking her kit.
Zuckburger limped over. He'd kept his eyes closed like she'd told him to. He'd heard the screaming, though. Everyone on the dock had heard the screaming.
"What happened to the shooters?" he asked.
"They stopped shooting," Zoe said.
"How?"
"They stopped."
Joe and Zoe looked at each other. A conversation happened in that look; the kind that didn't use words and didn't need to. Joe had seen the canister open before. He knew what "they stopped" meant. He also knew that he was alive because of it, and that Zuck was alive because of it, and that the woman kneeling next to him with shaking hands and an empty kit had done the math and decided the answer was worth the cost.
Zoe fed the canister two Chems while she thought nobody was watching. Zuckburger was watching. He didn't say anything.
They moved. Zuckburger leaking, Joe limping, Zoe carrying everything she always carried; a medical kit, a pharmaceutical pouch, and a quiet canister that hummed faintly on her belt.
Three people doing exactly what they were built for, in the worst possible place, at the worst possible time. And one of them carrying something that nobody would ever talk about.
Fun Times.
Best Legacies: Medic, Doctor, Core Medic, Chemist
Best Origins: Human, Om, Rodi
Best Organizations: ICU, SAROS, CORSEC
Recommended Skills: Medic - Triage, Medic - Diagnosis, Medic - Pharmaceutical, Intel - Aliens
Suggested Skills: Medic - Cybernetics, Intel - Survival, Movement - Athletics
| Rank | Title |
|---|---|
| 2 | Field Medic |
| 4 | Combat Medic |
| 6 | Trauma Specialist |
| 8 | Chief Medical Officer |
| 10 | Miracle Worker |
New Medic operatives begin with the following standard-issue gear:
| Item | Description |
|---|---|
| Sidearm | Compact pistol for self-defense |
| Toolkit-Field Medic (Std) | Combat medical supplies |
| Medi-Scanner | Diagnostic scanner (touch/1m range) |
| Pharmaceutical Kit | Chem storage and field synthesis equipment |
| Bio-Containment Unit | Sealed specimen housing (Medium item) |
| Light Armor | Standard protective gear |
| Chems (x6) | Starting chemical compounds |
Medics shoot things too; don't act surprised. The Get-em training chain sharpens the specimen's accuracy. One of you went to medical school. The other one eats people.
Personal Weapons
| Layer | Source | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Steady Hands | 11 × Rank − 10 · off-specialty sidearm | 100 |
| Weapon Skill | +1% per SP in weapon type | 15 |
| Weapon Familiarity | +1% per hit with this specific weapon | 15 |
| Max Accuracy Bonus | 130 |
Specimen Attacks
| Layer | Source | Cap |
|---|---|---|
| Intel-Aliens | Base attack roll modifier (d100 + Intel-Aliens vs TL) | 50 |
| Chompers | 11 × Rank · deployed same-Rank creature (automatic) | 110 |
| Yum Yum | +1% per hit for this specific Specimen | 10 |
| Specimen Training | Get-em / Sic-em / Sic-o (+5% each) | 15 |
The Specimen is a monster on a leash. Out of its box it is a separate creature actor, statted as a creature of the Medic's Rank (TL = 40 + 11 × Rank), so it is a genuine same-Rank threat from turn one. Each turn it stays loose it gains Feral(1): +2.5% to its attacks (cap 75%) and +5 AF / +5 DF, so it grows tougher and harder to put down the longer it runs. While it's loose the Medic must keep control; lose control and the Specimen turns on the party with every Feral stack it has banked. Finish the fight fast, or re-box it.
The Medic's core mechanic is split into two interlocking systems: The Specimen (a pathogenic anomaly the Medic keeps contained and deploys as a biological weapon) and The Pharmaceutical Lab (a portable chemistry set that uses Chems to synthesize field pharmaceuticals for the entire squad). Together they establish the Medic as the squad's healer, field chemist, and handler of something that probably should have stayed in the lab.
"Anyone can slap a patch on a wound. A Medic makes it actually work."
