Probably in the future? i mean, if you look at it carefully now each class is getting benefits to do different role from other classes as in Tank, DPR, Healer and Crowd controller.
Maybe they'll finally make a priest wizard tradition to give them access to healing. Though i think Wizards are better at studying arcane than being a healer like as then they'll be too similar to clerics. Bards are unique in a sense that they want to explore almost everywhere but not too efficient at any hence the jack of all trades.
You may argue that Wizards can worship gods but they aren't so devoted to them like clerics as they explore all sorts of magic from positive to negative and from law to chaos.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Probably in the future? i mean, if you look at it carefully now each class is getting benefits to do different role from other classes as in Tank, DPR, Healer and Crowd controller.
Maybe they'll finally make a priest wizard tradition to give them access to healing. Though i think Wizards are better at studying arcane than being a healer like as then they'll be too similar to clerics. Bards are unique in a sense that they want to explore almost everywhere but not too efficient at any hence the jack of all trades.
You may argue that Wizards can worship gods but they aren't so devoted to them like clerics as they explore all sorts of magic from positive to negative and from law to chaos.
As I've mentioned before, wizards could study healing from a purely academic perspective. One can be a medic, a healer, a medicine person *without* devotion to a god or gods.
Also, *again*, bards are arcane casters! It's in the freaking books! They just go about learning arcane magic in different ways. Their "jack of all trades" wibe is represented by their Magic Secrets feature. But they can heal not because of Magic Secrets, but thanks to their default spell list containing healing spells. Therefore, their healing abilities are not divine in nature, which would be the case if the only way they could get healing spells would be through pilfering the cleric or the druid spell list thorugh Magic Secrets. Their healing spells are arcane. Which means that, in canon, according to the WotC, it is not necessary to have a connection to the divine to cast healing spells.
Finally, bards are no longer "jacks of all trades, masters of none". They are full casters now, which, taking into accound other bard abilities, allows them to be on par with any other magic user in the game.
Probably in the future? i mean, if you look at it carefully now each class is getting benefits to do different role from other classes as in Tank, DPR, Healer and Crowd controller.
Maybe they'll finally make a priest wizard tradition to give them access to healing. Though i think Wizards are better at studying arcane than being a healer like as then they'll be too similar to clerics. Bards are unique in a sense that they want to explore almost everywhere but not too efficient at any hence the jack of all trades.
You may argue that Wizards can worship gods but they aren't so devoted to them like clerics as they explore all sorts of magic from positive to negative and from law to chaos.
As I've mentioned before, wizards could study healing from a purely academic perspective. One can be a medic, a healer, a medicine person *without* devotion to a god or gods.
Also, *again*, bards are arcane casters! It's in the freaking books! They just go about learning arcane magic in different ways. Their "jack of all trades" wibe is represented by their Magic Secrets feature. But they can heal not because of Magic Secrets, but thanks to their default spell list containing healing spells. Therefore, their healing abilities are not divine in nature, which would be the case if the only way they could get healing spells would be through pilfering the cleric or the druid spell list thorugh Magic Secrets. Their healing spells are arcane. Which means that, in canon, according to the WotC, it is not necessary to have a connection to the divine to cast healing spells.
Finally, bards are no longer "jacks of all trades, masters of none". They are full casters now, which, taking into accound other bard abilities, allows them to be on par with any other magic user in the game.
Then try to make one yourself, A tradition mainly used for healing. Though it makes a little awkward since divination wizard exists.. but ya, think of one and post it here and who knows we might see them in the future.
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Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Then try to make one yourself, A tradition mainly used for healing. Though it makes a little awkward since divination wizard exists.. but ya, think of one and post it here and who knows we might see them in the future.
Nah, it's not a problem. Divination has nothing to do with the divine (in the D&D sense) or healing; it's about gaining access to information that's otherwise unobtainable.
If anything, a healing wizard would be stepping on the toes of Abjuration or Transmutation. Abjuration does pseudo-healing already in the form of preventing damage, and level 14 Transmuters can make remove any diseases/afflictions as well as raise the dead. Polymorph class spells can also do pseudo-healing type things by giving a new body without damage on it. Also, I could totally see giving a Transmuter a herbalism kit and letting them make potions of healing.
Well, whatever. To each their own games. In my experience, what matters most is spotlight sharing among the PC party. If no one else wanted to do healing, I'd totally allow it. If this was going to be in the same party as a different healer? Nope. I honestly think that it doesn't matter if something exists if the game is just between a group between friends.
