The Medic: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

Funny thing about adventure: People tend to get hurt. Especially the heroes. And injuries are terribly inconvenient for questing, resulting in time lost recuperating (or making an out-of-the-way trip to the nearest [[Trauma Inn]]) at best, and a [[Total Party Kill]] at worst. So, it's wonderfully convenient to have someone in the party who can make the hurting stop.

 

 

 

 

If there's only one team member capable of healing, that person is automatically the Medic, even if they have other abilities, even if healing is their ''least'' proficient ability. But if multiple teammates can heal, then The Medic is the one who is either the best at it or takes it most seriously. Even if the Medic should have awesome attack magic, or have the fortitude to handle melee combat, [[An Adventurer Is You|his role as healer, supporter, and protector is his top priority]].

 

 

 

 

** ''Galaxy Angel II'' replaces her with Nano-Nano Pudding, also the youngest of her group (she's actually ''one'', being an [[Artificial Human]] made of the aforementioned nanomachines). Unlike Vanilla's fragile ship, Harvester, Nano-Nano could actually fight decently in First Aider, although you'd still want to keep her in healing mode.

* [[Barrier Warrior|Yuuno]] [[Badass Bookworm|Scrya]] and [[Team Mom|Shamal of the Wolkenritter]], from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. Shamal is the [[White Mage|better healer]], but Yuuno is better at providing [[Barrier Warrior|support and protection in combat]]... and he doesn't have a high-quality [[Magic Wand|Device]] enhancing his magical abilities, either. Both are kind of [[The Chick]] {{spoiler|, but Yuuno is never part of a team long enough to become a [[Team Mom]]. After her [[Heel Face Turn]], Shamal would become a literal medic, complete with her own office and doctor coat.}}

* [[Cloudcuckoolander|Orihime Inoue]] in ''[[Bleach]]'' may have the power to make people's heads explode, but it often fails for the simple fact that she doesn't ''want'' to make heads explode and her targets are too strong for half-hearted attacks. On the other hand, she also has the power to protect and heal; since she prefers very much to do that, her considerable powers operate at full strength in that department. She is also the strongest healer in the series, as her healing attacks don't actually heal wounds, they [[Reality Warper|make it so they never happened in the first place]].

** The Fourth Court Guard squad, lead by [[Team Mom|Captain Retsu Unohana]] and lieutenant Isane Kotetsu, is the healing squad. They tend to get picked on by other Court Guard squads because they heal instead of fighting. However, [[Beware the Nice Ones|one menacing look]] from the [[Yamato Nadeshiko|otherwise polite and gentle Unohana]] is enough to stop them.

*** 7th Seat Hanataro Yamada healing specialization goes so far, that his Zanpakuto is actually a [[Healing Shiv]]. Unfortunately, he's also the [[Butt Monkey]], which means he frequently misplaces his sword, when it's actually pretty powerful (heal enough wounds with it, and it can return the damage healed in a massive attack).

* Tio from ''[[Gash Bell]]'' primarily focuses on [[Barrier Warrior|defending the offense-oriented characters]], or, in a pinch, [[Healing Shiv|healing them with swords]]. This is often used in an RPG style in between battles to heal up for the next encounter.

* Dende and Mr. Popo in ''[[Dragonball Z]]''.

** Korin and even more Yajirobe.

* All the medical ninja from ''[[Naruto]]'', most notably Tsunade the Fifth Hokage, [[Enigmatic Minion|Kabuto Yakushi]] and Sakura Haruno. Though, [[Combat Medic|it's more like superpower assisted first-aid and surgery than healing]]. It's worth noting that the knowledge of anatomy and chakra control necessary for healing makes them ''dangerous'' combatants, to say the least.

** Yeah. Right. But they never bother to use their ''dangerous'' combat skills to do anything remotely useful!

*** Besides beating the ever loving crap out of the Big Bad (at the time), screw up a very powerful ninja's central nervous system severely, or taking on one of the massively powerful members of the current Big Bad's squad. And over one hundred of his puppets. ''At the same time.''

** Giorno CAN heal himself, but has to take something and turn ''that'' into new flesh for whatever he is trying to heal; such as using the bullets you were shot with to fix your organs. (This leads to an... odd moment later on in the story.)

* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Botan, Genkai and Yukina all have healing powers, but Yukina is the only one to use it more than once. However, the actual team medic is [[The Smart Guy|Kurama]], the plant master.

