Public Mod Note(Stormknight): I have updated the link to the D&D Beyond tooltip for the spell - please use this rather than link to other sites that illegally provide copyright material
A strong parallel can be drawn between Healing Spirit and Aura of Vitality, and a lesser parallel to Prayer of Healing. All 3 are designed to be used out of combat to heal up after a fight. For the following comparisons we'll assume a 6-person party and a healer with an 18 in their casting stat (only relevant to Prayer of Healing).
(EDIT: To be clear, there are MANY forms of healing in the game, but none of them come close to the power of Healing Spirit, Aura of Vitality, and Prayer of Healing - all of which are designed to be heal multiple targets in a between-encounter scenario. These three stand head and shoulders over every other healing option in the game.)
Aura of Vitality, which is available only to level 9 paladins, requires a 3rd level spell and 1 minute of concentration, can heal 20d6 hit points. That's an average of 70 HP which is a pool that can be distributed out in in 2d6 (7 HP) increments to the party at the caster's discretion. This spell cannot be scaled upward.
Prayer of Healing, which is available only to level 3 Clerics, requires a 2nd level spell and 10 minutes of casting, can heal 2d8+Mod hit points per party member. That's an average of 78 HP, of which only 2d8+Mod (13 HP) can go to a single party member. Every extra spell level increases healing by 1d8, so a 3rd level spell slot (equivalent to AoV) would heal an average of 105 HP, of which only 3d8+Mod (17.5 HP) can go to a single party member.
Healing Spirit, which is available to level 3 Druids and level 5 Rangers, requires a 2nd level spell and 1 minute of concentration, can heal 60d6 hit points. That's an average of 210 HP, of which 10d6 (35 HP) can go to a single party member. Every extra spell level increases healing by 1d6, so a 3rd level spell slot (equivalent to AoV) would heal an average of 420 HP, of which 20d6 (70 HP) can go to a single party member.
So, to compare them let's look at level 3 for each.
Aura of Vitality, 1 Minute Total Healing: 20d6 (70 HP) Max per Individual: 20d6 (70 HP)
Prayer of Healing, 10 minutes Total Healing: [3d8+Mod]*6 (105 HP) Max per Individual: 3d8+Mod (17.5 HP)
Healing Spirit, 1 minute Total Healing: 120d6 (420 HP) Max per Individual: 20d6 (70 HP)
This is broken. Broken to a point that it's not worth discussing whether it's broken.
Which begs some questions. How did this make it into an official released product? Why did none of the WotC team spot this problem? Why did none of the people who were reviewing this material under NDA spot this problem? And, most importantly, why on earth would WotC release new spells without running them by the public through a UA when the entire purpose of the UA was to identify these kinds of problems so they wouldn't make it into official releases?
With this one ability WotC has completely invalidated every out-of-combat healing ability in the game. Prayer of Healing and Aura of Vitality? Joke status. Bard's Song of Rest? Joke status. Healer feat? Joke status.
Everything is a joke compared to Healing Spirit, which is more powerful than all of them put together and combined.
Public Mod Note
(Stormknight):
I have updated the link to the D&D Beyond tooltip for the spell - please use this rather than link to other sites that illegally provide copyright material
For a fun exercise, I'd like to see what level a druid would have to cast Healing Spirit to get the healing power of Mass Heal (level 9 cleric spell). Unlike AoV and PoH, Mass Heal is not an Apples to Apples comparison since it's only an action and thus can be used in combat.
Mass Healing, Level 9 Total Healing: 700 HP
Healing Spirit, Level 4 Total Healing: 630 HP
Healing Spirit Level 7 Total Healing: 1260 HP
Healing Spirit Level 9 Total Healing: 1680 HP
What a freaking joke. And remember, this is with 6 party members. If for whatever reason you need to heal more people, you're welcome to with Healing Spirit (Prayer of Healing caps at 6 while Aura of Vitality and Mass Heal have a fixed pool). Got 20 people you need to heal? Throw down a level 3 Healing Spirit and you'll heal 1400 HP, double what a high level Cleric can do with a level 9 spell slot.
That sounds to me like it'll be banned from Adventurer's League, but everyone else will have to house rule it because somehow, someway, this completely broken spell made it into official release.
Which is really concerning. The whole reason we had UA releases was because no one expected WotC to get everything right 100% of the time. The UA releases allowed the public to spot the things WotC missed.
So why did WotC release these spells without running them through a UA? More importantly, has the team learned any lessons from this?
That sounds to me like it'll be banned from Adventurer's League, but everyone else will have to house rule it because somehow, someway, this completely broken spell made it into official release.