Given the feedback to WotC, I doubt we'll see an official version, but I wouldn't make too much of an issue out of it if someone wanted to homebrew it.
I kind of dig the idea of a wizard actually mucking with the idea of lifeforce, whether or not its actually dedicated to any kind of healing or not, as opposed to straight up necromancy. Life Transference is a pretty cool place to start out with.
Disclaimer: haven't read the whole thread, so please forgive me if this opinion has already been proposed/shared/argued/discussed/destroyed/banished.
I believe preventing damage is as effective (if not more at times) as curing the damage after it has been inflicted. That being said, I think there might be a fundamental dogma with Wizards (not supported by any piece of written evidence that I can think of, but maybe it can be a hint on what the devs might be thinking): playing with forces of Life without a deity being involved is DANGEROUS and should be avoided. That would be, in my mind, why Necromancers are most often than not seen in a VERY bad light, and most of the time they are actually evil or malevolent entities. This is why Wizard spells veer more towards preventing damage, rather than fix it afterwards. A Wizards sure have spells that give HP, but those are temporary HP, so they are technically not playing with Life itself, just "adding an additional layer" to it, the base remains the same. Sorcerors and Warlocks gain access to healing spells with the appropriate origin/pact, but they are few in number, and very limited in their effective use given the amount of spell slots both classes have at their disposal and their more damage dealing nature as a basic class. Now to the Bard... Bards just don't give a damn about rules and might actually be EXTREMELY interested in seeing if something bad actually happens if they cure with their arcane powers. Turns out nothing bad happens, and I am sure many bards have tried convincing wizards of this, still Wizards, being dogmatic and "closed" as they are, are not sold to the idea, and will keep on not meddling with the life force of beings (unless they go and start messing with Necromancy).
This is extremely speculative, I know, but I think it might work as a concept, and maybe even expanded upon, to give an explanation as to why there are no cure spells in the Wizard spell list or a way for them to access to them from within their own class (therefore short of multiclassing/feats).
Mechanically speaking, I reiterate my opinion that preventing damage is a good alternative at curing it, so if anyone wants to roll a more "support" wizard in this sense, Abjuration is your go-to tradition, imho.
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Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
The first is that Wizards aren't the pinnacle of Arcane magic, they're the equal of Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlocks, each of these groups has certain advantages that make them better at certain aspects of Arcane Magic than others. Wizards considering themselves to be superior is sometimes part of the charm and fiction of the setting, but it isn't objectively true. A level 5 wizard isn't necessarily stronger than a level 5 warlock, sorcerer, bard, or even the full casting divine and primal casters, they all just have different strengths and weaknesses.
The next thing is that Wizards do have access to healing magic in the fiction of the game, the Theurge tradition was being considered for publication, and was probably only left out due to the negative feedback about the way it was balanced. I'm sure a wizard who studies divine magic, and therefore a wizard who can heal, will make a return at some point as it's a nice mechanical niche to support- you will get to feast upon wizard healing, but it's still in the oven, as I'm sure they want to limit access to healing to a particular subclass for the wizard so you have to put in the right level of investment to allow you to be an answer to the classic healers. This has been true of the warlock and sorcerer after all, we don't have any wild magic healer sorcerers, just divine souls, and no fiend healer warlocks, just celestial ones.
I'd agree with the original poster that the game still lacks that 'mage/cleric' class that was popular back in the day. I too was hoping theurge made it into the game; I'd happily have sacrificed a lot to be able to play someone who mastered all forms of magic (heck - I'd have accepted d4 health per level). The game is fine without one, though, due to the ability to dip into another healing class and upscale their spells (e.g. 1 level of life cleric is going to help you fullfill that fantasy AND wear armour).
I'd argue though that Bards are insanely strong in comparison. Fantastic skill monkeys, healing spells and if you choose lore, the ability to pick the cream of a wizards blasting power. Take the ritual caster (wizard) feat and you have to wonder why anyone would choose a Wizard except for flavour.
So, a RAW answer- though you'll need to be patient- is the Wish spell. Just get your lvl 9 spell slot, and BOOM! There's your once per long rest Cure Wounds. (But personally, I'd use that wish spell to just make everyone agree with me always, and then I could justdo anything I want. Yes, I'm talking about meta/4th wall breaking. I'd use wish to control beings in alternate realities, including the one where I and the DM live, so that the DM and myself would then be slaves to the will of my character. So then, if my wizard character told the DM that now wizards can cast healing, and it's canon not homebrew fluff, then, as a wish, it would have to be so.)