When a Medic administers any healing consumable to a patient, add +1 HIT per Medic's Tier to the item's effect. This applies to store-bought consumables AND pharmaceuticals the Medic synthesizes from Chems.
| Tier | Ranks | Bonus |
|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 | 1–3 | +1 HIT |
| Tier 2 | 4–6 | +2 HITS |
| Tier 3 | 7–10 | +3 HITS |
This is what makes Medics essential; a Hot Patch I in a Tier 2 Medic's hands restores 3 HITS instead of 1. Without a Medic, consumables are barely enough to keep you standing.
"Field chemistry. Two parts science, one part desperation, and a steady hand that doesn't ask what's in the other canister."
The Medic's portable chemistry set. Uses Chems as a consumable resource. The Medic synthesizes pharmaceuticals in the field, matching or exceeding what a well-stocked pharmacy sells over the counter.
Size: Tiny (4 per Small slot); standard consumable sizing.
Pharmaceutical Kit Capacity: 3 × Rank (Rank 1 = 3, Rank 5 = 15, Rank 10 = 30).
Without the Pharmaceutical Kit equipped: Chems are Tiny items (4 fit in 1 Small slot). Carry limit = whatever slots you have.
| Method | Recovery |
|---|---|
| R&R | Full restock to capacity (standard resupply) |
| Lockdown | Roll Medic-Pharmaceutical vs Mission TL. Success = 50% capacity. Fail = 25%. Requires access to medical supplies, labs, or pharmacies |
| Stim Break | None |
| Field Scavenging | 1 Action on medical supplies, lab equipment, or pharmacy stock → recover 1d4 Chems. Cannot exceed what you can carry. |
Pharmaceutical synthesis requires time, Chems, and skill. Produce 1 pharmaceutical per hour during Lockdown or R&R.
Chems Cost: You commit Chems before rolling, equal to the Quality level you're attempting. Aiming higher costs more; and if you fail the check, the Chems are spent regardless.
| Quality | Chems Cost | Target |
|---|---|---|
| I | 1 | Mission TL |
| II | 2 | Mission TL +5 |
| III | 3 | Mission TL +10 |
| IV | 4 | Mission TL +15 |
| V | 5 | Mission TL +20 |
Roll Medic-Pharmaceutical vs the target TL. Meet or exceed = success, you produce the pharmaceutical at the target Quality. Fail = Chems are wasted, no output.
Example: Mission TL 40. You want Quality III; commit 3 Chems, need to roll 50+. You roll 52. Quality III pharmaceutical produced. If you'd rolled 48, you'd lose 3 Chems and get nothing.
Lab Access: Specialised labs improve output quality, Lab quality bonuses are added after the roll is resolved.
Administering: Giving a synthesized pharmaceutical to a patient costs 1 Action. Consumable Mastery applies.
Each Synth ability unlocks synthesis of one pharmaceutical category at Quality I–II. Higher Quality synthesis requires Improved Formula (T2, Quality III–IV) and Perfected Formula (T3, Quality V) from the Ability Tree. All Synth abilities follow the standard synthesis rules above.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Hot Patch equivalents (Quality I–II). Restores HITS, stops Bleed. See pharmacy.md Hot Patch I–V for Quality scaling.
Seal the wound. Stop the clock. Worry about scarring later.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Burn Spray equivalents (Quality I–II). Grants temporary Thermal DR. See pharmacy.md Burn Spray I–V for Quality scaling.
Spray-on fire insurance. Won't stop you burning; just makes it someone else's problem.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Synth Skin equivalents (Quality I–II). Grants temporary Kinetic DR. See pharmacy.md Synth Skin I–V for Quality scaling.
Second skin. Cheaper than armour. Smells worse, too.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Pain Killer equivalents (Quality I–II). Suppresses Wound Bane penalties. See pharmacy.md Pain Killers I–V for Quality scaling.
The injury's still there. You just won't care for a while.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Adrenaline Shot equivalents (Quality I–II). Boosts Physical saves. See pharmacy.md Adrenaline Shot I–V for Quality scaling.
