Having played the healer in more than a few campaigns, it often comes across as cold and uncaring to only heal wounds when people fall below 0hp and/or have an important concentration-like feature running. The tactical reasoning for healing this way is of course that if I take an action to cast a heal for xd8+y hp it consistently falls short of the incoming damage of xd10+y (or worse) from even a single opponent, while instead taking an aggressive action could prevent any further attacks entirely by disabling the opponent. Similarily, if someone is at very low hp and is likely to take damage without being instagibbed, a heal from 0hp effecitively negates all of the damage even if just a Healing Word (or 1hp Goodberry/Lay on Hands).
So I was thinking about how to encourage proactive healing, still without trivialising combat, and took some inspiration from the Grave Cleric to arrive at this wording:
When you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell to a conscious creature with fewer remaining hit points than your character level + spellcasting ability modifier, you instead use the highest number possible for each die.
(I should note that including the word 'conscious' is deliberate. The intent is to reward you for keeping allies in fighting condition, so deal with the unconsciousness first if you can.)
But I wonder if this is change would be too significant to apply to all healing by spellcasting, and if it should be limited somehow. It could be a feat (or too weak?), or a lvl x Cleric feature (why not druids/bards?), or even Life Clerics only (way too narrow?). What do you think? Would you play differently if you had a feature like this? How widely would you include it?
Supreme Healing Starting at 17th level, when you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell, you instead use the highest number possible for each die. For example, instead of restoring 2d6 hit points to a creature, you restore 12.
A human variant character could have pretty close to same thing at level 1 that a level 17 Life Cleric would have (Life Cleric would be stronger since it works on all creatures that can receive healing and at all times as opposed to just conscious ones, but the human variant Grave Cleric would then have the 17th level Life Cleric ability as long as the character had less than level + mod HP).
Perhaps you could double the healing, though the amount could be no more than the full amount possible by the spell? Or add a rider that could increase the effectiveness by one die of the spell. Thus a 1st level healing word would now be 2d4+spellcasting mod while a 2nd level would now be 3d4+mod.
It might still be fine as you have written it, but include a rider that says that if this would already be the case due to another feature, then add another die to the healing. This would allow for interaction with the life cleric, which would ease the concern of stepping on toes some.
I'd consider instead adding an extra die to the healing, such ad 1d8 for cure wounds, 1d4 for healing word. Or instead being able to treat 1s on a die as a 2 instead. Or maybe both, but if both I'd make it have a 4th or higher level prerequisite. A feat or magic item (requiring attunement) is good.
Doing more than this, like maxing or doubling, is rather unbalancing and nullifies multiple features.
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I'd consider instead adding an extra die to the healing, such ad 1d8 for cure wounds, 1d4 for healing word. Or instead being able to treat 1s on a die as a 2 instead. Or maybe both, but if both I'd make it have a 4th or higher level prerequisite. A feat or magic item (requiring attunement) is good.
Doing more than this, like maxing or doubling, is rather unbalancing and nullifies multiple features.
I appreciate the intention behind the idea, but I wonder if it might be better to look at it the opposite way around? Instead of boosting healing of a conscious character, "nerf" healing of an unconscious one? Something like:
When an unconscious character has hit-points restored (by any means), they return to consciousness with 1 hit-point remaining.
Basically, a healing spell cast on a downed character stabilises and reawakens them instead of restoring hit-points, so it encourages you to heal them before they go down. This is also more consistent with death ward and similar abilities, and makes regular stabilisation more useful. The target can still then take a potion in their own turn, or other players with healing spells can top them up a bit.
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I agree that healing spells are woefully underpowered in combat, if what you want to is undo any damage. But keep in mind, the 'healing classes' are woefully underserved by players and parties that think of these PCs as "simple hp boosters that keep the fighters in the fight". It breaks my heart when 'healers' have to blow a spell slot to heal in combat. It kills me when they do it when the target is just low on hp. I want to pull my hair out when a PC has just been shot down and the 'healer' blows a spell slot to put the near death PC back into combat at the feet of a still strong enemy that just slayed it. And I lose all sense of right and wrong when a 'healer' starts doling out spell slots to heal in between combat, when there is a possibility of a short or long rest.