Also, i feel compelled to point out that all RAW started out as homebrew fluff, at some point or other. So let's ease up on the fluff-disparaging a bit. This is D&D. To some extent, it's all fluff. Fluff is where we live. It's our paradigm. Our milieu. Fluff is our jam. Other people can have their periphera, their errata, their esoteric, extraneous, egregious whosits and whatsits. We get to swim in great big oceans of creamy, dreamy, marshmallowy awesomeness of fluff.
Then try to make one yourself, A tradition mainly used for healing. Though it makes a little awkward since divination wizard exists.. but ya, think of one and post it here and who knows we might see them in the future.
Actually, at some point in the future I'm going to do exactly that. It's a topic for a "Homebrew" section, though.
The first is that Wizards aren't the pinnacle of Arcane magic, they're the equal of Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlocks, each of these groups has certain advantages that make them better at certain aspects of Arcane Magic than others. Wizards considering themselves to be superior is sometimes part of the charm and fiction of the setting, but it isn't objectively true. A level 5 wizard isn't necessarily stronger than a level 5 warlock, sorcerer, bard, or even the full casting divine and primal casters, they all just have different strengths and weaknesses.
The next thing is that Wizards do have access to healing magic in the fiction of the game, the Theurge tradition was being considered for publication, and was probably only left out due to the negative feedback about the way it was balanced. I'm sure a wizard who studies divine magic, and therefore a wizard who can heal, will make a return at some point as it's a nice mechanical niche to support- you will get to feast upon wizard healing, but it's still in the oven, as I'm sure they want to limit access to healing to a particular subclass for the wizard so you have to put in the right level of investment to allow you to be an answer to the classic healers. This has been true of the warlock and sorcerer after all, we don't have any wild magic healer sorcerers, just divine souls, and no fiend healer warlocks, just celestial ones.
I do not argue that wizards ARE the pinnacle of arcane magic. I argue that the IN-GAME FICTION clearly states that they are the pinnacle of arcane magic. I've posted quotes from PHB and Xanathar's Guide as proof. As a consequence, I see no in-game fluff reason for wizards to be unable to do cast spells that other arcane classes can cast. Namely, healing spells.
So, here's my homebrew take on a healer-wizard. Your comments, suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcomed and appreciated.
Thaumaturgist (School of Thaumaturgy)
A side note of the name:
As Wikipedia tells us, an American "druid" Isaac Bonewits defined "thaumaturgy" as "the use of magic for nonreligious purposes; the art and science of "wonder working". The purpose of this sub-class option lies in introducing a non-divine, scholarly approach to healing magic in D&D settings. An approach allowing wizards to practice restorative magic without resorting to worshipping gods or making covenants with otherworldly entities, i. e. to study and master healing as a magical science, the way they study all other forms of magic. Hence, "thaumaturgy". Also, it just sounds cool.
Fluff description:
/to be added later/
Student of Life (level 2)
You’ve studied medicine, anatomy, herbalism and the ways the life force flows through all living things. Now you can halt the “leaking” of the life energy from a broken body with a touch. You gain proficiency with herbalism kit and learn the “Spare the Dying” cantrip.
Redirecting the Lifeflow (level 2)
Pure positive energy animating all living things cannot be tapped safely by a mortal without a divine intermediate. However, a diligent adept of Thaumaturgy can redirect the flow of positive energy already present on the Material Plane to great effect. As an action, a Thaumaturge may inflict 2d4 + Intelligence modifier necrotic damage to a willing living creature or plant of a Small or greater size he touches, and, as a part of the same action, transfer the same amount of Hit Points to another living creature or plant. A wizard must touch both targets at once for this ability to work. Unwilling creatures get a Constitution saving throw to resist; plants have a disadvantage on this saving throw. Inanimate plants are destroyed by this ability. A wizard may use this ability the number of times per day equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1).
Rebuilding the Pattern (level 6)
Transmutation magic allows not only changing a form or characteristics of a being – it also allows reverting the changes inflicted on a being, restoring its natural state. Choose a creature within 30 feet. As an action, you can either cure one disease or end one condition afflicting the target. The condition can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed of poisoned. You can’t use this ability again until you finish a short or a long rest.