Fight-or-flight in a bottle. Mostly fight.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Mind Vapour equivalents (Quality I–II). Boosts Mental saves. See pharmacy.md Mind Vapour I–V for Quality scaling.
Clarity costs one Chem and tastes like copper. Bargain.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of AntiToxin equivalents (Quality I–II). Grants temporary Chemical DR. See pharmacy.md AntiToxin I–V for Quality scaling.
If the air's trying to kill you, this buys time. Not much. Enough.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Unlocks synthesis of Immunology Booster equivalents (Quality I–II). Boosts saves vs poison and disease. See pharmacy.md Immunology Booster I–V for Quality scaling.
Your immune system, plus a chemical pep talk.
"I didn't save it because I'm sentimental. I saved it because I understood what it was; and what it could do if someone pointed it at the right problem."
A pathogenic anomaly recovered from a research facility. Not fully understood; part organism, part infection, part something that doesn't have a classification yet. The Medic keeps it contained in a bio-containment unit and feeds it between deployments. Releasing it is the nuclear option.
"Yes dear, you can keep it; oh it looks adorable when it leaps at the glass like that..."
It's a biological resource the Medic cultivates, deploys, and potentially feeds his squad to. Open Canister at your own risk.
The specimen acts on the Medic's turn. It gets 1 Action per round (move + attack).
Specimen TL = Base TL + Medic's Intel-Aliens score. The specimen's resilience scales with the Medic's understanding of its biology.
Recovery: The specimen recovers all HITS during R&R. Between encounters, it only recovers HITS if the Medic has the Feeding Cycle ability.
| Size | HITS | Speed | DR | Base TL | Dam | Control Modifier |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small | 10 | 8m | 2 | 20 | 2 | ; |
| Medium | 18 | 12m | 3 | 30 | 5 | +4 TL |
| Large | 26 | 14m | 4 | 40 | 10 | +8 TL |
| Huge | 36 | 18m | 5 | 50 | 15 | +16 TL |
Specimen Abilities is a separate ability section from the main Ability Tree. All abilities cost AP from the same pool. Specimen abilities determine what you can do with your specimen; the main Ability Tree covers things the Medic's allowed to talk about.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: You maintain a bio-containment unit and the protocols to manage a pathogenic specimen. Unlocks the Release, Control, and Recall mechanics (see Specimen Lifecycle). Specimen starts at Small size.
You keep it fed. You keep it contained. You keep it secret. These are the rules.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1, Containment Protocols
Effect: Boon(1) to control rolls when directing the specimen against a specific target you can see. The specificity of intent helps override the specimen's instincts.
Point at the thing you want dead. Think it clearly. It helps.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Extended Action (Stim Break or Lockdown)
Requires: Tier 1, Containment Protocols
Effect: Feed the specimen Chems to restore HITS. Each Chem restores 1 HIT, up to a maximum of your Tier Chems per feeding (Tier 1 = 1 Chem, Tier 2 = 2, Tier 3 = 3). Without this ability, the specimen only recovers HITS during R&R. If the specimen was not released during the prior encounter, roll Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL before feeding. On failure, the specimen breaks containment and enters its Feral State; a hungry specimen that hasn't hunted is unpredictable. A specimen that was released and recalled in the prior encounter feeds without incident.
It eats Chems. Don't ask what it does with them. The biology doesn't map to anything in the textbook. A specimen that hasn't been let out? That one you feed very, very carefully.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Extended Action (Lockdown)
Requires: Tier 1, Feeding Cycle
Effect: Commit up to 1 Chem per HIT you want the specimen to recover (Chems spent regardless of outcome). Roll Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL. On success, the specimen recovers 1 HIT per 5 points exceeding Mission TL, up to the number of Chems committed. Excess Chems are wasted. On failure, no HITS recovered; and if the specimen was not released during the prior encounter, it breaks containment and enters its Feral State (same rules as Feeding Cycle). A specimen that was released and recalled feeds calmly on a failure. One feeding attempt per Lockdown.