* In ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]'', [[Team Mom|Oishi]], Ryuzaki-sensei and [[Genius Bruiser|Inui]] are sometimes seen bandaging up their injured teammates.

* Princess Millerna Sarah Aston, the [[Rebellious Princess]] from ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]''. Also kind of a subversion, being a traditional medic instead of a [[White Magician Girl]]. In a fantasy environment.

* Princess Erika from ''[[Daimos]]''

** The other two are Van, who plays this role for the Elmore kids (and is probably the strongest of all the healers), and Ian, who is [[The Mentor]] to both Van and later Kabuto, who uses Ian's unique Sense ability.

* Megumi Takani, Dr. Genzai (in the anime) and the Mutou siblings (both Shougo, who ''is'' a qualified medic trained in Occidental medicine, and his sister Sayo) in [[Rurouni Kenshin]].

* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', [[Cute Bruiser]] May Chang counts as this as Alkahestry can be used for healing.

* [[Shaman King]] has Faust VIII, who starts out with only really awesome but technically possible medical knowledge and a complete lack of squeamishness, but ends up being able to magically regrow limbs.

 

* Joshua "Josh" Foley, aka Elixir, from ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''. Elixir is quite possibly the most powerful mutant because he can manipulate DNA in order as his power and accelerate cell division. It manifests early on as healing powers, but he can just as easily kill you as he can heal you.

* Lifeline from the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' [[Animated Show]] and comic books. Gets lots of attention because he will never intentionally hurt someone. But is a master of a martial art that will redirect energy. A charging enemy will find himself fifteen feet away, out of breath, wondering what the heck threw him. There was also, in the original comics and some alternate universes, Doc, who was noted for his calm under fire, described as coming to you in the middle of a firefight "like he was a making a house call".

* The Gronk in ''[[Strontium Dog]]'' comes from an entire species who are skilled medics, and is constantly healing Johnny and Wulf after their latest scrap.

 

 

* Wade from ''[[Saving Private Ryan]]'' is an Army medic and the second character in [[The Squad]] to die.

* Pretty much any war movie (''especially'' [[World War II]] movies) that are focused on [[The Squad]] invoke this trope.

* The ship's doctor from [[The Hunt for Red October]]. He was naive(he didn't have the slightest idea that a hijacking was going on), but he was a good officer who kept order among the crew when the Red October was abandoned, he was caring about the sailor's welfare, and he would well qualify as a [[Worthy Opponent]].

* Monk, the SEAL Medic in [[The Abyss]], is ([[Captain Obvious|duh]]) one of these. Of all the SEALs that board Deep Core, he is the only one who seems inclined to deal with the rig crew as human beings. When faced with a medical situation he is not trained for (Jammer's coma) he does what little he can and apologises that he can't do more. Of course, since he has a [[Meaningful Name|religious name]] in a [[James Cameron]] film, his being a basically good guy was pretty much guaranteed from the get-go.

* Reynolds in ''[[Zulu]]''.

 

== [[LARP]] ==

 

 

 

 

*** Athelas is used only for exposure to the deadly "Black Breath" Nazgul. Aragorn was raised in Rivendell by Elrond, the greatest healer in all Middle-earth, and was second only to Elrond in medicine. Aragorn cures Frodo's and Sam's wounds in Moria; and After the Battle of the Pelennor, Aragorn tends to all the wounded and heals them, regardless of the severity of their wounds. Finally, Sam and Frodo are so bad-off at the end of the adventure, that they lay comatose for two weeks after Aragorn tends to them; but they are fully healed by Aragorn (in body, at least, while Frodo's cure can be found only in Valinor). Pippin is likewise fully healed, despite being crushed by a troll. (Aragorn's skills seem limited to physical ailments, however, as Eowyn suffers from a melancholy that he admits is beyond his skill, and which deeply troubled him even while facing unspeakable peril. That emotional damage is actually healed by Faramir, whom Eowyn befriends and later falls in love with).

** The most dedicated medic among the students that we've seen so far, however, may just be the blind devisor Jericho, who isn't actually on the team (though friends with some of them after a few harrowing encounters) and has to do it all by inventing the tools he needs himself because he has no actual innate healing powers.

* Subverted in the Sven Hassel [[WW 2]] novel ''OGPU Prison''. A medical orderly robs the wounded, demands a huge bribe for getting Sven onto a hospital train and brutally kicks a crawling amputee out of his path. On an earlier occasion another orderly is shown abandoning a truckful of wounded and making off with a submachine gun and a Red Cross bandolier on each arm (knowing that at least some Russian soldiers won't shoot at him). Though Sven's friends wish the orderly a well-deserved death, one cynically comments: "That kind lives through any war."