Rebuilding the Foundation (level 10)
Your knowledge of patterns forming living organisms grows. Now, you can restore even the most fundamental aspects of a creature, transmuting their bodies, minds and the very essences back into original form. Your “Rebuilding the Pattern” ability now can regenerate missing limbs and organs, remove charmed and petrified conditions, lift curses and end effects reducing the target’s ability scores or Hit Points maximum. However, to restore a missing part of a creature one needs to take the life force from somewhere. To regenerate one missing body part, a wizard must inflict 5d6 Hit Points of necrotic damage to a willing living creature or a plant within 30 feet as a part of the regeneration process. Unwilling creatures get a Constitution saving throw to resist. Inanimate plants are destroyed by this ability.
Secret of Life (level 14)
Delving deeper into Necromancy and Transmutation magic, you’ve unlocked the secret mechanisms that maintain life in all living things and learned to use the ambient life energy to fix those mechanisms when they break. This allows you to bring the dead back to life, provided their souls are still tethered to their bodies. As an action, you may touch a dead creature that has been dead no longer than 3 days. A creature is then returned to life with 1 hit point. All mundane diseases and poisons afflicting the target are cured; all missing limbs and organs are restored; all effects reducing the target ability scores or Hit Points maximum are lifted. You may not use this ability again until you finish a long rest.
Redirect the Lifeflow is basically a variation of Vampiric Touch class spells - this should be something gained at level 6, not 2. I'd rather see something more in line with a pseudo-heroism or false life ability here.
Rebuilding the Pattern and Foundation feels very strange as a wizard abiilty. Its just dropping a Restoration type ability onto the wizard, with little explanation other than "I transmute it away." There's no link to the previous abiltiies either from level 2 or any spells to support this kind of ability.
Secret of Life's ability is a bit strange. There's just, "hey, you're back." Bringing someone back to life isn't just restoring their body to a working state - you need to be able to summon their soul ( / ghost?) back as well, and meld it into the body. And if you're able to do that, then we should really be talking about a whole bunch of other issues here. Mainly, the ability to put souls into any body, or perhaps a golem or something. There's a lot more to consider here that really needs more than just "you're back!"
At the start, you seem to have a whole "I can do it too!" axe to grind against divine classes and positive energy. Its leading to a rather awkward descriptions here, where Redirect the life flow sounds a whole lot like the variations of Vampiric Touch, dealing necrotic damage while talking about positive energy. Do note that in 5e, there is no positive nor negative energy. There's no positive / negative energy plane, but instead you're dealing with radiant and necrotic energies. Even then, the radiant energy generally only shows itself in the form of laser-like attack spells.
For the story, I would put aside the whole gods / nature / etc and focus instead on something more akin to being an intellectual doctor type. Or a blend of transmuter/necromancer theme, kinda like we have war mage as blending abjuration/evocation stuff. Et cetera. This doesn't -feel- like a wizard at all. Its just, hey, abilities, bam. Wizards are scholars first and foremost, so there should be some link of learning, a common thread going down.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Redirect the Lifeflow is basically a variation of Vampiric Touch class spells - this should be something gained at level 6, not 2. I'd rather see something more in line with a pseudo-heroism or false life ability here.
Rebuilding the Pattern and Foundation feels very strange as a wizard abiilty. Its just dropping a Restoration type ability onto the wizard, with little explanation other than "I transmute it away." There's no link to the previous abiltiies either from level 2 or any spells to support this kind of ability.
Secret of Life's ability is a bit strange. There's just, "hey, you're back." Bringing someone back to life isn't just restoring their body to a working state - you need to be able to summon their soul ( / ghost?) back as well, and meld it into the body. And if you're able to do that, then we should really be talking about a whole bunch of other issues here. Mainly, the ability to put souls into any body, or perhaps a golem or something. There's a lot more to consider here that really needs more than just "you're back!"
At the start, you seem to have a whole "I can do it too!" axe to grind against divine classes and positive energy. Its leading to a rather awkward descriptions here, where Redirect the life flow sounds a whole lot like the variations of Vampiric Touch, dealing necrotic damage while talking about positive energy. Do note that in 5e, there is no positive nor negative energy. There's no positive / negative energy plane, but instead you're dealing with radiant and necrotic energies. Even then, the radiant energy generally only shows itself in the form of laser-like attack spells.
For the story, I would put aside the whole gods / nature / etc and focus instead on something more akin to being an intellectual doctor type. Or a blend of transmuter/necromancer theme, kinda like we have war mage as blending abjuration/evocation stuff. Et cetera. This doesn't -feel- like a wizard at all. Its just, hey, abilities, bam. Wizards are scholars first and foremost, so there should be some link of learning, a common thread going down.
