As there will be combat and injuries, with perhaps plagues and disease, I think it is completely appropriate to have at least as one of the specialists in a village to be related to the healing arts.
Depending on the viewpoint of the villagers and their society, it could be either “magical” in nature, more of a shamanistic method, or a proper “science” aspect to how it is performed… but it is still all roughly done in the same manner.
Field Medic - A field medic is essentially a soldier/citizen that may or may not also wield weapons but their primary function is to help assist in a battle field or to be working in a construction zone and be the “first responder” to deal with injuries as they happen. This would also be the first tier in the progression of the classes.
Physician/Doctor - Somebody who has advanced skilled in the healing arts and can help a villager recover from injuries and ailments much more quickly. They can also use potions and herbs or even medicines created by Alchemists and Herbalists (classes already announced) and apply them to individuals.
Pathologist - A physician who has advanced training to discover diseases. Their primary role, in addition to healing people, is to scour the village to find sources of disease and to help prevent them from happening in the first place. Perhaps “warning” the player about unsafe conditions that might need some extra attention or even actively tracking down the source of a disease to get it to end. They could round up villagers to help eliminate sources such as leading a party to kill rats, fill in “holes”, or do other tasks that might be a source of disease. A pathologist also would help a villager recover from diseases faster than even an ordinary physician. They can also identify poisons (including poisons from wild animals or dangerous mobs) and has a better chance of correctly making an antidote.
Of course having a pathologist in the game presumes that diseases and plagues might be something that players would have to deal with from time to time.
Battlefield Surgeon - A physician who specializes in combat injuries and can help villagers recover from combat injuries faster than even an ordinary physician. They would likely not have armor, so they would best be kept in the rear of a sizable army… and well protected but invaluable to any offensive action. They could also mend broken bones and work in an “emergency room” of a village.
The one difference here from what has been proposed earlier is that I don’t think the physician should necessarily come from the path of an herbalist, but instead start off as either a solider or a construction worker becoming a first responder (or field medic) first. Certainly there could be multiple paths to becoming a physician.
There are also several “specialists” that could be envisioned as well, such as an obstetrician or pediatrician (assuming children and families are added to the game). It would be nice to include a nurse as well, as there is a distinctive difference between the roles of a nurse and what a physician does… but I’m having a hard time trying to see how it would fit into a game like Stonehearth and do something different.
Certainly more thought could go into the healthcare professions and provide room for further village specializations. I’m also not sure what the health care equivalent of a Magma Smith might be, but I would imagine that a “super healer” could also be one of the potential village classes in some fashion as well (just as heroic in size and just as useful). Villagers can take care of themselves as well, but the point of a physician is to help make that healing happen much faster so the villager can be more productive… at the cost of forcing one of the villagers to have this specialization.
I’ve been puking.