** Also, Kolding in ''Blood Pact''. {{spoiler|Although he nearly revolts at having to treat a Blood Pact prisoner, Gaunt does get him to do it -- and we learn that he was present, fifteen years earlier, when Blood Pact broke into his father's hospital to [[Moral Event Horizon|slaughter the doctors]] and [[Kick Them When They Are Down|wounded]]. Kolding was the [[Sole Survivor]].}} In ''Salvation Reach'' he has joined the Ghosts, and fully wins a place by {{spoiler|saving Cant's life when even Dorden didn't think it could be done.}}

* Arriott in [[Sandy Mitchell]]'s [[Ciaphas Cain]] novel ''Death Or Glory'' fits the type very well, though he was actually [[Closest Thing We Got|a vet pressed into duty to humans by the circumstances]].

** All the more notable since Maturin is a physician, not a surgeon. (It was even more of an issue then as opposed to now, since surgeons did not attend medical school and the overwhelming majority of physicians considered surgery a common craft beneath their professional station. For Maturin to know even the first thing about surgery, let alone undertake and succeed at half a dozen different procedures just in the first novel, is unusual in the extreme.)

*** Heck, it is even more impressive that a physician would even consider a job in the navy. Physicians are usually drawn from the upper-class and would consider a a job at sea to be sacrilegious. At that time (c. 1800) there are only a dozen physicians compared to ''one thousand'' surgeons in the Royal Navy.

* This describes Polgara's job in the [[Belgariad]] pretty well. She uses conventinal medicine, knows almost every sickness in the whole world and has a small box full of drugs always around. Her huge knowledge is comprehendible, after all she is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|3000 years old]].

* An interesting take on the 'magical girl healer' idea is seen in the [[Vernor Vinge]] sci-fi novel ''[[Zones of Thought|A Fire Upon The Deep]]''. Johanna, a 12 year-old girl from a spacefaring society, is stranded on the medieval world of the dog-like Tines. Each Tine is a pack of up to half a dozen members linked into a [[Hive Mind]]. Because two Tines cannot make bodily contact without being confused by the other's thoughts, Johanna's ability to physically nurse them gives her healing powers on a psychological level. (An assassination attempt on her fails because all the injured she had tended leapt to her defense.)

* The [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] [[X Wing Series]] of novels had Ton Phanan, a rarity in commando squads: a fully-trained and licensed doctor and surgeon. He had none of the bedside manner, however, and was something of a [[Combat Medic]]/[[Deadly Doctor]]. He did adhere to the [[Squishy Wizard]] stereotype by getting himself injured in battle ({{spoiler|and eventually getting killed}}), though this was somewhat counteracted by his having to get cybernetic implants for more extensive injuries as he was "allergic to bacta".

* Kaita, her [[Les Yay|friend]] Evelinden (before she died), and the other Callisorian healers in the [[Shadowleague]] books.

* In Suzanne Collins's ''[[The Hunger Games]]'' and still more in ''Catching Fire'', Katniss's mother and Prim. (Unavailable in the arena, alas.)

* The [[Wheel of Time]] series features many different cultures and their medical traditions, but the medics are almost always women who can channel. Nynaeve is the most prominent medic for the main characters.

** In "The Phoenix on the Sword", although [[The Cavalry Arrives Late]], they can bind [[Conan]]'s wounds.

* Medicine cats in the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' series.

* In Nelson DeMille's novel ''Word of Honor'', Lt. Tyson's medic in Vietnam, Steven Brandt, {{spoiler|testifies against Tyson when he is court-martialled for the massacre of doctors, nurses and civilians in a Vietnamese hospital}}. Brandt is mentioned to be a good medic {{spoiler|but is morally corrupt; he eats plastic explosive to make himself ill so he can get out of the field and tried to kill Tyson by injecting him with a lethal dose of morphine. Tyson and his RTO Kelly caught Brandt taking photos of naked women being tortured by South Vietnamese police officers, and later raping a 12 or 13 year old girl. As revenge, Tyson makes him sit in a leech-infested dyke.}}

* In [[Jasper Fforde]]'s ''[[Thursday Next|One Of Our Thursdays Is Missing]]'', [[Would Not Shoot a Civilian|the death of medical personnel]] is particularly noted in the massacre of the clown army.