Noted.
All valid points, except for one: there *is* positive energy in D&D 5E. Read the description of "Greater Restoration" spell, for example. It explicitly states that the caster imbues the target with "positive" energy. So, WotC state, in no uncertain terms, that restoring someone means channeling positive energy. Also, look up the "Gods and the Multiverse" chapter in PHB. There are still the Positive Plane and the Negative Plane. So, positive energy is canon. It's built into the game.
As for the Necromancer/Transmuter "feel" - excellent point. I've felt that this homebrew variant lacks the much needed "wizardly" feel, too. Thank you for letting me know it's not just a weird feeling I have.
Overall, there is a lot to be done here, and your feedback is much appreciated.
Wizards don't heal? They don't study life, or create mockeries of it? They don't raise the dead or resurrect them? They don't bend and break the rules of reality? They don't become immaterial and create clones of themselves? Do you really think there wouldn't be wizards who spend their time learning all they can to keep the body running rather than waiting for it to stop, so they can resurrect the poor sop?
School of the Chirurgeon
Your focus in magic is the blood and bones of living things. You have learnt how to mold and shape the life inherent in living things to protect and heal.
Chirurgeon Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an Abjuraton spell into your spellbook is halved.
Chirurgeon's Touch
Beginning at 2nd level. Abjuration and necromancy spells of 3rd level and lower with the range of self now have a range of 30 feet.
Pseudo-life
Beginning at 2nd level any spell cast by the chirurgeon that grants temporary hit points grants an additional 3 per spell level.
Merged Fates
Beginning at 6th level whenever you cast a spell effected by chirurgeon savant you gain 3 temporary hit points per spell level of the spell cast these temporary hit points are in addition to the ones from Pseudo-life if you are targeting yourself.
Chirurgeon's Endurance
Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced.
Chirurgeon's Surgical Miracle
Starting at 14th level, you can use your action to create a miracle, you can't use this action again until you finish a long rest.
Panacea. You remove all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature that you touch. The creature also regains all its hit points.
Restore Life. You cast the raise dead spell on a creature you touch, without expending a spell slot or needing to have the spell in your spellbook.
Restore Youth. You touch a willing creature, and that creature’s apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect doesn’t extend the creature’s lifespan.
I think this is how I would do a healing wizard. It's leaning heavily on avoidance of damage and temporary hit points (via false life). As well as exploiting temporary hit points to cast life transference. I was thinking of giving them the healing skill at second as well but as there were already 3 abilities there I didn't want it to be completely front ended and I wanted to avoid healing abilities that would be affected by life clerics abilities in case of multi-classing.
Focusing on preventing damage rather than healing it is a nice touch. Other abilities borrow too heavily from the Transmutation school features, though. Regardless, it's a curious mix you've got here. Gives me a few ideas. Thanks!
Yeah I basically just copied the transmutation capstone as I figured how often does a game get that far, but you're right I should probably do something a little different but the transmutation capstone is pretty much exactly what a healer would need.
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Probably in the future? i mean, if you look at it carefully now each class is getting benefits to do different role from other classes as in Tank, DPR, Healer and Crowd controller.
Maybe they'll finally make a priest wizard tradition to give them access to healing. Though i think Wizards are better at studying arcane than being a healer like as then they'll be too similar to clerics. Bards are unique in a sense that they want to explore almost everywhere but not too efficient at any hence the jack of all trades.
You may argue that Wizards can worship gods but they aren't so devoted to them like clerics as they explore all sorts of magic from positive to negative and from law to chaos.
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
Born under the watch of something from the furthest corners of the far realms.... It knows all.... it sees all... and it asks: "What is it that you want to see?"... and my answer is... ALL"
If anything, a healing wizard would be stepping on the toes of Abjuration or Transmutation. Abjuration does pseudo-healing already in the form of preventing damage, and level 14 Transmuters can make remove any diseases/afflictions as well as raise the dead. Polymorph class spells can also do pseudo-healing type things by giving a new body without damage on it. Also, I could totally see giving a Transmuter a herbalism kit and letting them make potions of healing.
Well, whatever. To each their own games. In my experience, what matters most is spotlight sharing among the PC party. If no one else wanted to do healing, I'd totally allow it. If this was going to be in the same party as a different healer? Nope. I honestly think that it doesn't matter if something exists if the game is just between a group between friends.
