The Heal skill says...
Treat Disease: To treat a disease means to tend to a single diseased character. Every time the diseased character makes a saving throw against disease effects, you make a Heal check. If your Heal check exceeds the DC of the disease, the character receives a +4 competence bonus on his saving throw against the disease.
Action: Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a standard action. Treating a disease or tending a creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell takes 10 minutes of work. Treating deadly wounds takes 1 hour of work. Providing long-term care requires 8 hours of light activity.
How does the timing work in terms of when the 10 minutes of work needs to be done? For example, if a character gets exposed to a disease at 2 p.m., can I treat him at 10 p.m. in order to help the next day's saving throw (presumably at 2 p.m.)? Specifically, I'm thinking of an oracle with the Guiding Star mystery who gets a bonus to Wis-based skill checks "when the night sky is visible".
As long as you do it before the next check, timing doesn't really matter.
The Heal skill says...
How does the timing work in terms of when the 10 minutes of work needs to be done? For example, if a character gets exposed to a disease at 2 p.m., can I treat him at 10 p.m. in order to help the next day's saving throw (presumably at 2 p.m.)? Specifically, I'm thinking of an oracle with the Guiding Star mystery who gets a bonus to Wis-based skill checks "when the night sky is visible".Treat Disease: To treat a disease means to tend to a single diseased character. Every time the diseased character makes a saving throw against disease effects, you make a Heal check. If your Heal check exceeds the DC of the disease, the character receives a +4 competence bonus on his saving throw against the disease.
Action: Providing first aid, treating a wound, or treating poison is a standard action. Treating a disease or tending a creature wounded by a spike growth or spike stones spell takes 10 minutes of work. Treating deadly wounds takes 1 hour of work. Providing long-term care requires 8 hours of light activity.
Personally I ask for saving throws against disease at the end of long rest, mostly ignoring the actual hour of infection. So any medical help for the day has to be applied before or during early part of long rest.
Well, that's not how the rules work, though. Hogarth, if you want to grab your bonus before you roll, the RaW seems to support you, and beyond that, I think it's legit; this Guiding Star stuff could easily be worked into a ritual of healing. I'm sure there were/are actual cultures who prefer to practice medicine in the presence of certain celestial bodies.
The only ambiguous line for me is this one: "Every time the diseased character makes a saving throw against disease effects, you make a Heal check."
To me, in the strictest sense that could imply that you can't make a Heal check first and then a saving throw much later.
As a GM, I'd allow it any time before your next save.