Which is really concerning. The whole reason we had UA releases was because no one expected WotC to get everything right 100% of the time. The UA releases allowed the public to spot the things WotC missed.
So why did WotC release these spells without running them through a UA? More importantly, has the team learned any lessons from this?
Same reason they don't run the final version of their classes through UA - it's easier to fine-tune things when working closely with a small number of people than polling a huge number people with wildly different opinions.
The real question is why their NDA playtesters didn't have a problem with it.
I don't have an answer to that - I have seen a lot of questions like yours on Twitter, hence the tweet I linked above.
In a combat situation, it's a fun spell that can add an interesting dimension to fights, freeing the druid up to do things that are fun, rather than just heal someone every round.
I think the explanation for how this spell got into the book at the potency it did is likely a very simple one; they (meaning all the staff that gave input on the writing and the internal playtesting groups) just don't have the mindset to consider things along the lines of "What does this spell do if a party spends the duration doing nothing but walking in and out of the area of effect, utilizing that there are turns that happen in a set an manageable order to overcome the difficulty that would arise in everyone getting their turn at the spell if the 6 seconds that make up a round were actually happening simultaneously for all the characters?"
If you've got a group that doesn't let the rules (that turns happen in a particular order, everyone moving in series) completely overrule the description (that everything in a turn is happening simultaneously over 6 seconds of time), I don't think the effect of this spell will seem overly potent.
Even if you're not going by the RAW, it's unreasonable to assume that 6 people can't pass through a space in 6 seconds.
It's not just "pass through a space in 6 seconds", it's "coordinately pass through a space once every 6 seconds for a minute without anyone running into each other or stumbling over each other."
Even if you're not going by the RAW, it's unreasonable to assume that 6 people can't pass through a space in 6 seconds.
It's not just "pass through a space in 6 seconds", it's "coordinately pass through a space once every 6 seconds for a minute without anyone running into each other or stumbling over each other."
Those are significantly different things.
I don't want to make any assumptions, but I assure you that a half-dozen able-bodied people in good health are perfectly capable of following each other in a circle with one rotation every 6 seconds.
Regardless, it's a silly discussion. RAW is RAW, and RAW every member of the party can pass through the space 10 times in a minute.
Thank you for your interesting homebrew ideas, though.
One last thing: The "a round is 6 seconds and everything happens pretty much simultaneously" is RAW just as much as everyone being able to neatly coordinate a circular jog because turns are taken sequentially is RAW.
The choice every person playing the game has is between A) use RAW to do what you think is fun and cool, or B) use RAW to do things you don't like and don't want to work.
Player; "Okay, everyone get in a circle. I'm going to cast healing spirit and we're all going to walk in circles through this one spot at a pace of about one circle per six seconds for the next minute."
DM: "Everyone roll initiative."
Player: "Wait, what? The door's closed and locked, we set traps, and you didn't even roll a dice! How could we have a random encounter!?"
DM: "I didn't say it was random. I decided that there was an encounter."
Player: "That's BS!"
DM: "So is what you're doing, but the rules, as written, say I can do this just like they say you can do what you're trying to do."
I don't know what the fix is, but I think it's pretty likely that this was designed to be used in combat, not during a short rest. It totally makes sense in that context — and not at all in the silly conga line of hit points.It seems like a pretty easy fix would be to limit it to 10 d6s of healing (per level cast).Another option would be to make it consume your reaction to do the healing. That would be a pretty big nerf in most situations, but would also keep the out-of-combat situation under control.
Player; "Okay, everyone get in a circle. I'm going to cast healing spirit and we're all going to walk in circles through this one spot at a pace of about one circle per six seconds for the next minute."
DM: "Everyone roll initiative."
Player: "Wait, what? The door's closed and locked, we set traps, and you didn't even roll a dice! How could we have a random encounter!?"
DM: "I didn't say it was random. I decided that there was an encounter."
Player: "That's BS!"
DM: "So is what you're doing, but the rules, as written, say I can do this just like they say you can do what you're trying to do."
The difference is the players have limits and the DM doesn't, so the players are just playing the game and the DM is just being a dick.
Player; "Okay, everyone get in a circle. I'm going to cast healing spirit and we're all going to walk in circles through this one spot at a pace of about one circle per six seconds for the next minute."
DM: "Everyone roll initiative."
Player: "Wait, what? The door's closed and locked, we set traps, and you didn't even roll a dice! How could we have a random encounter!?"
DM: "I didn't say it was random. I decided that there was an encounter."
Player: "That's BS!"
DM: "So is what you're doing, but the rules, as written, say I can do this just like they say you can do what you're trying to do."
The difference is the players have limits and the DM doesn't, so the players are just playing the game and the DM is just being a dick.