Given the feedback to WotC, I doubt we'll see an official version, but I wouldn't make too much of an issue out of it if someone wanted to homebrew it.
I kind of dig the idea of a wizard actually mucking with the idea of lifeforce, whether or not its actually dedicated to any kind of healing or not, as opposed to straight up necromancy. Life Transference is a pretty cool place to start out with.
Disclaimer: haven't read the whole thread, so please forgive me if this opinion has already been proposed/shared/argued/discussed/destroyed/banished.
I believe preventing damage is as effective (if not more at times) as curing the damage after it has been inflicted.
That being said, I think there might be a fundamental dogma with Wizards (not supported by any piece of written evidence that I can think of, but maybe it can be a hint on what the devs might be thinking): playing with forces of Life without a deity being involved is DANGEROUS and should be avoided.
That would be, in my mind, why Necromancers are most often than not seen in a VERY bad light, and most of the time they are actually evil or malevolent entities. This is why Wizard spells veer more towards preventing damage, rather than fix it afterwards.
A Wizards sure have spells that give HP, but those are temporary HP, so they are technically not playing with Life itself, just "adding an additional layer" to it, the base remains the same.
Sorcerors and Warlocks gain access to healing spells with the appropriate origin/pact, but they are few in number, and very limited in their effective use given the amount of spell slots both classes have at their disposal and their more damage dealing nature as a basic class.
Now to the Bard... Bards just don't give a damn about rules and might actually be EXTREMELY interested in seeing if something bad actually happens if they cure with their arcane powers. Turns out nothing bad happens, and I am sure many bards have tried convincing wizards of this, still Wizards, being dogmatic and "closed" as they are, are not sold to the idea, and will keep on not meddling with the life force of beings (unless they go and start messing with Necromancy).
This is extremely speculative, I know, but I think it might work as a concept, and maybe even expanded upon, to give an explanation as to why there are no cure spells in the Wizard spell list or a way for them to access to them from within their own class (therefore short of multiclassing/feats).
Mechanically speaking, I reiterate my opinion that preventing damage is a good alternative at curing it, so if anyone wants to roll a more "support" wizard in this sense, Abjuration is your go-to tradition, imho.
Born in Italy, moved a bunch, living in Spain, my heart always belonged to Roleplaying Games
Some thoughts on this:
The first is that Wizards aren't the pinnacle of Arcane magic, they're the equal of Sorcerers, Bards, and Warlocks, each of these groups has certain advantages that make them better at certain aspects of Arcane Magic than others. Wizards considering themselves to be superior is sometimes part of the charm and fiction of the setting, but it isn't objectively true. A level 5 wizard isn't necessarily stronger than a level 5 warlock, sorcerer, bard, or even the full casting divine and primal casters, they all just have different strengths and weaknesses.
The next thing is that Wizards do have access to healing magic in the fiction of the game, the Theurge tradition was being considered for publication, and was probably only left out due to the negative feedback about the way it was balanced. I'm sure a wizard who studies divine magic, and therefore a wizard who can heal, will make a return at some point as it's a nice mechanical niche to support- you will get to feast upon wizard healing, but it's still in the oven, as I'm sure they want to limit access to healing to a particular subclass for the wizard so you have to put in the right level of investment to allow you to be an answer to the classic healers. This has been true of the warlock and sorcerer after all, we don't have any wild magic healer sorcerers, just divine souls, and no fiend healer warlocks, just celestial ones.
I'd agree with the original poster that the game still lacks that 'mage/cleric' class that was popular back in the day. I too was hoping theurge made it into the game; I'd happily have sacrificed a lot to be able to play someone who mastered all forms of magic (heck - I'd have accepted d4 health per level). The game is fine without one, though, due to the ability to dip into another healing class and upscale their spells (e.g. 1 level of life cleric is going to help you fullfill that fantasy AND wear armour).
I'd argue though that Bards are insanely strong in comparison. Fantastic skill monkeys, healing spells and if you choose lore, the ability to pick the cream of a wizards blasting power. Take the ritual caster (wizard) feat and you have to wonder why anyone would choose a Wizard except for flavour.
So, a RAW answer- though you'll need to be patient- is the Wish spell. Just get your lvl 9 spell slot, and BOOM! There's your once per long rest Cure Wounds. (But personally, I'd use that wish spell to just make everyone agree with me always, and then I could justdo anything I want. Yes, I'm talking about meta/4th wall breaking. I'd use wish to control beings in alternate realities, including the one where I and the DM live, so that the DM and myself would then be slaves to the will of my character. So then, if my wizard character told the DM that now wizards can cast healing, and it's canon not homebrew fluff, then, as a wish, it would have to be so.)
