Because other spell names are way too confusing. Heal: It heals.

This spell also ends the very debilitating effect of Feeblemind, although obviously you cannot cast this spell if you are the victim of Feeblemind.

Do any of the healing spells cause damage to undead or narcotics? 

Afraid not, healing in general is usually worse in terms of numbers than damaging spells, so it'd likely still be better to cast one of those. Spells that do radiant damage are sort of anti-undead as there is only a single undead creature that resists radiant damage and a single undead that is immune to it, the undying soldier and undying councilor respectively.

The one spell I can think of that directly affects undead differently is negative energy flood, which harms the living but grants temporary hp to the undead.

Can you cast this on yourself since your a creature you can see in range......Technically. 

Quote from AxleRa >>

Can you cast this on yourself since your a creature you can see in range......Technically. 

 Of course. Why would you be unable to do so?

 Quote from Appletonhope >>

Do any of the healing spells cause damage to ... narcotics? 

This doesn't specifically mention the Poisoned condition, but a lower-level spell such as Purify Food and Drink can neutralize it before consumption, and Lesser Restoration can clear it up if you're suffering from the debilitating effects.

I assume though that if you have an addiction to narcotics, that would be considered a Disease which this spell does treat (still though, I'd rather use a Lesser Restoration unless you also needed a lot of healing quickly)

Some players: Healing is actually useless in D&D.

This spell: Hold this.

Heal used to be so much more powerful.  In 3.5 it:

 It immediately ends any and all of the following adverse conditions affecting the Target: ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, sickened, stunned, and poisoned. It also cures 10 hit points of damage per level of the caster, to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level.

As a 6th level spell just feels so weak now, it heals essentially half what it used to and doesn't end anywhere near the conditions it used to.

It should heal 100 and 20 more for each additional spell level used in casting.  

Quote from Davalon >>

Heal used to be so much more powerful.  In 3.5 it:

 It immediately ends any and all of the following adverse conditions affecting the Target: ability damage, blinded, confused, dazed, dazzled, deafened, diseased, exhausted, fatigued, feebleminded, insanity, nauseated, sickened, stunned, and poisoned. It also cures 10 hit points of damage per level of the caster, to a maximum of 150 points at 15th level.

 

As a 6th level spell just feels so weak now, it heals essentially half what it used to and doesn't end anywhere near the conditions it used to.

It should heal 100 and 20 more for each additional spell level used in casting.  

 Completely agree.

I will probably use the 3.5 version in my games.  70 points of healing for a 6th level spell seems weaksauce.

It still heals far more per level on a single target than any other spell that isn't 9th level.

Sure.  what you're saying is "It doesn't suck as much as it could."  

Not a convincing argument.

I'd like to know who out here sayin' "healing is useless." I just wanna talk.

Quote from Merkvah >>

Sure.  what you're saying is "It doesn't suck as much as it could."  

Not a convincing argument.

 

You do realize that comparing different editions is apples to oranges, right? 3.X had a very different power curve than 5e does. In point of fact, scaling back the power curve is one of 5e's big points, which is why most healing spells are relatively inefficient relative to equivalent damage spells. This is very deliberate, since it helps keep fights from dragging out and reduces the impetus for a Cleric or Druid to be pigeonholed as a healbot.

Very niche issue, but any reason you can think of why this wouldn't show up in my list for magical secrets as a level 10 lore bard? I took aura of vitality off the cleric list at 6 (and another), but now at level 10 (get another set of magical secrets at 10) this spell isn't an option on the list for magical secrets. I can cast level 6 spells. It should be on the dropdown.

As a Level 10 Bard you don't have access to Level 6 spells yet.

The skill states, "A spell you choose must be of a level you can cast, as shown on the Bard table, or a cantrip." This corelates to the PHB, "spell you can cast" means "spell you could cast with only your levels in this class" same as prepared spells.

So you have to wait to Level 14 to choose Heal from the Magic Secrets table.

I would've said Quicken Spell as sorcerer but then I realized that sorcerers can't use this :(

Can this only heal temporary blindness or can it heal permanent blindness?

I don't believe the game makes any mechanical distinction between the two (as I don't think either permanent blindness or deafness were ever considered when making the rules). As such, I'd say it's entirely up to you/your DM. One could make the argument that Heal can only restore sight that you once had, but that's not mechanically indicated anywhere in the game.

There actually is a pretty niche subclass of sorcerer that can use it. Divine Soul sorcerers have full access to the Cleric spell list. I made one for a level 15 one-shot, and half of the party survived because I had Heal and Teleport. They're also awesome at higher level because I don't know of another subclass in anything that gives you an inherent fly speed, you'd have to use races for it. Although, I will admit that clerics with that many sorcery points can be pretty powerful. Twinned spell Guiding Bolt is basically an undead nuke if used right.