The DM has the same limits the players do - the rules the group has agreed to play by (not necessarily the ones in the book, mind you, nor necessarily equal in how they apply to players and how they apply to the DM) - and the players have the same expectation of their behavior as the DM does - that they aren't going to be a dick just because the rules say they can.
Player; "Okay, everyone get in a circle. I'm going to cast healing spirit and we're all going to walk in circles through this one spot at a pace of about one circle per six seconds for the next minute."
DM: "Everyone roll initiative."
Player: "Wait, what? The door's closed and locked, we set traps, and you didn't even roll a dice! How could we have a random encounter!?"
DM: "I didn't say it was random. I decided that there was an encounter."
Player: "That's BS!"
DM: "So is what you're doing, but the rules, as written, say I can do this just like they say you can do what you're trying to do."
The difference is the players have limits and the DM doesn't, so the players are just playing the game and the DM is just being a dick.
That's the problem right there.. Everyone at the table, DM included, is playing a game. BS like "Let's walk in a circle over and over again so the DM has to work harder to keep the challenge level where he/she planned it..." is also, quite clearly, being a dick.
The DM has the same limits the players do - the rules the group has agreed to play by (not necessarily the ones in the book, mind you, nor necessarily equal in how they apply to players and how they apply to the DM) - and the players have the same expectation of their behavior as the DM does - that they aren't going to be a dick just because the rules say they can.
The DM doesn't have the same limits as the players. The DM is in a position of power; the players aren't. That's the difference between being hit on by a stranger and being hit on by your boss.
The players aren't doing anything wrong for running the spell exactly as written. This isn't anywhere close to being an "exploit"; it's literally how the spell works. What possible excuse could you have for saying it only works in combat? What's more, it's not wrong of them to want to be stronger; the game wants them to want it. The game dangles class features and magic items just out of their reach all the time. It's completely natural that they'd reach for the strongest option.
That's the problem right there.. Everyone at the table, DM included, is playing a game. BS like "Let's walk in a circle over and over again so the DM has to work harder to keep the challenge level where he/she planned it..." is also, quite clearly, being a dick.
Or you could give them the benefit of the doubt and just talk to them.
Here's a few ways to handle that situation that don't involve being petty:
"Wow, that spell is incredibly strong for its level! I'll let you keep it for now, but if I find it too difficult to challenge you, I'm going to have to bring it in line with similar spells."
"Sorry Alice; I don't mind how strong the spell is, but Bob really wanted to be the healer and he's not having as much fun now that it's pointless to cast Prayer of Healing."
Let them have the initial adrenaline rush from their newfound power, then start ramping up the damage in your traps and encounters. No more setback traps, no more medium encounters.
Find other ways to inconvenience them that don't involve HP. Off the top of my head, Shadows have Strength Drain, Intellect Devourers can straight-up kill you if they incapacitate you, Medusas can petrify you, Bodaks can drop you to 0 HP if you fail a save, Vampires can reduce your maximum HP, Black Pudding and Rust Monsters can damage equipment.
Find ways for them to fail outside of combat.
Just let them have it. D&D is a co-opstorytelling game and combat is only 1/3 of that. If they're still having fun talking to NPCs, exploring, watching your story unfold, collecting magic items and showing all those iconic monsters they've heard so much about who's boss, what's the problem?
The DM doesn't have the same limits as the players. The DM is in a position of power; the players aren't. That's the difference between being hit on by a stranger and being hit on by your boss.
You are operating under the flawed assumption that this arrangement is inherent and the only possible arrangement. It is neither of those things, and in fact is only possible if the players have chosen to allow the DM to be "a position of power" more-so than, as a rough example, whomever happens to have the rule pamphlet to a board game nearest to them while playing it with a group of their peers.
What possible excuse could you have for saying it only works in combat?
I didn't see anyone say anything about the spell only working in combat, so I won't even attempt to defend that point. I will, however, clarify my position on the matter: It's not that it doesn't work in combat - it's that relying on combat rules (specifically turn order) rather than descriptive rules (i.e. the spells lasts a minute, and everyone dancing in and out of the spirit to get their healing sounds like just that, a dance, for which the choreography would need to be practiced before the characters could manage it without some kind of error happening in the process, like stumbling over one-another or failing to get the perfect set of 10 dips through the spirit each), while not in combat is the problem, not the text of the spell.
FIRST: If the only solution for the spell is to make it also summon bad guys whenever you cast it to interrupt you, it means the spell has MAJOR issues.
NEXT: The idea coordinating a game of "ring around the rosies"(with the center being beside the spirit) is too complicated for seasoned adventurers to do outside of combat is absolute and utterly nonsense.