More Chems, more recovery; if you can make the roll. And if it hasn't been let out recently, more Chems just means you're holding a bigger meal when the canister opens the wrong way.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1, Feeding Cycle
Effect: You've been feeding the specimen waste pharmaceuticals long enough that its biology has adapted to the compounds. The specimen's TL is calculated using your Medic-Pharmaceutical score instead of Intel-Aliens. The creature's metabolism has restructured around what you've been putting into it; it is, in a very real sense, what you made it.
Waste not, want not. And this thing wants everything.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1, Containment Protocols
Effect: Attempt to collect genetic material (egg/DNA sample) from a living or dead specimen. Dead specimen = automatic success. Living specimen = Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL (modified by Control Modifier). Feral living specimen = same check at Bane(2). Success = 1 viable sample stored in containment. Failure = no sample, specimen remains active/feral. The sample replaces your current specimen during R&R if needed, or can be used with Dormant Implant.
Harvesting from a dead specimen is unpleasant. Harvesting from a living one is dangerous. Harvesting from a feral one is what insurance companies call "an exclusion event."
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 2 Actions
Requires: Tier 1, Containment Protocols
Effect: Draw biological material from your contained specimen and transfuse it into a patient. Roll Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL. On success, the patient heals all Wounds beyond the first (a patient at 3 Wounds drops to 1) and recovers 1 HIT per 5 points exceeding Mission TL. On failure, the specimen goes feral; immediate release if contained, no control roll. The transfusion still works on a failure, but the specimen is loose and angry. Also side effects from the alien biology may occur.
The good news: alien blood heals almost anything. The bad news: the donor has opinions about the withdrawal.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1, Xenogenic Transfusion
Effect: Your diagnostic training lets you guide transfusions with medical precision instead of xenobiological instinct. You may roll Medic-Diagnosis instead of Intel-Aliens when performing any Xenogenic Transfusion.
Knowing the patient's biology matters as much as knowing the specimen's. Maybe more.
Cost: 3 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Your Specimen's attacks gain +5% accuracy. Through patient conditioning and reinforcement, you've trained your pathogenic companion to strike with greater precision.
Good boy. Now do it again.
T2 opens two directions; Growth turns the specimen into a combat weapon, Concealment turns it into a hidden asset. They're not mutually exclusive. Take what you can afford.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Containment Protocols
Effect: The specimen grows to Medium size after it's first kill. Apply Medium stats from the Specimen Stats table. Apply the +4 TL Control Modifier from the stats table. It's getting bigger. That's not entirely reassuring.
The containment unit needed modifications. The modifications needed explaining. The explaining didn't go well.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Accelerated Growth I
Effect: The specimen grows to Large size after it's second kill. Apply Large stats from the Specimen Stats table. Apply the +8 TL Control Modifier from the stats table. Harvest from a living Large specimen is genuinely dangerous.
At this size, the term "specimen" starts sounding optimistic. Most people just call it "the problem."
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Containment Protocols
Effect: Splice the specimen's appearance to resemble a commonly accepted alien pet species. While at Small size, it passes casual visual inspection, dock security, customs, station patrols. Looks perfectly harmless as long as nobody checks how many teeth it has. Bio-scanners are a problem, the specimen's internal biology flags anomalies on any medical or security-grade scan. When released for combat, the disguise holds for 1 round before the specimen's true biology asserts itself.
"What a cute pet."; last words of a customs officer who got too close.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Genetic Splicing
Effect: The disguised specimen provides passive utility while in its spliced form. Heightened senses grant Boon(1) to detection and awareness checks for the Medic. The specimen can scout ahead (up to 20m), deliver small payloads (Tiny items), and serve as an early warning system. It's a genuinely useful pet. Until it isn't.
