Forensic Physician

A forensic physician specializes in analyzing medical details in order to solve crimes and uncover evidence.

Whether it is a disease, blood work, a poison, or bones, the forensic physician’s medical expertise allows him great insight into his cases, much to the chagrin of criminals who seek to cover up the nature of their crimes, even those with magical methods at their disposal.

Medical Expertise (Ex)

At 1st level, a forensic physician can use inspiration on any Heal checks without expending a use, if he is trained in the skill, but not on any Linguistics check.

If he later takes the expanded inspiration investigator talent, he can use inspiration on Linguistic checks without expending a use, if he is trained in the skill.

A forensic physician adds half his investigator level (minimum 1) on Heal checks. This bonus doubles on Heal checks to notice tampering with medical evidence, such as those used to defeat dress corpse.

This ability alters inspiration and replaces trapfinding.

Disease Lore (Ex)

At 3rd level, a forensic physician can use Heal to identify a disease after only 1 minute of examining the symptoms (DC = the disease’s saving throw DC), and he can spend 1 minute and attempt a Heal check at the same DC to disinfect an infected object or corpse. At 3rd level, he receives a +2 bonus on saving throws against diseases. This bonus increases by 2 at 6th level and every 3 investigator levels thereafter.

This ability replaces trap sense and the investigator talent gained at 3rd level.

Blood Lore (Ex)

At 5th level, a forensic physician can study a sample of blood and learn about its origins by attempting a Heal check with a DC of 20 for a creature very familiar to the forensic physician (generally common PC races for a PC forensic physician), 25 if the creature is somewhat familiar to the forensic physician (typically a commonly known monster, but not the subject of many investigations), and 30 or more for rarer creatures. This allows the forensic physician to identify the race of creature that spilled the blood, and the creature’s age and gender (if any).

If the forensic physician succeeds at the Heal check but might not have heard of the creature’s race before, he can attempt an automatic Knowledge check to see if he knows about the creature. If he succeeds, he identifies the blood (and gains all other benefits of the Knowledge check); otherwise, he knows that he succeeded at the Heal check but the blood is not from a creature he recognizes.

If the blood is in its original setting, and the forensic physician exceeds the DC by 5 or more, he can study the blood to determine a rough estimate of when the blood was shed, and he can study the bloodstain patterns to get an approximate idea of how the creatures involved were positioned and moving.

This ability replaces the investigator talent gained at 5th level.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Intrigue © 2016, Paizo Inc.; Authors: Jesse Benner, John Bennett, Logan Bonner, Robert Brookes, Jason Bulmahn, Ross Byers, Robert N. Emerson, Amanda Hamon Kunz, Steven Helt, Thurston Hillman, Tim Hitchcock, Mikko Kallio, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, Tom Phillips, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Thomas M. Reid, Alexander Riggs, David N. Ross, David Schwartz, Mark Seifter, Linda Zayas-Palmer.

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