 

 

 

* Simon Tam from ''[[Firefly]]'' is an accomplished trauma surgeon on the run, who parlays his medical knowledge into passage on the ship. Simon also fits the trope on being completely incompetent with guns, although he makes up for it with his proficiency with drugs and poisons, as Jayne found out when he tried to take over in "The Train Job" and later betrayed Simon and River in "War Stores". (In a later episode, Simon injects him with a paralytic.)

** Actually he mostly makes up for it with [[Heroic Spirit]] . I have seldom seen him show much sophistication in a fight but often seen him show a lot of ''sisu'' (a Finnish word that doesn't translate precisely but applies perfectly).

*** He fits both the "personable" and the "rational" which makes him a well-made character.

** And these days, Rory Williams Pond, who is a nurse by profession, and pretty good at it too. The Eleventh Doctor is a lot better about not standing on Rory's toes than the Tenth was with Martha.

* Jack Shephard from ''[[Lost]]'' (along with the magical power of water) functioned as the survivors' Healer for quite some time, but the addition of Juliet has left him free to become his group's resident [[Badass|Bad Ass]].

* Eugene Roe and Ralph Spina from ''[[Band of Brothers]]'' are real life examples of the trope. Both men cared very much for the men in their company. Gene was noted by Bill Guarnere as "the best medic we ever had. He was born to be a medic. He took care of us physically, mentally, every way. He was compassionate." Gene was even nominated for a Silver Star for bravery under fire (and received it after the war was over). Note that neither was the [[Team Mom]] though.

* Every ''[[Star Trek]]'' series has a chief medical officer, who fills this role:

*** More Kes actually, even down to the [[Magical Girl]] abilities. The EMH is more of a [[Dr. Jerk]].

* Steven Franklin from ''[[Babylon 5]]'' took [[Thou Shalt Not Kill]] to [[Your Mileage May Vary|debatably]] unreasonable levels. In his younger years, he [[Walking the Earth|traveled the galaxy]] studying various alien biologies, being one of the few humans to meet and study a Minbari at the time. When the humans and the Minbari went to war, he destroyed his research rather than let the Earth military use it to develop more effective weapons against the Minbari, [[Honor Before Reason|despite the fact]] that the Minbari were waging a war of ''extinction'' against the humans.

** [[Character Development|Later on]], he ends up {{spoiler|sending thirty [[Body Horror|Shadow modified]] telepaths to their deaths to sabotage a fleet of enemy warships.}} Despite this violating his oath as a doctor, it meant that [[I Did What I Had to Do|several thousand people were spared from death in battle as a result.]]

* Charley Dixon of ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', who gets pulled into the whole time-traveling killer machine mess. He eventually {{spoiler|loses his wife to one of the Terminators.}}

* ''[[Generation Kill]]'' has HM2 "Doc" Bryan, the squad's corpsman. Averts the [[Squishy Wizard]] part; Bryan doesn't look weaker in any way compared to the others, and he does not hesitate to call out Captain Swetje on his incompetence while others who share the opinion, despite having the opportunity to do it without reprimand, just shuffle their feet. He doesn't delay in engaging the enemy and even gains a kill count; though he's bothered by "feeling nothing" after shooting other human beings, he has no trouble functioning afterward.

* The paramedics of ''[[Third Watch]]''.

** And pretty much every time he meets anyone new.

* Mickey( [[And Now for Something Completely Different|er...Not Mickey?]] ) is this in the [[JAG]] episode ''Each Of Us Angels''. Of course that one is a medical drama and most of the characters are medical personal. But the others are mostly nurses while "not mickey" is a front line Corpsman.

* Dr. Melinda Warner from ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' is the medical examiner, which means she's usually performing autopsies, but she's proven herself very capable in more traditional medical roles. She also has the distinction of being the only M.E. in the franchise to [[Promotion to Opening Titles|become a regular]].

* Chris [[Sea Patrol|Swaine]] Blake is this as well as the main coxswaine. While he is happy married and more settled then most of his comrades he's kind of hard to call a [[The Chick|chick]].

 

 

 

* [[Mortasheen]] has several monsters that fit the archetyp, such as [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/ticklestitch.htm Ticklestitch]; a creepy but ultimately benevolent surgeon creature and [http://www.bogleech.com/mortasheen/necroak.htm Necroak]; a frog creature that heals by feeding other creatures one of its many redundant organs.

