What's the default way to build a doctor in GURPS?

[Toptomcat]

I was building a character who's supposed to be a med-school grad in a modern, TL 8 setting, a surgeon with considerable experience. I did it the seemingly obvious way: following guidelines on the Physician template in GURPS Bio-Tech p. 208, I bought IQ 12 and a level in the Healer talent, then four points in Diagnosis, eight in Physician, two in Physiology, one in Electronics Operation (medical), two in Pharmacy (Synthetic), twelve in Surgery, two in Biology, and one in Research. This left me with:

Physician 14 [8] (+1 Healer)
Diagnosis 13 [4] (+1 Healer)
Physiology 12 [2] (+1 Healer)
Pharmacy (Synthetic) 12 [2] (+1 Healer)
Surgery 14 [12] (+1 Healer)
Biology 10 [2]
Research (A) 11 [1]
Electronics Operation (Medical) 11 [1]

Then I noticed that by dumping all the thirty-eight points I spent on my Healer talent and the skills it covers into Physician, depending on Physician defaults for everything, I would end up with a phenomenally better doctor:

Physician 20 [36]
Diagnosis 16 [0]
Physiology 15 [0]
Pharmacy (Synthetic) 15 [0]
Surgery 15 [0]
Biology 10 [2]
Research 11 [1]
Electronics Operation (Medical) 11 [1]

And I save two points to boot, perhaps to spend on a Technique to buy off the penalty for head/chest surgery or stabilizing a mortal wound. And I make it both much more straightforward and much more point-efficient to improve in the future.

Is that supposed to happen? Am I missing something that would disincentivize me to do this? Is this exploitative or just sensible? Would this be 'cinematic' rather than realistic and only acceptable in certain kinds of campaign? Is this at least partially an artifact of the way I'm getting five skills' worth of benefit from a ten-point Talent? I'm confused.

[doulos05]

Originally Posted by Toptomcat

I was building a character who's supposed to be a med-school grad in a modern, TL 8 setting, a surgeon with considerable experience. I did it the seemingly obvious way: following guidelines on the Physician template in GURPS Bio-Tech p. 208, I bought IQ 12 and a level in the Healer talent, then four points in Diagnosis, eight in Physician, two in Physiology, one in Electronics Operation (medical), two in Pharmacy (Synthetic), twelve in Surgery, two in Biology, and one in Research. This left me with:

Physician 14 [8] (+1 Healer)
Diagnosis 13 [4] (+1 Healer)
Physiology 12 [2] (+1 Healer)
Pharmacy (Synthetic) 12 [2] (+1 Healer)
Surgery (VH) 14 [12] (+1 Healer)
Biology (VH) 10 [2]
Research (A) 11 [1]
Electronics Operation (Medical) 11 [1]

Then I noticed that by dumping all the thirty-eight points I spent on my Healer talent and the skills it covers into Physician, depending on Physician defaults for everything, I would end up with a phenomenally better doctor:

Physician 20 [36]
Diagnosis 16 [0]
Physiology 15 [0]
Pharmacy (Synthetic) 15 [0]
Surgery 15 [0]
Biology 10 [2]
Research 11 [1]
Electronics Operation (Medical) 11 [1]

And I save two points to boot, perhaps to spend on a Technique to buy off the penalty for head/chest surgery or stabilizing a mortal wound. And I make it both much more straightforward and much more point-efficient to improve in the future.

Is that supposed to happen? Am I missing something that would disincentivize me to do this? Is this exploitative or just sensible? Would this be 'cinematic' rather than realistic and only acceptable in certain kinds of campaign? Is this at least partially an artifact of the way I'm getting five skills' worth of benefit from a ten-point Talent? I'm confused.

Defaults are what you're supposed to do. It's the point optimal way to build a doctor. This applies to anybody who needs a lot of skills which can all default to each other. The best way to see this is to use GURPS Character Assistant and add every skill you need, then start playing around with defaults and see what you get.

[RGTraynor]

I think you're leaning too much towards the mini-max, myself. Physician-20, IMHO, isn't a way to optimize your point totals. A skill that high represents one of the best in the region, if not in your entire nation, and there's no way in creation I'd let a recent med school graduate have that.

[Flyndaran]

Skill 20 in anything let alone a hard one is insane and on par with Galen or other world renowned practitioner.

[Dwarf99]

I'd peg that at 21 just to be aligned with the Contacts rules.

And incidentally, Dr. Oz has a bit of world renown infamy, but I'd peg him closer to 12.

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Skill 20 in anything let alone a hard one is insane and on par with Galen or other world renowned practitioner.

What do you base that on? The benchmarks in the rules or the actual capabilities of the character? What can a character with Physician-20 actually do that only world-class physicians can?

[Dwarf99]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

What can a character with Physician-20 actually do that only world-class physicians can?

Just a guess... Maybe I'm off base, but I'd say: Have fairly reasonable odds of inventing experimental treatment. I'm not sure that Physician would do that, but I'd allow it as a prototyping skill.

[Langy]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

What do you base that on? The benchmarks in the rules or the actual capabilities of the character? What can a character with Physician-20 actually do that only world-class physicians can?

Have a decent chance of performing first aid in one second rather than one minute, no matter what condition the patient is in.

(being able to do this is why Action gives its medic template skill 20)

[simply Nathan]

Most physicians should have Physician-12 with Diagnosis-12 and most surgeons should have Surgeon-14. At best other skills like Electronic Operation and Biology would often be picked up at reasonable levels to complement the main skill. Actually, a lot of modern doctors could coast on a slightly lower skill level due to the generous skill bonuses from the best modern equipment.

Skill 15 is for an expert, 20 for a master, and 25 for the legendary master of the craft who is talked about centuries later.

No problem at all with a PC being in one of the latter categories and having a broad competence in the field besides that (Healer talent or general IQ).

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by Langy

Have a decent chance of performing first aid in one second rather than one minute, no matter what condition the patient is in.

(being able to do this is why Action gives its medic template skill 20)

Okay, that's pretty impressive. I know someone (an anaethetist) who did it once, but I don't think he'd back himself to do it again.