Though I agree that boosting the healing spells would help MANY players be more useful as far as what their party seems to need from them, I feel like all the players and the story the players are building together would be benefitted by better hp management, better precombat preparation, better procurement and in-combat-use of potions and kits, better post combat management of hit dice use; which, I think WotC intended to encourage by making these healing spells so under powered when compared to damage being dealt in combat.
The Healing Adventurer Classes are warriors for their god. To honor their god they can offset poor decisions or poor luck...but they better use the awesome power of their god or patron by loading the dice of combat through, banes, buffs, direct assault, combat environment control, and other rich tools they have to affect the whole of combat.
I'm not against healing or more effective healing. And though I may feel a piece of me die inside when a fellow player throws away a spell slot to heal, I've never voiced that feeling in game. That's no fun for anyone; and besides, it my hang up, and it and their character. But I'm super supportive of a more holistic use of PCs that happen to have some healing abilities.
A human variant character could have pretty close to same thing at level 1 that a level 17 Life Cleric would have.
A fair point, but on the other hand any PC with a winged race has the Tempest Cleric lvl 17 feature for free, and a Heavy Armor Master can equal the War Clerics lvl 17 feature for quite a while. So maybe making it a feat is perfectly balanced in that sense.
A human variant character could have pretty close to same thing at level 1 that a level 17 Life Cleric would have.
A fair point, but on the other hand any PC with a winged race has the Tempest Cleric lvl 17 feature for free, and a Heavy Armor Master can equal the War Clerics lvl 17 feature for quite a while. So maybe making it a feat is perfectly balanced in that sense.
HAM actually stacks with War Cleric (-3 damage vs resistance). The flying ability is an interesting comp since they wouldn't stack, but many flying races limit duration or armor type. That's part of the reason that I think making it work with Life Cleric 17 would be better since giving something that would not stack but be able to give a different utility would be difficult.
I considered a rule to deal with this issue from the non-healer angle: when you fall to 0 hp in an encounter, you suffer a level of exhaustion. This makes it much more important for healers to step up before they normally would. Of course this would need to be balanced by spacing out encounters more, or by implementing some other house rule to remove exhaustion more quickly, say by allowing characters to trade hit die to remove a level of exhaustion on a rest.
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Having played the healer in more than a few campaigns, it often comes across as cold and uncaring to only heal wounds when people fall below 0hp and/or have an important concentration-like feature running. The tactical reasoning for healing this way is of course that if I take an action to cast a heal for xd8+y hp it consistently falls short of the incoming damage of xd10+y (or worse) from even a single opponent, while instead taking an aggressive action could prevent any further attacks entirely by disabling the opponent. Similarily, if someone is at very low hp and is likely to take damage without being instagibbed, a heal from 0hp effecitively negates all of the damage even if just a Healing Word (or 1hp Goodberry/Lay on Hands).
So I was thinking about how to encourage proactive healing, still without trivialising combat, and took some inspiration from the Grave Cleric to arrive at this wording:
(I should note that including the word 'conscious' is deliberate. The intent is to reward you for keeping allies in fighting condition, so deal with the unconsciousness first if you can.)
But I wonder if this is change would be too significant to apply to all healing by spellcasting, and if it should be limited somehow. It could be a feat (or too weak?), or a lvl x Cleric feature (why not druids/bards?), or even Life Clerics only (way too narrow?). What do you think? Would you play differently if you had a feature like this? How widely would you include it?
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Have you play tested this idea in your campaign? What sort of affects would this have on balance?
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That seems like a good feat rather to create rather than a free rule.
I agree. That would make a great feat.
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From Life Cleric
Supreme Healing Starting at 17th level, when you would normally roll one or more dice to restore hit points with a spell, you instead use the highest number possible for each die. For example, instead of restoring 2d6 hit points to a creature, you restore 12.