** D&D's recently-released fourth edition seems to reverse this trend by making it easy for any player character to recover by just taking a five-minute break after combat and spending enough 'healing surges'. Even after running out of those, a good night's rest will restore a character to full hit points (and reset the healing surge count to maximum as well). Actual healing powers still come into play ''during'' combat encounters, though, and Leader classes are the best source.

** D20 Modern includes 0 (that's ''zero'') basic healing classes, and 1 (that's ''one'') advanced class with healing abilities. In addition, there are 0 (''zee-ro'') instant healing items available in the vanilla setting. This makes combat significantly more dangerous, and a dungeon crawl is much more about avoiding damage than speeding through.

*** Technically, in a low-level or no-supernatural setting, the Wise Hero could serve as the healer, given that the Heal skill is based on the Wisdom score. Of course, this would come strictly in the form of minor healing and preventing a near-death character from dying, but such a character is often played as the medic anyhow.

*** There is a Surgery feat that lets a character heal a significant amount of damage, but requires several ''hours'' to do so.

*** Making the class almost entirely useless, since despite the name, it is actually not all that good at healing, as clerics can access a large number of options that improve their healing, but the Healer, being from an obscure sourcebook, and thus largely unsupported with class options in other books, can benefit from only a pittance of these.

*** Furthermore, in D&D 3E, Attack bonus and Damage scale up numerically far faster than Armor Class (Defense), Hit Points (Health), or Cure spells, making Cure spells increasingly less useful as character level increases. Healing is not even listed as a viable combat role in most fan made game guides for this edition (the official guides do list it as one, but are widely considered to be full of [[Blantant Lies]], so it's not like that means anything), because as one such guide points out - killing the enemy before he can hit your ally again effectively "heals" her of all the damage she would have taken - which is, 99% of the time, more than your Cure spell could heal her for. Cost effective healing in D&D 3E consists of healing only small amounts at a time, but doing so in unlimited quantity, allowing characters to refill Hit Points during downtime between battles without using up limited resources like Spell Slots or Scrolls. There are many means of achieving this, but all are considered secondary functions, not primary roles.

* ''Valence 592'''s BioDocs avert this trope by behaving more like real-life medics: they can only stabilize the wounded, not bring them back up to fighting strength. They also have a rule that prevents [[Shoot the Medic First]]: all characters will think twice about attacking a BioDoc or someone they're tending to, as it is the universal way of saying "Go ahead, shoot mine too."

** Duelists, on the other hand, can choose to heal other party members very quickly, including lost limbs if they are highly skilled. They also have the nasty habits of [[Healing Factor|regenerating their worst wound every 10 seconds]] and pulling swords out of thin air.

* The Cleric from ''[[GURPS]]: Dungeon Fantasy'' is a fantasy style healer that also requires actual medical knowledge in order to function properly.

* ''[[Shadowrun]]''. So your team's Medic got shot first, followed soon after by you? Sucks to be you. Hope you have an account with Medics-for-Hire, such as DocWagon. Conversely, you managed to drop their Medic. Nice work. Hear that siren in the distance? He had a DocWagon High Threat Response contract. They like to fly in with assault helicopters and extract their clients under cover from heavy weapons fire...better finish what you're doing, right quick.

 

 

* Sometimes played straight and subverted in ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2''. While some of the hire-able mercenaries with a high medical skill stat had relatively weak weapons, or an average marksmanship skill stat, some had either a good weapon to back them up, good marksmanship, both, or a [[Game Breaker|high wisdom stat that makes marksmanship raise beyond that of dedicated sharpshooters in a in game hours of shooting crows]]. Nearly every medic also has a decent dexterity stat (as it is required to be a decent medic) that helps their accuracy slightly.

** Patch 1.13 makes medics stand out even more. Any merc can learn medical skill, but those with Paramedic or Doctor talent can set up field hospitals and perform surgery, which speeds up healing.

** Also subverted in ''Battlefield 2142''. EA decided to merge some of the Battlefield 2 classes together, and that game's Assault and Medic classes were combined into the Assault kit in 2142.

*** And AGAIN in ''Battlefield 2''. The Medic class was basically an Assault soldier, but trades his assault rifle's under-barrel grenade launcher and heavy armor for healing capability (Both Assault and Medic classes within a faction use the same base rifle).

**** The Assault's Medic Unlock Gun, the Voss however is nothing to slouch at. It is one of the most popular choices for an unlock compared to the Baur Rifle which is seen as tricky to fire.

** And the Medic in the original ''Battlefield 1942'' was basicly 'Assault Class who can self-heal'. [[Sarcasm Mode|Nope, not overpowered at all there]].

