I have actually not played in tier 2 in our local AL yet, I have been DM:ing tier 1 at the same time. Because of this I am unsure how much healing that tend to be needed. I am helping a player make a tier 2 character (a healer), and wonder if this consept would be good enough. It would be a sorcerer / life cleric multiclass, focused on putting up an extended aura of vitality every fight. That is a ranged bonus action heal for 2D6+5 each round, for 2 minutes /20 rounds - hopefully enough for both the fight and heal up some afterwards. Should that healing be enough for normal battles? Is it recommended to go for both prof. in con saves and warcaster, or is it overkill to get it? The alternative could be to get the inspiering leader feat. Extended aid spell, inspiering leader feat and ranged bonus action heals could be an interesting combination. To reduce risk of getting hit and loosing concentration we were toying with the idea of plate and shield with dumped strength. It would give ac 20 but a 20 feet movement speed, what do you think of that for a healer?
The actions could be free for attack cantip or the dodge action if things are getting a bit too dangerous (do not want to loose concentration of that healing spell). It is also likely that this character would need to get a half feat to get up cha 1 point. Any suggestion of what one to get?
In AL, almost anything can be a viable tactic so if your player would really enjoy playing it then its likely fine. Keep in mind that it would not be available until character level 6 when the sorcerer gets 3rd level spells and it would have to be chosen as a sorcerer spell pick though the life cleric bonus would still apply.
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However, the problem with healing in 5e, and AL specifically because it follows RAW, is that it is more efficient to heal a creature when it reaches zero hit points. A couple of characters with healing word is usually enough in combat healing for most AL fights (at almost any tier). In addition, as you get to higher levels, where creatures have multiattack, the damage done in a round to one target can far exceed 2d6+5 (average 12). eg - the party gets hit by a fireball doing an average of 28hps (14 if saved) at once. The sorcerer will likely need to make a con save to maintain concentration and it will take a lot of rounds for Aura of Vitality to restore the hit points lost.
AL also doesn't usually have a typical party since often (depending on the location and how many folks participate) you can get different players playing different characters every week. I've played in a party with 4 bards and a barbarian. I also played in a party with 2 barbarians, a fighter, a monk and a bard and everything in between. Most AL characters will buy healing potions for those times when the party doesn't have a healer at all though this is uncommon since many classes have access to healing word or cure wounds or some other source of healing. All of this reduces the requirement for a dedicated healer.
As an example, one of my characters is a level 6 life cleric. Their typical fight would involve casting either Spiritual weapon and a cantrip or Spirit Guardians on the first round. They took the resilient con feat and will move close to the fight to have the greatest impact with spirit guardians and support the front line types. For healing they will either use healing word or cure wounds (upcast when most efficient) or in a desperate situation Mass Healing Word (which can heal for an average of d4+5+4(wis)=11.5 x 6 (up to 6 targets) = 69hps at once . Even with 4 characters this will still do 46hps). I haven't yet cast Aura of Vitality - in part because concentration and 3rd level slots are really valuable in tier 2 and, for my character, there are better uses for them.
Aura of Vitality IS more efficient than casting a first level healing spell every round. However, it uses your bonus action as well so if there are other things the character would use their bonus action for - it causes a conflict (for example, you can't use Spiritual Weapon or Healing Word on the same round as Aura of Vitality ... Healing Word has a range of 60' while Aura of Vitality is only 30' - this means there can be situations where, even after moving, a team mate can not be healed using the Aura and the character would have to fall back on Healing Word anyway.)
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I would recommend against dumping speed unless absolutely necessary. 20' of movement might seem like a small difference but in actual play on a grid, I find the 5' difference between 25'->30'->35' does make a difference. I've only ever seen one character played with a 20' movement speed. It generally meant that the character couldn't reposition very easily (even disengaging doesn't help that much) and they would tend to be easily caught by the attacking creatures. 13 str is enough for chain mail.
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If the player really wants to play a healer character then straight life cleric is a more efficient choice but it really depends on what kind of character the player wants to play. If they want a caster with a bit of healing available then Divine Soul can work really well but the spell selection is really constrained (fireball, hypnotic pattern - lots of great 3rd level spells which might be better choices for the very limited number of spells that a sorcerer knows). So, I'd chat to the player and see what kind of character they really want to play.
Healing in combat is almost always a poor choice for an action- an enemy killed a round faster is that much less damage done. It is a fair point to wait until a character drops to 0 hp and do a bonus action healing word. After all, if a character is sitting at 5 hp, and takes 15, that is just 10 'lost' damage.
Healing before or after a fight is a better choice. I've played a life cleric with both the healer feat and magic initiate- druid (for goodberry at 4 hp per berry), and that has worked up through 12th level, so far.