Yay. FTW. ;)
Also, i feel compelled to point out that all RAW started out as homebrew fluff, at some point or other. So let's ease up on the fluff-disparaging a bit. This is D&D. To some extent, it's all fluff. Fluff is where we live. It's our paradigm. Our milieu. Fluff is our jam. Other people can have their periphera, their errata, their esoteric, extraneous, egregious whosits and whatsits. We get to swim in great big oceans of creamy, dreamy, marshmallowy awesomeness of fluff.
Also ale.
I do not argue that wizards ARE the pinnacle of arcane magic. I argue that the IN-GAME FICTION clearly states that they are the pinnacle of arcane magic. I've posted quotes from PHB and Xanathar's Guide as proof. As a consequence, I see no in-game fluff reason for wizards to be unable to do cast spells that other arcane classes can cast. Namely, healing spells.
So, here's my homebrew take on a healer-wizard. Your comments, suggestions and constructive criticisms are welcomed and appreciated.
Thaumaturgist (School of Thaumaturgy)
A side note of the name:
As Wikipedia tells us, an American "druid" Isaac Bonewits defined "thaumaturgy" as "the use of magic for nonreligious purposes; the art and science of "wonder working". The purpose of this sub-class option lies in introducing a non-divine, scholarly approach to healing magic in D&D settings. An approach allowing wizards to practice restorative magic without resorting to worshipping gods or making covenants with otherworldly entities, i. e. to study and master healing as a magical science, the way they study all other forms of magic. Hence, "thaumaturgy". Also, it just sounds cool.
Fluff description:
/to be added later/
Student of Life (level 2)
You’ve studied medicine, anatomy, herbalism and the ways the life force flows through all living things. Now you can halt the “leaking” of the life energy from a broken body with a touch. You gain proficiency with herbalism kit and learn the “Spare the Dying” cantrip.
Redirecting the Lifeflow (level 2)
Pure positive energy animating all living things cannot be tapped safely by a mortal without a divine intermediate. However, a diligent adept of Thaumaturgy can redirect the flow of positive energy already present on the Material Plane to great effect. As an action, a Thaumaturge may inflict 2d4 + Intelligence modifier necrotic damage to a willing living creature or plant of a Small or greater size he touches, and, as a part of the same action, transfer the same amount of Hit Points to another living creature or plant. A wizard must touch both targets at once for this ability to work. Unwilling creatures get a Constitution saving throw to resist; plants have a disadvantage on this saving throw. Inanimate plants are destroyed by this ability. A wizard may use this ability the number of times per day equal to his Intelligence modifier (minimum of 1).
Rebuilding the Pattern (level 6)
Transmutation magic allows not only changing a form or characteristics of a being – it also allows reverting the changes inflicted on a being, restoring its natural state. Choose a creature within 30 feet. As an action, you can either cure one disease or end one condition afflicting the target. The condition can be blinded, deafened, paralyzed of poisoned. You can’t use this ability again until you finish a short or a long rest.
Rebuilding the Foundation (level 10)
Your knowledge of patterns forming living organisms grows. Now, you can restore even the most fundamental aspects of a creature, transmuting their bodies, minds and the very essences back into original form. Your “Rebuilding the Pattern” ability now can regenerate missing limbs and organs, remove charmed and petrified conditions, lift curses and end effects reducing the target’s ability scores or Hit Points maximum. However, to restore a missing part of a creature one needs to take the life force from somewhere. To regenerate one missing body part, a wizard must inflict 5d6 Hit Points of necrotic damage to a willing living creature or a plant within 30 feet as a part of the regeneration process. Unwilling creatures get a Constitution saving throw to resist. Inanimate plants are destroyed by this ability.
Secret of Life (level 14)
Delving deeper into Necromancy and Transmutation magic, you’ve unlocked the secret mechanisms that maintain life in all living things and learned to use the ambient life energy to fix those mechanisms when they break. This allows you to bring the dead back to life, provided their souls are still tethered to their bodies. As an action, you may touch a dead creature that has been dead no longer than 3 days. A creature is then returned to life with 1 hit point. All mundane diseases and poisons afflicting the target are cured; all missing limbs and organs are restored; all effects reducing the target ability scores or Hit Points maximum are lifted. You may not use this ability again until you finish a long rest.
Hmm...