It fetches. It scouts. It sits on command. It also has three rows of teeth and a metabolism that shouldn't be possible.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Containment Protocols
Effect: You've identified a vulnerability in the specimen's biology. Choose a damage type at purchase: Chemical, Thermal, or Electrical. The specimen becomes Vulnerable to that type (double damage). Insurance policy, if it goes feral, the squad can exploit this. Additionally, enables a second recall attempt using the vulnerability (shock collar, chemical dart, thermal burst), Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL with Boon(1).
Every responsible pet owner has a contingency plan. Yours involves electrodes.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 2, Field Harvest
Effect: Implant a dormant egg/spore from a harvested sample into a fresh corpse within melee range. The specimen gestates and activates after 1d4 rounds, emerging from the host at Small size. This is a separate instance from your primary specimen; and it is not the same creature you put in.
The implanted specimen's biology mixes with the host, creating something new. It follows the Growth path automatically, no ability purchase required. Each kill advances it one size (Small → Medium → Large → Huge). It feeds on what's available, starting with the corpse it hatched from. To keep it at Small size when it emerges, you must succeed on a control roll immediately, otherwise it consumes the host remains and begins growing.
The hybrid biology makes it harder to manage. You gain a stacking Bane(1) per size category on all control, recall, and harvest checks made against this implanted specimen (Bane(1) at Small, Bane(2) at Medium, Bane(3) at Large, Bane(4) at Huge). Control rolls apply to each active specimen individually. If your primary is already active, you now have two problems; and the second one is worse. Implantation is the easy part. What comes out is never quite what went in.
Cost: 3 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Get-em
Effect: Your Specimen's attacks gain an additional +5% accuracy (total +10% with Get-em). Advanced behavioural programming has sharpened your Specimen's predatory instincts to a razor edge.
It doesn't just attack on command; it anticipates the command.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 2 Actions
Requires: Tier 2, Xenogenic Transfusion
Effect: You can perform a xenogenic transfusion using any suitable alien creature, not just your specimen. The creature must be dead or restrained. Roll Intel-Aliens vs Mission TL (or Medic-Diagnosis with Transfusion Diagnostics). Same healing effect as Xenogenic Transfusion (all Wounds beyond the first, +1 HIT per 5 over TL). On failure, it goes feral, if it's dead the patient's reaction to unfamiliar alien biology is unpredictable and side effects from dead unknown xenogenic material are more likely.
Any alien will do in a pinch. The textbook calls this "improvised xenogenic therapy." The squad calls it "what the hell are you putting in me."
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Containment Protocols
Effect: Biological rapport with the specimen. Control rolls gain Boon(2). Recall attempts gain Boon(1). However, you take 1 HIT sympathetic feedback when the specimen is critically injured (reduced to 0 HITS). The bond cuts both ways.
You feel it breathing when it's in the canister. You feel it thinking when it's out. You feel it dying when it does. These are things you don't tell anyone.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Accelerated Growth II
Effect: The specimen grows to Huge size. Apply Huge stats from the Specimen Stats table. The Control Modifier increases to +16 TL. It's no longer something you saved from a lab; it's what the lab was trying to contain. Harvesting from a living Apex specimen is suicidal without the Kill Switch.
The containment unit doesn't fit it anymore. Nothing fits it anymore. It doesn't care.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Extra Action
Requires: Tier 3, Genetic Kill Switch
Frequency: Once per mission
Effect: Remotely trigger the Genetic Kill Switch to immediately neutralise the specimen; reduce to 0 HITS. Break glass in emergency. You lose the specimen. If you harvested earlier, you have a replacement incubating. If not, R&R.
You built the off switch. You hoped you'd never use it. You're using it.
Cost: 3 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Sic-em
Effect: Your Specimen's attacks gain an additional +5% accuracy (total +15% with Get-em and Sic-em). At this level of training, your Specimen is a precision-guided biological weapon that terrifies anyone who understands what they're looking at.
Only a true psycho would train something that deadly to be that accurate.
