Starting Jade Regent, session 1 with this group, went ok, but a player had to make a "heal-bot" to follow the group around, and doesn't want to do that anymore. So here is the group make up, and I am looking for two things. A suggestion on a replacement class, and so cool RP ideas for 'the new guy.'
I am currently a tetori monk, and I will probably be the one changing to something else. So the whole group:
Tetori Monk (me)
Sword Saint Samurai
Ninja
Alchemist (bombs)
(A bard who may or may not keep playing)
Your Alchemist should be able to handle the healing burden, as could your Bard if they showed up. Spend your early money on getting a Cure Light Wounds Wand and play whatever you like. Heal bots are nice, but not necessary.
So the bard had to spent his spells healing and is now maybe dropping out ? Either way it looks like you colud need a divine caster, possibly melee-capable or a witch, with or without healing hex.
Leaves druid, cleric, oracle or inquisitor ?
Edit: on the other hand, what Oterisk said : heal bots aren´t really necessary, if you watch your tactics and get a wand.
There are many, many ways to get healing in Pathfinder. If your DM isn't super strict about buying magic items, a wand or two of Cure Light Wounds can really make a lot of difference in between battles.
Potions of Cure X Wounds are less cost effective but still very useful to have around.
On the class side, Clerics are still masters of healing for several reasons: spontaneous casting of Cure X spells (if you channel positive energy) and Channel Energy (positive, in this case) are great ways of keeping everyone fighting. But it's a mistake to think of clerics as "healbots", unless you want to play them that way. They are pretty multifaceted, and can be good in melee, at range (with work), at spellcasting, or a mix of the three.
Oracles make good healers, but they have limited spells known so require a bit more work. The Life mystery is good for healing.
Druids can heal perfectly well, but have to sacrifice a lot of their prepared spells to be dedicated at it.
Witches (w/Healing Hex and/or the Hedge Witch archetype) are also good healers, and can be good debuffers/buffers/arcanists as well.
Your Alchemist will actually be pretty useful at healing, as they can brew potions of cure wounds for half the cost of buying them (and can brew them on the road, buying supplies at stops along the way).
And finally, Bards are pretty good at party buffing (including healing) and have a lot of other neat tricks besides.
Ultimately, my suggestion (from an "optimal" standpoint) would be cleric; they are solid to have around and very useful in a number of situations. But take that with a grain of salt; if you play something you're not interested in it won't matter much if it's "optimal" because you won't be invested in the character :)
Well, aside from just healing, to me it looked like we way heavy on melee and VERY short on magic, especially if the bard is a no show. (She missed game 1 and hasn't commented if she will return :\)
hmmm. A human cleric of Erastil (maybe tied to Shalelu, the elf ranger) may be a good bet ... get a bow and point blank/precise shot and go from there. Your damage output won't be incredible, but that's fine.
The witch may be another good way to go. Plus I just like Wtiches :P
Somewhat short, but in PF you can adjust to almost anything IMO. You have 2 light- melee skillmonkeys, which is a bit much and one or two support casters. If you are left with only one caster, of four characters, thats not too bad. The Samurai front/center, ninja and monk take the flanks, alchemist stays behind.
Considering the eastern tilt of your party, i´d recommend a Whitehaired witch, but then again, without the bard, you might end up on the squishy-heavy side.
You have your glass cannon (ninja) your front line (samurai) and your back line (alchemist) those are the dedicated players any way. your possible bard will be a buffer/glass cannon if and when they decide to show. I think you should go druid, you have some heals so split that responsibility with the alchemist you can summon another front line man to take the focus off the samurai and ninja, you can buff some and basically when not casting just sit in the back row and pop arrows into the fray. Dedicate half your spells to healing and spontaneous cast summon monster when facing multiple smaller enemies
Would a dark tapestry or nature oracle fit and provide more utility to the group than the Monk?
The Alchemist can use the wand of cure light wounds (a spell-trigger device that is on his list of spells ... I mean formulae) so your healing problem is solved.
Have you considered implementing a house rule to cover healing? Something that would allow the characters to recover some hit points, both during and after combat, could alleviate the need for someone to "bite the bullet" and play a heal bot. It's not a terribly fun role to have to perform for most people. But the way d20 is set up, you either need one, need to be really generous with heal potions/scrolls/wands, or create a house-rule method of recovering HP.
How about:
• During combat, a character can take a "breather" for one round to recover a number of hit points equal to their character level. During this breather, they can't move at all, nor take any other actions, including free or immediate actions, and they are flat-footed.
or
• After combat, make a FORT save vs. DC 10. Characters instantly recover a number of hit points equal to the amount by which they exceeded the DC (min. 1).
or
• Characters recover hit points at a rate equal to their CON modifier per hour if they are active, or completely in one day if they rest.
Just some (untested) ideas.
A nice healing item is the Strand of Prayer beads...if multiple characters had one, it's usable every day without getting expended. Also look at salves in wondrous items and alchemical items in APG---Eastern medicine!
For builds/classes, a happy healer is often one that can still participate in the fight/damage significantly AND can take enough punishment to be able to keep helping the teammates when in-combat healing is needed.
I recommend Oracle of Battle for healing AND melee. And it would be easy to give it an Eastern warrior flavor.
Depending on your revelations (and a ring of revelation or Extra Revelation feat is always helpful), you can heal as a swift action 1/day by 7th level, you could gain free heavy armor and martial weapon proficiency, could gain new saves against the conditions that usually take you out of combat like blinded and frightened, and could gain free feats like Diehard, Improved Critical, etc. and/OR you could get FREE stoneskin that can't be dispelled. Battle oracle also has a morale-bonus granting ability kind of like Inspire Courage, only shorter.
The ability to roll twice for Intiative and take the better one EVERY TIME alone is terrific! Plus you get Perception and Intimidate as class skills.
Good mysteries for heavy combat could be Cloudy Vision or Lame as the curses eventually provide nice benefits. And Lame wouldn't be so bad with the Revelation Surprising Charge (your move as IMMEDIATE action 1/day) for emergencies.
Nature is nice for the Cha bonus to armor class, and Dark Tapestry has cool damage abilities/spells, which many oracles lack.
Good luck!