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Hello,
I have actually not played in tier 2 in our local AL yet, I have been DM:ing tier 1 at the same time. Because of this I am unsure how much healing that tend to be needed. I am helping a player make a tier 2 character (a healer), and wonder if this consept would be good enough. It would be a sorcerer / life cleric multiclass, focused on putting up an extended aura of vitality every fight. That is a ranged bonus action heal for 2D6+5 each round, for 2 minutes /20 rounds - hopefully enough for both the fight and heal up some afterwards. Should that healing be enough for normal battles? Is it recommended to go for both prof. in con saves and warcaster, or is it overkill to get it? The alternative could be to get the inspiering leader feat. Extended aid spell, inspiering leader feat and ranged bonus action heals could be an interesting combination.
To reduce risk of getting hit and loosing concentration we were toying with the idea of plate and shield with dumped strength. It would give ac 20 but a 20 feet movement speed, what do you think of that for a healer?
The actions could be free for attack cantip or the dodge action if things are getting a bit too dangerous (do not want to loose concentration of that healing spell). It is also likely that this character would need to get a half feat to get up cha 1 point. Any suggestion of what one to get?
In AL, almost anything can be a viable tactic so if your player would really enjoy playing it then its likely fine. Keep in mind that it would not be available until character level 6 when the sorcerer gets 3rd level spells and it would have to be chosen as a sorcerer spell pick though the life cleric bonus would still apply.
-----
However, the problem with healing in 5e, and AL specifically because it follows RAW, is that it is more efficient to heal a creature when it reaches zero hit points. A couple of characters with healing word is usually enough in combat healing for most AL fights (at almost any tier). In addition, as you get to higher levels, where creatures have multiattack, the damage done in a round to one target can far exceed 2d6+5 (average 12). eg - the party gets hit by a fireball doing an average of 28hps (14 if saved) at once. The sorcerer will likely need to make a con save to maintain concentration and it will take a lot of rounds for Aura of Vitality to restore the hit points lost.
AL also doesn't usually have a typical party since often (depending on the location and how many folks participate) you can get different players playing different characters every week. I've played in a party with 4 bards and a barbarian. I also played in a party with 2 barbarians, a fighter, a monk and a bard and everything in between. Most AL characters will buy healing potions for those times when the party doesn't have a healer at all though this is uncommon since many classes have access to healing word or cure wounds or some other source of healing. All of this reduces the requirement for a dedicated healer.
As an example, one of my characters is a level 6 life cleric. Their typical fight would involve casting either Spiritual weapon and a cantrip or Spirit Guardians on the first round. They took the resilient con feat and will move close to the fight to have the greatest impact with spirit guardians and support the front line types. For healing they will either use healing word or cure wounds (upcast when most efficient) or in a desperate situation Mass Healing Word (which can heal for an average of d4+5+4(wis)=11.5 x 6 (up to 6 targets) = 69hps at once . Even with 4 characters this will still do 46hps). I haven't yet cast Aura of Vitality - in part because concentration and 3rd level slots are really valuable in tier 2 and, for my character, there are better uses for them.
Aura of Vitality IS more efficient than casting a first level healing spell every round. However, it uses your bonus action as well so if there are other things the character would use their bonus action for - it causes a conflict (for example, you can't use Spiritual Weapon or Healing Word on the same round as Aura of Vitality ... Healing Word has a range of 60' while Aura of Vitality is only 30' - this means there can be situations where, even after moving, a team mate can not be healed using the Aura and the character would have to fall back on Healing Word anyway.)
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I would recommend against dumping speed unless absolutely necessary. 20' of movement might seem like a small difference but in actual play on a grid, I find the 5' difference between 25'->30'->35' does make a difference. I've only ever seen one character played with a 20' movement speed. It generally meant that the character couldn't reposition very easily (even disengaging doesn't help that much) and they would tend to be easily caught by the attacking creatures. 13 str is enough for chain mail.
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If the player really wants to play a healer character then straight life cleric is a more efficient choice but it really depends on what kind of character the player wants to play. If they want a caster with a bit of healing available then Divine Soul can work really well but the spell selection is really constrained (fireball, hypnotic pattern - lots of great 3rd level spells which might be better choices for the very limited number of spells that a sorcerer knows). So, I'd chat to the player and see what kind of character they really want to play.
Honestly, for T2, this is overkill healing even during BBEG fights.
Healing in combat is almost always a poor choice for an action- an enemy killed a round faster is that much less damage done. It is a fair point to wait until a character drops to 0 hp and do a bonus action healing word. After all, if a character is sitting at 5 hp, and takes 15, that is just 10 'lost' damage.
Healing before or after a fight is a better choice. I've played a life cleric with both the healer feat and magic initiate- druid (for goodberry at 4 hp per berry), and that has worked up through 12th level, so far.