All Medic abilities are purchased with Ability Points (AP) during R&R.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1
Frequency: Once per person per encounter
Effect: Restore 1 HIT to an adjacent ally who has taken damage this round or the previous round. Does not require a medical kit (you always have basic supplies). You may use this while engaged in melee combat without penalty. You can spend additional Actions on subsequent rounds to restore additional HITS, but only within the treatment window. Once the window closes for a patient, you cannot treat them again this encounter.
One HIT back. Keep them moving; but move fast, the window's closing.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Actions
Requires: Tier 1
Frequency: Once per encounter
Effect: You may use Combat Medic on yourself, following all the same rules; the damage must have occurred this round or the previous round. Treating yourself still costs 1 Action per HIT restored.
Physician, heal thyself. Quickly, before the window closes.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Assess all wounded allies and enemies in line of sight, instantly identifying injury severity, active conditions, and treatment priority. Information is shared with your squad via comms.
Triage isn't about who's screaming loudest; it's about who stops screaming next.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: You ignore penalties from environmental conditions (smoke, darkness, shaking terrain, zero-G) when performing healing actions or administering consumables.
Turbulence, gunfire, screaming; your hands don't care.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Emergency stabilization of a DOWN ally takes 1 Action instead of 2. The patient regains consciousness at 1 HIT.
Slap, inject, move. Three steps between dead and not-dead.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Diagnose conditions, injuries, toxins, and diseases on a target within short range without physical examination. Reveals current HITS, active conditions, and any Suffering effects. Also provides biological data on the specimen; current HITS, feral status, and growth stage. Requires a Medi-Scanner or equivalent device.
The scanner tells you what's wrong. With patients, that's reassuring. With the specimen, it's mostly alarming.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Variable (see below)
Requires: Tier 1, Medical Scanner
Effect: Perform a deep biological scan on any alien creature; your specimen, a feral specimen, or hostile alien fauna. Roll Medic-Diagnosis vs Mission TL once. Each Action spent scanning grants a stacking Boon(1), and a Critical Success grants an additional Boon(1). The Boon applies to your Recall and Control rolls against a feral specimen, and to attack rolls made by you or your squad against the scanned alien creature. The Boon is creature specific and lasts for the remainder of the encounter.
Two Actions buys you Boon(2). Three buys Boon(3). A critical? That's the scanner telling you exactly where to stick the knife.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: Extended Action (Stim Break)
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Synthesize 1 pharmaceutical during a Stim Break. Roll Medic-Pharmaceutical vs Mission TL as normal. Field conditions don't improve the output; but having something is better than having nothing.
Five minutes. One compound. Don't rush the chemistry; rush the patient instead.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 2 Actions (load and fire)
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Load a synthesized pharmaceutical into a Needle Gun and fire it at an ally within medium range. The pharmaceutical takes effect on impact. Requires a Needle Gun (starting equipment). Loading and firing are a single 2-Action sequence; you cannot pre-load between encounters.
Point. Shoot. Medicine at velocity.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Administer a synthesized neural stabiliser to reduce a mental condition on a patient by 1 level. Removes 1 level of Rattled, Stunned, or Confused (Confused is removed entirely). Costs 1 Chem.
The brain is panicking. This tells it to stop.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: Administer a synthesized psyche balm to reduce a metaphysical condition on a patient by 1 level. Removes 1 level of Shaken, or removes Terrified or Unhinged entirely. Costs 1 Chem. Shaken levels are removed but Psych already gained remains; this stops the bleeding, not the bruise.
Fear is chemical. So is courage. You just need the right bottle.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action (when adjacent ally goes DOWN)
Requires: Tier 1
Frequency: Once per encounter
Effect: Administer an emergency stabilization serum to an adjacent ally who has just gone DOWN. The ally auto-stabilizes and regains consciousness at 1/4 MAX HITS (round up). Does not accumulate additional Wounds from incidental damage this round. You synthesize a replacement serum at the next Stim Break automatically. Stabilization serums degrade quickly; they don't survive past the current Op.
The difference between "down" and "dead" is you being close enough to do something about it.