** Don't forget main character Chaz, who has the entire spectrum of single-target healing spells, several status-effect removing spells, and the lower level revival spell. In addition to being a swordfighter and capable of shooting lasers from his hands.

* The inevitable ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' examples:

** For the first 40% or so of ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'', [[Mysterious Waif|Terra]] and [[An Ice Person|Celes]] alternate in this role, being the only two natural magic users in the game. [[La Résistance|Returner leader]] Banon also joins your party briefly, along with his amazing ability to heal everyone for free. Later on, everyone gets the power to use magic, so combat roles tend to become fuzzy at best, but most parties still include at least one designated healer (usually whoever has the worst offensive ability).

*** Note that Yuffie Kisaragi later gains a healing Limit Break.

** ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'''s Yuna is your primary healer through the early sections of the game, as she is the only character that starts with [[White Magic]]. Like Dagger, she's meek {{spoiler|''and'' becomes a rebel, eventually}}.

*** Qualifiers: one, the Sphere Grid, which a few items help you traverse in vast, screaming gallops, meaning you can make any character into anything. Two, Yuna has the summons, which potentially makes her all in all the most purely powerful character in the game offensively. Three, healing items are powerful and in some cases ''plentiful,'' so anybody can become a healer for one turn. Four, Rikku had access to even better items of all kinds including healing. Give any character her Use ability and an item with the Alchemy property and you have an ad hoc healer; an item with Alchemy and Auto-Phoenix combined with 99 Phoenix Downs (which you can ''buy'') on ''any'' charater gives them the ability to bring you back from anything short of a one-hit [[Total Party Kill]] ''without even using a turn.'' Long story short, with a little work, Yuna can be your DPS and a character of your choice, likely Rikku, the healer.

** It's worth noting that Marle never acquires a single tech mass heal power, severely cutting to her utility later in the game when almost all attacks are multitargeting. Really, all the good healing available without maxing stats in the game comes from dual techs. Frog/Marle Double Cure is ok, but Slurp Kiss from Frog/Ayla is actually about equal costing in power just a fraction of Double Cure, and Frog/Ayla is a better pair offensively. Once Aura Whirl starts to lose efficiency, Marle's utility is diminished.

*** It doesn't take TOO many Magic Tabs to make Robo's Heal Beam effective enough that you don't need to worry about using healing Dual Techs. In fact, at maxed Magic, it is powerful enough to heal for over 900 every time.

*** In the endgame, Megalixers take the stage as the primary source of healing. And since you need Ayla to get an infinite supply...

** Though Raine subverts the pacifism aspect of the trope, being one of the more cold and pragmatic members of the party. Notably, the teens have to do some arm-twisting before she is willing to heal {{spoiler|Sheena}}, an apparent enemy.

** She even wears a nurse outfit, for crying out loud... however, she's VERY good at what she does.

* ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]'' evades this trope by providing almost every character with a self heal, and two characters who are both very powerful healers while being very different. Tear has powerful offensive 'holy' style magic and AoE healing with some wicked knife artes, while Natalia has most of the 'buff' spells, powerful single target heals, and a wide range of bow skills.

** In the books, as well as being the medic, she's an accomplished biochemist, a genius, and a [[Mary Sue]]. Not everyone found this annoying.

*** Both Ness and Lucas also have the [[Combat Medic|most powerful physical attacks]] in their parties (not to mention powerful - though PP inefficient - multi-target psychic attacks).

* In ''[[Gears of War]] 2'', human characters that are 'downed' may yell out "Medic!", but the game subverts this trope in that any allied player can help them in that instance.

** While he is [[Jossed|not actually a former Nazi]], his appearance, lines, and the fact that he gained his qualifications "[[Deadly Doctor|when the Hippocratic Oath was downgraded to a Hippocratic Suggestion]]", are clearly inspired by [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazi scientists such as Josef Mengele]]. [[Draco in Leather Pants|Yet the fans love him]]. [[Even the Guys Want Him|Too much.]]

** Also, in something of a subversion, Team Fortress 2's Medics aren't all that squishy, either. Although they're a bit low on health (but not the lowest), they have passive health regeneration, they're the second-fastest class, and that seemingly harmless syringe gun is surprisingly useful at close ranges, provided that you have good aim. The unlockable alternate syringe gun leeches health from enemies each time it hits (though it reduces the regular health regeneration).

* ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' has the "Pilot" class. The CIS and Empire variants are ridiculously overpowered, with large supplies of health and ammo kits, the ability to build turrets, and frickin' grenade launchers.