A human variant character could have pretty close to same thing at level 1 that a level 17 Life Cleric would have (Life Cleric would be stronger since it works on all creatures that can receive healing and at all times as opposed to just conscious ones, but the human variant Grave Cleric would then have the 17th level Life Cleric ability as long as the character had less than level + mod HP).
Perhaps you could double the healing, though the amount could be no more than the full amount possible by the spell? Or add a rider that could increase the effectiveness by one die of the spell. Thus a 1st level healing word would now be 2d4+spellcasting mod while a 2nd level would now be 3d4+mod.
It might still be fine as you have written it, but include a rider that says that if this would already be the case due to another feature, then add another die to the healing. This would allow for interaction with the life cleric, which would ease the concern of stepping on toes some.
I'd consider instead adding an extra die to the healing, such ad 1d8 for cure wounds, 1d4 for healing word. Or instead being able to treat 1s on a die as a 2 instead. Or maybe both, but if both I'd make it have a 4th or higher level prerequisite. A feat or magic item (requiring attunement) is good.
Doing more than this, like maxing or doubling, is rather unbalancing and nullifies multiple features.
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You could do a re-roll 1s.
You could do a re-roll 1s.
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I appreciate the intention behind the idea, but I wonder if it might be better to look at it the opposite way around? Instead of boosting healing of a conscious character, "nerf" healing of an unconscious one? Something like:
Basically, a healing spell cast on a downed character stabilises and reawakens them instead of restoring hit-points, so it encourages you to heal them before they go down. This is also more consistent with death ward and similar abilities, and makes regular stabilisation more useful. The target can still then take a potion in their own turn, or other players with healing spells can top them up a bit.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I agree that healing spells are woefully underpowered in combat, if what you want to is undo any damage. But keep in mind, the 'healing classes' are woefully underserved by players and parties that think of these PCs as "simple hp boosters that keep the fighters in the fight". It breaks my heart when 'healers' have to blow a spell slot to heal in combat. It kills me when they do it when the target is just low on hp. I want to pull my hair out when a PC has just been shot down and the 'healer' blows a spell slot to put the near death PC back into combat at the feet of a still strong enemy that just slayed it. And I lose all sense of right and wrong when a 'healer' starts doling out spell slots to heal in between combat, when there is a possibility of a short or long rest.
Though I agree that boosting the healing spells would help MANY players be more useful as far as what their party seems to need from them, I feel like all the players and the story the players are building together would be benefitted by better hp management, better precombat preparation, better procurement and in-combat-use of potions and kits, better post combat management of hit dice use; which, I think WotC intended to encourage by making these healing spells so under powered when compared to damage being dealt in combat.
The Healing Adventurer Classes are warriors for their god. To honor their god they can offset poor decisions or poor luck...but they better use the awesome power of their god or patron by loading the dice of combat through, banes, buffs, direct assault, combat environment control, and other rich tools they have to affect the whole of combat.
I'm not against healing or more effective healing. And though I may feel a piece of me die inside when a fellow player throws away a spell slot to heal, I've never voiced that feeling in game. That's no fun for anyone; and besides, it my hang up, and it and their character. But I'm super supportive of a more holistic use of PCs that happen to have some healing abilities.
A fair point, but on the other hand any PC with a winged race has the Tempest Cleric lvl 17 feature for free, and a Heavy Armor Master can equal the War Clerics lvl 17 feature for quite a while. So maybe making it a feat is perfectly balanced in that sense.
I am one with the Force. The Force is with me.
HAM actually stacks with War Cleric (-3 damage vs resistance). The flying ability is an interesting comp since they wouldn't stack, but many flying races limit duration or armor type. That's part of the reason that I think making it work with Life Cleric 17 would be better since giving something that would not stack but be able to give a different utility would be difficult.
Maybe a bonus equal to proficiency bonus?
I considered a rule to deal with this issue from the non-healer angle: when you fall to 0 hp in an encounter, you suffer a level of exhaustion. This makes it much more important for healers to step up before they normally would. Of course this would need to be balanced by spacing out encounters more, or by implementing some other house rule to remove exhaustion more quickly, say by allowing characters to trade hit die to remove a level of exhaustion on a rest.