Here is a general rule of thumb: If toddlers and preschoolers can do it successfully, adventurers should probably also be able to without much difficulty. Maybe hopscotch might require a dex check/save.
As written, the spell is utterly and completely imbalanced with other spells. As for using combat rounds and such out of combat, that is the only option when the spell lists things such as "enter it on your turn". Turns exist in combat, or when combat is about to take place, or whenever timing is important.
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Healing Spirit
A strong parallel can be drawn between Healing Spirit and Aura of Vitality, and a lesser parallel to Prayer of Healing. All 3 are designed to be used out of combat to heal up after a fight. For the following comparisons we'll assume a 6-person party and a healer with an 18 in their casting stat (only relevant to Prayer of Healing).
(EDIT: To be clear, there are MANY forms of healing in the game, but none of them come close to the power of Healing Spirit, Aura of Vitality, and Prayer of Healing - all of which are designed to be heal multiple targets in a between-encounter scenario. These three stand head and shoulders over every other healing option in the game.)
Aura of Vitality, which is available only to level 9 paladins, requires a 3rd level spell and 1 minute of concentration, can heal 20d6 hit points. That's an average of 70 HP which is a pool that can be distributed out in in 2d6 (7 HP) increments to the party at the caster's discretion. This spell cannot be scaled upward.
Prayer of Healing, which is available only to level 3 Clerics, requires a 2nd level spell and 10 minutes of casting, can heal 2d8+Mod hit points per party member. That's an average of 78 HP, of which only 2d8+Mod (13 HP) can go to a single party member. Every extra spell level increases healing by 1d8, so a 3rd level spell slot (equivalent to AoV) would heal an average of 105 HP, of which only 3d8+Mod (17.5 HP) can go to a single party member.
Healing Spirit, which is available to level 3 Druids and level 5 Rangers, requires a 2nd level spell and 1 minute of concentration, can heal 60d6 hit points. That's an average of 210 HP, of which 10d6 (35 HP) can go to a single party member. Every extra spell level increases healing by 1d6, so a 3rd level spell slot (equivalent to AoV) would heal an average of 420 HP, of which 20d6 (70 HP) can go to a single party member.
So, to compare them let's look at level 3 for each.
Aura of Vitality, 1 Minute
Total Healing: 20d6 (70 HP)
Max per Individual: 20d6 (70 HP)
Prayer of Healing, 10 minutes
Total Healing: [3d8+Mod]*6 (105 HP)
Max per Individual: 3d8+Mod (17.5 HP)
Healing Spirit, 1 minute
Total Healing: 120d6 (420 HP)
Max per Individual: 20d6 (70 HP)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is broken. Broken to a point that it's not worth discussing whether it's broken.
Which begs some questions. How did this make it into an official released product? Why did none of the WotC team spot this problem? Why did none of the people who were reviewing this material under NDA spot this problem? And, most importantly, why on earth would WotC release new spells without running them by the public through a UA when the entire purpose of the UA was to identify these kinds of problems so they wouldn't make it into official releases?
With this one ability WotC has completely invalidated every out-of-combat healing ability in the game. Prayer of Healing and Aura of Vitality? Joke status. Bard's Song of Rest? Joke status. Healer feat? Joke status.
Everything is a joke compared to Healing Spirit, which is more powerful than all of them put together and combined.
For a fun exercise, I'd like to see what level a druid would have to cast Healing Spirit to get the healing power of Mass Heal (level 9 cleric spell). Unlike AoV and PoH, Mass Heal is not an Apples to Apples comparison since it's only an action and thus can be used in combat.
Mass Healing, Level 9
Total Healing: 700 HP
Healing Spirit, Level 4
Total Healing: 630 HP
Healing Spirit Level 7
Total Healing: 1260 HP
Healing Spirit Level 9
Total Healing: 1680 HP
What a freaking joke. And remember, this is with 6 party members. If for whatever reason you need to heal more people, you're welcome to with Healing Spirit (Prayer of Healing caps at 6 while Aura of Vitality and Mass Heal have a fixed pool). Got 20 people you need to heal? Throw down a level 3 Healing Spirit and you'll heal 1400 HP, double what a high level Cleric can do with a level 9 spell slot.
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D&D Beyond FoundersIt does feel overpowered in play to me.
Here's the official response:
https://twitter.com/JeremyECrawford/status/930607373588209664
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
That sounds to me like it'll be banned from Adventurer's League, but everyone else will have to house rule it because somehow, someway, this completely broken spell made it into official release.
Which is really concerning. The whole reason we had UA releases was because no one expected WotC to get everything right 100% of the time. The UA releases allowed the public to spot the things WotC missed.