** There are also Engineers for the non space battle maps. They can also drop health/ammo kits, and repair turrets or other broken machines, and have an obscenely powerful shotgun.

** ''[[World in Conflict]]'' however has no dedicated medic unit. Instead, one of the squad members in the basic Infantry unit is a medic, able to heal his teammates and infantry of other squads.

** ''[[Warcraft III]]'' has plenty.

*** The Humans have the Priest unit, with a Heal spell, and the Paladin hero, whose Holy Light can heal non-undead or [[Revive Kills Zombie|damage undead]].

*** Undead get Obsidian Statues, which restore health and mana passively. Death Knights can heal undead units (or damage non-undead) with Death Coil.

*** Night Elves have Druids of the Claw with Rejuvenation, a heal-over-time, and the Keeper of the Grove, with the area-effect heal Tranquility.

* The ''[[Golden Sun]]'' series has... a few. Water adepts make natural healers. While technically, with the right djinn, anyone can heal (in fact, when you first meet Mia, [[The Hero|Isaac]] has more powerful heals), but Mia is the best choice for primary healer. In ''[[Golden Sun]]: The Lost Age'', Piers, an arrogant, [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] [[Bishounen]], is the only good healer (until you meet up with the group from the original game, which includes Mia).

** In total, there are 5 medics if you stick to base classes (i.e. all Djinn of the default element. Felix and Issac (weaker healing psyenergy with Revive ability), Piers (Stronger healing psyenergy but no revive ability), Mia (Same psyenergy as Piers as well as some weaker ones that affect the whole party), and Jenna (Slightly weaker versions of Mia's, and no single-character spells.) Ivan, Sheba and Garret all get party-healing psynergy with the right djinn combinations though.

* While several people know heal spells in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation'', the best one is Russel Bagman, who learns both healing spells, and is one of the best support players in the game.

* In the games, some [[Pokémon]] learn moves to heal other members on the party, like Heal Bell and Arometherapy, which heal the [[Standard Status Effects]]. Others like the Chansey line and Miltank have the moves Softboiled and Milk Drink to heal others outside battle.

** While most Pokemon that learn healing moves are Squishy Wizards, one subversion is the Arometherapy-using Parasect, which is a huge, clawed cicada nymph which has been zombified by parasitic fungus, whose highest stat is attack. It also learns attacks which heal itself while harming the foe.

** Generation 5 gave us our first true Pokémon that would count as the Medic, Alomomola. Two of its Abilities can heal itself while the third heals its teammates of status conditions like Sleep and Paralysis. Its moves include Heal Pulse, Protect, Wish, Safeguard, Helping Hand, Wide Guard, Healing Wish, Pain Split, and Endure. Even if you know nothing about Pokémon, this should give an idea of how Alomomola works.

* ''[[Persona 3]]'': While several other Persona-users know healing spells as well, Yukari Takeba often ends up as the designated Medic whenever she's in the party, as she's the only character who learns both party-wide healing spells and revival spells. She even [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] her role in some incidental dialog towards the beginning of the game.

** The second primary healer is Ken, who, while not having a direct way to hit many opponents, have 100% death-if-hit Light magic and of course, healing spells.

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', either [[The Hero|you (as Sora)]] can serve as the team's Medic, or you can leave that job to [[The Smart Guy|magician]] [[Donald Duck]]. [[The Big Guy|Goofy]] can also easily be loaded up with restorative items, since he has the largest personal inventory space in any of the games.

** Goofy can also use MP Gift, which gives you MP in exchange for his, which can help a lot when you're low on MP.

** As Empathy is exclusive to the hero side of the game, villain players are very used to playing without a dedicated healer on their teams and look even more down on hero players who will not do anything without an Empathy healer standing by.

*** Or more generally, the issue is that avoiding the need for a "balanced party" seems to have been an early design goal. Party competence isn't so much about organizing a group of people to fill preassigned roles as being able to figure out what the people with you are going to be doing and find a way to support them in it. This can make pickup groups either infuriating or interesting. Or both.

* Carlie from ''[[Seiken Densetsu 3]]'' is the only character to possess healing magic for every single class of hers, and remains by far the best at it throughout the entire game. Her dark-aligned classes can also do decent damage with summons, while her light-aligned classes focus more on party buffs. Strangely enough, the only two other characters to learn healing magic, Duran and Kevin, are otherwise devoted physical powerhouses.

