So, Roland rolled an "additional first level special ability" during the "what happened in the last 10 years" randomization tables, and I think I finally came up with a good one. He has yet to choose a high level one (7th level? Eighth level?)
I'd like to propose for consideration, "Wartime triage". Having fought in the most recent war (and having been an active fighting man for running on 2 decades), Roland has become quite a skilled combat triage medic. He can now heal [character level] hit points per day through medical ministrations - bandaging, suturing, etc. This amount can be divided any number of times totaling up to [character level]. At eighth level, sure, this is significant, but as a first level ability it would've been essentially one extra point of healing.