So why did WotC release these spells without running them through a UA? More importantly, has the team learned any lessons from this?
The Forum Infestation (TM)
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D&D Beyond FoundersI don't have an answer to that - I have seen a lot of questions like yours on Twitter, hence the tweet I linked above.
In a combat situation, it's a fun spell that can add an interesting dimension to fights, freeing the druid up to do things that are fun, rather than just heal someone every round.
Pun-loving nerd | Faith Elisabeth Lilley | She/Her/Hers | Profile art by Becca Golins
If you need help with homebrew, please post on the homebrew forums, where multiple staff and moderators can read your post and help you!
"We got this, no problem! I'll take the twenty on the left - you guys handle the one on the right!"🔊
I think the explanation for how this spell got into the book at the potency it did is likely a very simple one; they (meaning all the staff that gave input on the writing and the internal playtesting groups) just don't have the mindset to consider things along the lines of "What does this spell do if a party spends the duration doing nothing but walking in and out of the area of effect, utilizing that there are turns that happen in a set an manageable order to overcome the difficulty that would arise in everyone getting their turn at the spell if the 6 seconds that make up a round were actually happening simultaneously for all the characters?"
If you've got a group that doesn't let the rules (that turns happen in a particular order, everyone moving in series) completely overrule the description (that everything in a turn is happening simultaneously over 6 seconds of time), I don't think the effect of this spell will seem overly potent.
Even if you're not going by the RAW, it's unreasonable to assume that 6 people can't pass through a space in 6 seconds.
Regardless, it's a silly discussion. RAW is RAW, and RAW every member of the party can pass through the space 10 times in a minute.
Thank you for your interesting homebrew ideas, though.
One last thing: The "a round is 6 seconds and everything happens pretty much simultaneously" is RAW just as much as everyone being able to neatly coordinate a circular jog because turns are taken sequentially is RAW.
The choice every person playing the game has is between A) use RAW to do what you think is fun and cool, or B) use RAW to do things you don't like and don't want to work.
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ModeratorThis is basically how it works with everyone just running back and forth
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Player; "Okay, everyone get in a circle. I'm going to cast healing spirit and we're all going to walk in circles through this one spot at a pace of about one circle per six seconds for the next minute."
DM: "Everyone roll initiative."
Player: "Wait, what? The door's closed and locked, we set traps, and you didn't even roll a dice! How could we have a random encounter!?"
DM: "I didn't say it was random. I decided that there was an encounter."
Player: "That's BS!"
DM: "So is what you're doing, but the rules, as written, say I can do this just like they say you can do what you're trying to do."
I don't know what the fix is, but I think it's pretty likely that this was designed to be used in combat, not during a short rest. It totally makes sense in that context — and not at all in the silly conga line of hit points.It seems like a pretty easy fix would be to limit it to 10 d6s of healing (per level cast).Another option would be to make it consume your reaction to do the healing. That would be a pretty big nerf in most situations, but would also keep the out-of-combat situation under control.
The Forum Infestation (TM)
The Forum Infestation (TM)
You are operating under the flawed assumption that this arrangement is inherent and the only possible arrangement. It is neither of those things, and in fact is only possible if the players have chosen to allow the DM to be "a position of power" more-so than, as a rough example, whomever happens to have the rule pamphlet to a board game nearest to them while playing it with a group of their peers.
I didn't see anyone say anything about the spell only working in combat, so I won't even attempt to defend that point. I will, however, clarify my position on the matter: It's not that it doesn't work in combat - it's that relying on combat rules (specifically turn order) rather than descriptive rules (i.e. the spells lasts a minute, and everyone dancing in and out of the spirit to get their healing sounds like just that, a dance, for which the choreography would need to be practiced before the characters could manage it without some kind of error happening in the process, like stumbling over one-another or failing to get the perfect set of 10 dips through the spirit each), while not in combat is the problem, not the text of the spell.FIRST: If the only solution for the spell is to make it also summon bad guys whenever you cast it to interrupt you, it means the spell has MAJOR issues.
NEXT: The idea coordinating a game of "ring around the rosies"(with the center being beside the spirit) is too complicated for seasoned adventurers to do outside of combat is absolute and utterly nonsense.
Here is a general rule of thumb: If toddlers and preschoolers can do it successfully, adventurers should probably also be able to without much difficulty. Maybe hopscotch might require a dex check/save.
As written, the spell is utterly and completely imbalanced with other spells. As for using combat rounds and such out of combat, that is the only option when the spell lists things such as "enter it on your turn". Turns exist in combat, or when combat is about to take place, or whenever timing is important.