Level
Cantrip
Casting Time
1 Action
Range/Area
Touch
Components
V, S
Duration
Instantaneous
School
Evocation
Attack/Save
None
Damage/Effect
Healing
You touch an ally creature and channel their inner life force to cause a surge of natural healing. If the target creature has at least 1 hit point, it can spend one of its Hit Dice, rolling the die and adding their Constitution modifier to the result. They regain hit points equal to the total (minimum of 0).
A creature touched by this spell can spend one additional Hit Die when you reach 5th level (2), 11th level (3), and 17th level (4).
Previous Versions
Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
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12/20/2019 11:12:59 PM
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178
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1
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1.0
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Coming Soon
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12/20/2019 11:45:47 PM
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58
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1
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1.1
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Coming Soon
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12/21/2019 9:58:44 AM
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50
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2
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1.2
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Coming Soon
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12/21/2019 6:55:43 PM
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126
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8
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1.3
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Coming Soon
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1/7/2020 7:39:25 PM
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2404
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130
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1.5
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Coming Soon
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I'm assuming this is only adding the constitution modifier to the first HD you get, not the subsequent HD? This would bring it more in balance with other healing spells and give you an opportunity cost for having gotten to use them in mid-combat.
That's accurate. It doesn't say you add your Constitution modifier to the additional Hit Dice you roll, something I think most people don't notice.
I created something very similar to this, but I wanted it to be slightly worse than spending hit dice during a short rest (so that people do not skip them entirely by spamming this spell every 6 seconds). I removed the constitution modifier to the roll.
This is the actual official most popular homebrew spell on DnD beyond! Huh.
I’m so glad someone made a good healing cantrip, I really need stuff like this for my artificer.
Wow! A balanced Healing Cantrip!
A balanced healing cantrip. Nice
I don't think this is a balanced spell. Though it expends a resource, it's usually better than 1st level healing spells, and out of combat you can just keep casting the spell on everybody (without using the scaling feature of course, it's more efficient that way) and get the effective healing of a short rest. A minute and a half to expend 3 hit dice and add con to each one for a party of 5 (6 seconds = hit dice + con), faster with multiple casters.
It makes one of the main benefits of a short rest null because that part can be done much faster. But the spell is a really interesting concept, so it just needs tweaks. I'm not a professional, but I have a few scattered ideas, without knowing exactly which ones to put together, that could improve it:
1. Up the casting time to one minute. This is probably the most important improvement, as it makes the spell less helpful than 1st level healing spells, and with this you could even remove the "only if they're higher than 0 hit points" caveat. It makes the spell much worse than other healing spells, as it should be, ensuring that it only works out of combat. Use spare the dying in the mean time.
2. Expend the caster's hit dice instead of the target's, adding a whole new level of strategy and limitation to it. I'm less sure about this one, it depends on what other changes are possible.
3. Give it catnap's limitation of only working on an individual if it hasn't been used on them since their last long rest. "...and it can’t be affected by this spell again until it finishes a long rest." This is another important one, and my current main idea for it is this + 1 minute casting time. It also prevents the whole casting this spell multiple times is better than casting it more potently once.
4. No modifier. This makes it less consistently great than other healing spells, again as it should be seeing as it's a cantrip. This makes it less worth it than a hit die of taking a short rest, but since it's faster it can be helpful in more situations. May be unnecessary alongside the catnap limitation, maybe not, but it does also solve the repeat vs higher potency problem.
I'm open to any reasons why I'm wrong, but I think this is a cool spell that, as a cantrip, needs to be weaker. The 1 minute casting time and catnap limitations are both very possible ways of changing it so it can serve a different and more limited purpose than other healing spells.
I appreciate your feedback.
The intent of the cantrip is to provide consistent healing during combat that requires expending a resource to ensure it can't be spammed to constantly full heal outside combat.
This means the 1 minute cast time is a no go, since you might as well take a short rest instead.
I don't believe additional limitations are needed. Using the caster's hit die would significantly limit the use of this spell. Same for only using is on a given creature once per rest.
I can definitely see a case for removing the Con modifier from the healing. That would ensure a short rest is always more effective, but you can use this spell in combat to gain a limited form of healing when you need it.
In general, damage cantrips out perform damage 1st level spells eventually. Same should be said of a healing cantrips and healing spells.
Healing in 5e is pretty terrible, since any damage cantrip will eventually out perform 1st level healing spells.
A healing cantrip must scale the same way as a damaging cantrip, or it loses its effectiveness in the mid to late character levels.
This is an amazingly balanced healing cantrip actually. I just saw a clip about this on youtube and thought it would be a pretty good thing for mid-level players that need a bit of healing during combat scenarios too.
I think this is a very cool spell, but i agree with GameMasterGyn, that there should be a little bit more of a limitation on it, Since i personally think the resource drain isn't really enough, to balance it.
Sure, you need to spend hitdice, but you're doing that anyway during a short rest, so there isn't much more insentive over an short rest, rather using this spell outside combat. Sure there are abilities that recharge on a short rest, and removing the modifier would help.
but in the end, I feel a lot of classes that don't rely on short rest abilities, like most casters , would rather use this than take a short rest, since the benefit of the speed would outclass the small amount of additional hitpoints (provided you use the limitation of not using con mod). espacially those players with low con modifiers, since if they don't have short rest abilities, this spell would apply the same benefit as a short rest.
I get that it was supposed to be used inside combat, but i feel like most players would also use it outside combat, especially when there is a time pressure in the story.
If the player sees an oppertunity, they are most likely gonna use it.
My suggestion, aside from the con modifier idea, is that you limit that you can only use half of the targets hitdice between long rests (minimum of 1).
this way, you can still use it, but you put a limit on how many times you can use it, so they be more incentivized to not use it outside combat, and save it for when it's really necessary. this doesn't mean that they can't use it outside combat, but it would be choice, quiker recovery in exchange for less healing later on.
Other limitations could be related your spellcasting ability moddifier or proficiency bonus, But that's just me spitballing ideas.
I think the con modifier should be removed and maybe change the minimum of 0 to a 2 so you can always heal at least 2. for the rest i really love this cantrip.
Would you consider making it available for healing subclasses like divine soul sorcerers or celestial warlocks? I think it could help a lot to make it so those lesser chosen subs can feel more viable and not just a lesser cleric
It's a Cleric spell. The Divine Soul Sorcerer has access to the Cleric spell list, so it would have access to this spell. The Celestial Warlock only has access to the spells in it's limited Expanded Spell list and its Bonus Cantrips (Light and Sacred Flame), I don't think I can grant the subclass access without changing the subclass.
No cantrip should ever heal!!!
Using that logic, no cantrip should ever do damage.
I'd say minimum of 1 might be better but then again it is a cantrip
So unless you're a Warlock or something and need to take short rests to get back something... what's the point of taking short rests with this? The cleric can just walk around spamming this spell for a few seconds and the party moves on without taking a rest.
No cantrip should provide healing. It's just game breaking.
This spell seems a little OP for a cantrip. It can completely negate the need for short rests when cast out of combat, lowering the stakes of dungeons and removing the risk (and roleplaying opportunity, if your campaign does a lot of roleplaying) involved with a rest. I think this spell would make more sense as a 1st-level spell.
The main issue with the design of this spell is it allows you to leverage one of the main benefits of a short rest, for every party member, at the cost of an action rather than an hour.
For balance, I'd recommend saying that people can only benefit from the cantrip once a day, or that they have to complete a short rest before they can benefit from it a second time (etc.) - this makes it an effective emergency healing cantrip without making it possible to use to skip resting entirely.