** Revitalised? More like made entirely viable. M&M (Marine & Medics, with the odd Firebat thrown in) rushes became a fairly effective blunt-hammer attack, especially with Medics able to heal the self-damage caused from the Stim Packs the Marines keep popping in order to move and shoot faster. ''Certainly'' they made the computer opponent that much more dangerous, as the computer used Heal so effectively it's like the game had an autocast option...

** Aeon is also very good at healing, {{spoiler|but since she can't be used for a good amount of time from the middle to the final dungeon, [[Nintendo Hard|it only makes a game even harder.]]}}

* ''[[Etrian Odyssey]]'' has a Medic Class, whose abilities are primarily steeped in healing. The Protector class can also use low-level healing spells if sufficiently levelled up.

*** Also, in a pinch Raise Undead even works on living units, making it possible to use them as a buffer (since they'd be lost by the end of the battle when resurrected that way).

*** Archangels qualify as a unit variation, being able to resurrect allies once per battle. First Aid tents with the appropriate skill can do so aswell, but they heal for meager amounts.

* The Magician->Cleric->Priest->Bishop Job branch in ''[[Maple Story]]''. No party in its right mind faces ''any'' boss without at least one unless they're way over the required level. To elaborate: The Cleric can heal, the Priest can give a huge stat boost, '''boost Exp gains''', ''and'' make a two way door to the nearest town to restock, and the Bishop gets the single most powerful attack spell in the game.

* The ''[[Overlord]]'' series has the Blues. They are the most fragile of the Minions and are rather useless in battle. They make up for it by being able to revive dead Minions and by being able to swim. And in the sequel they can clean up the magical ooze that hurts you and mutates your other minions into enemies.

* ''[[Touhou]]'''s Eirin Yagokoro is Gensokyo's resident doctor (technically a pharmacist). Fanon (and, at times, canon) sometimes skews this into [[Mad Doctor]] territory.

* The Killmaster from ''[[Brutal Legend]]'', who uses [[The Power of Rock|healing bass chords]] to keep your friends fighting fit. And he's Motorhead's Lemmy Kilmister. Yes, [[Rule of Cool|it's awesome.]]

* ''[[Half Life]]'' has scientists that can follow Gordon around and give him injections of some sort of healing... ''stuff'', while Half-Life 2 has resistance fighters who wear special uniforms identifying them as medics and have the ability to pull medkits [[Hammerspace|out of thin air]].

* ''[[Odium]]'' has the team medic Joan McFadden, who restores 15% more HP when she uses healing items on herself or party members.

** Also has two characters who are mentioned to be doctors in their flavor text (although you don't have to play the Medic perk if you play them). One is a paramedic and the other is Doctor Dave, a [[Steampunk]] [[Deadly Doctor]].

* The ''[[Breath of Fire]]'' series ''loved'' giving this role to the characters you'd least expect to have it. In two out of five games in the series, your [[Heroes Prefer Swords|sword-wielding hero]] is one of the characters in this niche... and others have included a fist-fighting armadillo and a dog-girl with a BFG.

* Kaidan in [[Mass Effect 1]] was the only squadmate with the Medicine section of the skill tree, and was also the most merciful/compassionate of the group.

 

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Or, [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0077.html have 2 clerics and make monsters give up out of impatience].

** Too bad he seems to have lost his white magic for good in a recent arc.

* Piffany in ''[[Nodwick]]''. She generally has to bring Nodwick back from the dead every <s>other week</s> five minutes, which for some reason involves wrapping him in duct tape, although other methods turn up from time to time, such as pouring him into a mould if he's been powdered (and adding water). She's also got the usual repertoire of D&D Cleric skills ([[Turn Undead|Shoo Undead]], [[Think Happy Thoughts|Happy Thoughts]]... okay, maybe not so usual).

* ''[[Cry Havoc]]'' 's squad of werewolf dogs of war has Hati, the good natured medic who just wants to help people. She spends most of her time cleaning up the mess the other wolfs make.

* [[The Dreamland Chronicles]]' centaurs

* In ''[[Our Little Adventure]]'', [http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0170.html they resort to a doctor when Angelika's eyes are gone.]

 

 

** Minerva fills this role in ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'', though she is also [[The Chick]].

** Pipo gets this role in ''[[Transformers Victory]]''; his name is even Japanese for ''nee-naw''.

*** As does the version from ''[[Transformers Prime]]''.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Doctor Index]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Skills and Training Tropes]]

[[Category:The Squad]]