Cost: 2 AP
Activation: 1 Action (deploy) / 2 Actions (reload)
Requires: Tier 1
Effect: You deploy a micro medical drone loaded with a single pharmaceutical serum of your choice. The drone delivers the loaded serum to any ally within medium range as an Extra Action on your turn. Once delivered, the drone returns empty; reloading costs 2 Actions. The drone has 1 HIT and can be destroyed. Replacement drones are Cheap to acquire during R&R.
It's the size of your fist, it flies like a bullet, and it's the best bedside manner credits can buy.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Stabilization Protocol, Small Inventory Slot
Effect: Improved containment lets you store Stabilization Serums for longer. The containment unit takes 1 Small inventory slot and holds up to 1 serum per Tier. You may use Stabilization Protocol once per encounter per Tier (Tier 1 = once, Tier 2 = twice, Tier 3 = three times). Serums now persist between Ops until used.
Better storage, more doses. The math is simple; more serums, fewer funerals.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Micro Medical Drone
Effect: Your micro medical drone can carry 2 serums simultaneously. Each delivery is a separate Extra Action on your turn. Once both are delivered, reloading still costs 2 Actions.
Two needles. Two patients. One drone. It's efficient enough to make a Rigger jealous.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Combat Medic
Effect: You may use Combat Medic while moving at full speed. You no longer need to stop adjacent to a patient; passing within melee range during your movement is sufficient to deliver treatment.
Running, sliding, injecting. Simultaneously.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, Stabilization Protocol
Effect: Your Stabilization Protocol restores the patient to 1/3 MAX HITS (round up) instead of 1/4.
The difference between "barely alive" and "actually functional" is training.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2
Effect: Reduce the Chem cost of all pharmaceutical synthesis by 1 (minimum 1 Chem per dose).
Less waste. More doses. Better chemistry.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2, corresponding Synth ability
Effect: Your refined techniques unlock Quality III–IV synthesis for one pharmaceutical type. Choose a Synth ability you already own; you can now produce that pharmaceutical at Quality III or IV using standard synthesis rules. May be taken multiple times, each time applying to a different pharmaceutical type.
Better ingredients, better process, better output. Still the same questionable lab conditions.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 2
Effect: Once per round, administer a synthesized pharmaceutical as an Extra Action instead of 1 Action.
One hand treats the patient. The other is already loading the next dose.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action (load and fire)
Requires: Tier 2, Needle Gun
Effect: Muscle memory and practiced technique reduce your Needle Gun load-and-fire to 1 Action. You may also pre-load the Needle Gun with a pharmaceutical outside of combat; a pre-loaded Needle Gun can be fired as an Extra Action on the first use of an encounter.
Load, aim, fire. One motion. The patient doesn't even see you reach for it.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 2, Synth: Neural Stabiliser
Effect: Your neural stabiliser formula is refined; reduces a mental condition by 2 levels instead of 1. Costs 2 Chems (1 per level).
Stronger dose. Same needle. The shaking stops faster.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 2, Synth: Psyche Balm
Effect: Your psyche balm formula is refined; reduces a metaphysical condition by 2 levels instead of 1. Costs 2 Chems (1 per level).
The first version numbed the fear. This one argues with it.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 2
Effect: Administer a synthesized muscle stimulant to a patient. If the patient is Slowed, the condition is removed. If not Slowed, the patient gains +50% Speed (round up) for the remainder of the encounter. Costs 2 Chems.
Leg muscles fire faster than the brain can ask them to. That's the point.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 2
Effect: Administer a combat-grade adrenaline compound to a patient. The patient gains 1 Extra Action per round for 3 rounds. This Extra Action is unscoped, adrenaline accelerates everything, not one specific reflex; the patient may spend it on any action they could otherwise take. (Adrenaline Surge is one of the few deliberate exceptions to the Extra Action scoping rule.) When the surge ends, the comedown hits, the patient gains Slowed and Hindered(2) for 3 rounds. Costs 3 Chems.
Three rounds of superhuman. Then the bill comes due.