Redirect the Lifeflow is basically a variation of Vampiric Touch class spells - this should be something gained at level 6, not 2. I'd rather see something more in line with a pseudo-heroism or false life ability here.
Rebuilding the Pattern and Foundation feels very strange as a wizard abiilty. Its just dropping a Restoration type ability onto the wizard, with little explanation other than "I transmute it away." There's no link to the previous abiltiies either from level 2 or any spells to support this kind of ability.
Secret of Life's ability is a bit strange. There's just, "hey, you're back." Bringing someone back to life isn't just restoring their body to a working state - you need to be able to summon their soul ( / ghost?) back as well, and meld it into the body. And if you're able to do that, then we should really be talking about a whole bunch of other issues here. Mainly, the ability to put souls into any body, or perhaps a golem or something. There's a lot more to consider here that really needs more than just "you're back!"
At the start, you seem to have a whole "I can do it too!" axe to grind against divine classes and positive energy. Its leading to a rather awkward descriptions here, where Redirect the life flow sounds a whole lot like the variations of Vampiric Touch, dealing necrotic damage while talking about positive energy. Do note that in 5e, there is no positive nor negative energy. There's no positive / negative energy plane, but instead you're dealing with radiant and necrotic energies. Even then, the radiant energy generally only shows itself in the form of laser-like attack spells.
For the story, I would put aside the whole gods / nature / etc and focus instead on something more akin to being an intellectual doctor type. Or a blend of transmuter/necromancer theme, kinda like we have war mage as blending abjuration/evocation stuff. Et cetera. This doesn't -feel- like a wizard at all. Its just, hey, abilities, bam. Wizards are scholars first and foremost, so there should be some link of learning, a common thread going down.
I think you should post this in the homebrew forum, you may get more focused advice.
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
The Chirurgeon
Wizards don't heal? They don't study life, or create mockeries of it? They don't raise the dead or resurrect them? They don't bend and break the rules of reality? They don't become immaterial and create clones of themselves? Do you really think there wouldn't be wizards who spend their time learning all they can to keep the body running rather than waiting for it to stop, so they can resurrect the poor sop?
School of the Chirurgeon
Your focus in magic is the blood and bones of living things. You have learnt how to mold and shape the life inherent in living things to protect and heal.
Chirurgeon Savant
Beginning when you select this school at 2nd level, the gold and time you must spend to copy an Abjuraton spell into your spellbook is halved.
Chirurgeon's Touch
Beginning at 2nd level. Abjuration and necromancy spells of 3rd level and lower with the range of self now have a range of 30 feet.
Pseudo-life
Beginning at 2nd level any spell cast by the chirurgeon that grants temporary hit points grants an additional 3 per spell level.
Merged Fates
Beginning at 6th level whenever you cast a spell effected by chirurgeon savant you gain 3 temporary hit points per spell level of the spell cast these temporary hit points are in addition to the ones from Pseudo-life if you are targeting yourself.
Chirurgeon's Endurance
Beginning at 10th level, you have resistance to necrotic damage, and your hit point maximum can’t be reduced.
Chirurgeon's Surgical Miracle
Starting at 14th level, you can use your action to create a miracle, you can't use this action again until you finish a long rest.
Panacea. You remove all curses, diseases, and poisons affecting a creature that you touch. The creature also regains all its hit points.
Restore Life. You cast the raise dead spell on a creature you touch, without expending a spell slot or needing to have the spell in your spellbook.
Restore Youth. You touch a willing creature, and that creature’s apparent age is reduced by 3d10 years, to a minimum of 13 years. This effect doesn’t extend the creature’s lifespan.
I think this is how I would do a healing wizard. It's leaning heavily on avoidance of damage and temporary hit points (via false life). As well as exploiting temporary hit points to cast life transference. I was thinking of giving them the healing skill at second as well but as there were already 3 abilities there I didn't want it to be completely front ended and I wanted to avoid healing abilities that would be affected by life clerics abilities in case of multi-classing.
I know it's a bit off topic tho so my bad.
edit: did it up nicer on homebrewery http://homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/HJskBRyzM
Focusing on preventing damage rather than healing it is a nice touch. Other abilities borrow too heavily from the Transmutation school features, though. Regardless, it's a curious mix you've got here. Gives me a few ideas. Thanks!
Yeah I basically just copied the transmutation capstone as I figured how often does a game get that far, but you're right I should probably do something a little different but the transmutation capstone is pretty much exactly what a healer would need.