Cost: 6 AP
Activation: Extended Action (Stim Break or Lockdown)
Requires: Tier 2
Frequency: Once per Lockdown
Effect: Combine two pharmaceutical types into a single custom dose with both effects. The combined dose is administered as 1 Action instead of two separate ones. Costs Chems for both pharmaceuticals. The custom dose expires at the end of the current mission if unused.
Off-label use. Don't tell the manufacturer.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Micro Medical Drone; Dual Payload
Effect: Your micro medical drone can carry 3 serums simultaneously. Each delivery is a separate Extra Action on your turn. Once all three are delivered, reloading still costs 2 Actions.
Three doses, three targets, one pass. The drone does more medicine per second than most field hospitals.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 3, Improved Neural Stabiliser
Effect: Your neural stabiliser is a masterwork formula; reduces a mental condition by 3 levels instead of 2. Costs 3 Chems (1 per level).
At this concentration, the compound doesn't just calm the mind; it rewrites the panic response entirely.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 3, Improved Psyche Balm
Effect: Your psyche balm is a masterwork formula; reduces a metaphysical condition by 3 levels instead of 2. Costs 3 Chems (1 per level).
Shaken(5) to Shaken(2) in one injection. The nightmares don't stop, but they get quieter.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Extended Action (Lockdown only)
Requires: Tier 3
Frequency: Once per patient per Lockdown
Effect: Remove 1 Wound from a patient.
Real surgery. Not the "duct tape and prayers" kind.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: 2 Actions + Medical Kit
Requires: Tier 3
Frequency: Once per mission
Effect: Revive an ally who is dying (Wounds = Max Wounds) OR who died within the last round. Ally returns at 1 HITS with Wounds remaining at Max. They cannot recover HITS until at least one Wound is treated.
"Clear!"; the two most beautiful words in combat medicine.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Advanced AED
Effect: Your Advanced AED returns the patient at 1/4 MAX HITS instead of 1. The improved defibrillation sequence restores more stable cardiac function on revival.
Better capacitors. Better outcomes.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Trauma Surgeon
Effect: Your Trauma Surgeon ability removes 2 Wounds per Lockdown instead of 1. You may treat the same patient twice or two different patients once each.
Two miracles per night. That's the going rate.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Advanced AED
Effect: Your Advanced AED may be used twice per mission instead of once. Each use still requires 2 Actions and a Medical Kit.
You brought two batteries. You're that kind of optimist.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3
Effect: Allies within 4 metres of you cannot die while you are conscious and your only actions are treating them. DOWN allies in range do not accumulate Wounds, and Comatose allies do not progress to Dead. If you are knocked unconscious, move out of range, or take any action not directly restoring their health, normal death mechanics resume immediately.
As long as the Medic is standing and working, nobody dies. Shoot back? They die. Run? They die. Stay and heal? That's the deal.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Efficient Synthesis
Effect: Reduce the Chem cost of all pharmaceutical synthesis by an additional 1 (minimum 1 Chem per dose). Stacks with Efficient Synthesis for a total reduction of 2. Each synthesis produces 2 doses instead of 1.
Twice the output, half the input. That's not chemistry; that's alchemy.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: Passive
Requires: Tier 3, Improved Formula for the chosen type
Effect: Mastery over the molecular structure unlocks Quality V synthesis for one pharmaceutical type. Choose a type for which you have Improved Formula; you can now produce that pharmaceutical at Quality V. May be taken multiple times, each time applying to a different pharmaceutical type.
Quality V. The good stuff. The kind that makes corporate pharmacists nervous about their profit margins.
Cost: 10 AP
Activation: 1 Action
Requires: Tier 3, Needle Gun Proficiency
Frequency: Once per encounter
Effect: Fire a saturating burst from your Needle Gun; a single synthesized pharmaceutical hits all allies within 4 metres of the target point. Chem cost for one dose only.
Area-of-effect medicine. The squad gets treated. All of them. Now.
"Someone on the other side of that gunfire is bleeding out. Move."
— Zoe, ICU