Hombrew Healer-ish class


Homebrew and House Rules

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I was thinking about putting together a class who heals automatically through an aura. The healing would kind of pale in comparison to magic, but would be automatic, so the player could focus on more fun things to do. I was thinking it would mostly mimic a fighter stat-wise, but more of a cleric for class features and flavor.

For now, let's just call the class the Life Warrior:
Hit Die: D10
Skills: Like a Fighter, plus heal
Weapons and Armor Proficiency: Like a Fighter
BAB and Saves: Like a Fighter

Aura: The Life Warrior must possess an item of sentimental value belonging to the person to be affected in order for them to receive the benefits of the aura. The 30' aura heals one point of damage every round, plus one point per 5 levels.

The aura also allows a save every round to surpress the effects of adverse conditions. A save may be made every round in which a recipient remains within the aura. A success merely supresses it for that round, but it resumes if they leave the aura. Conditions that may be surpressed are determined by level as follows-

4th- Paralysis
6th- Curses, Blindness/Deafness, Diseases
8th- Poisons
12th- Any Mental Condition

Additionally, the Life Warrior may heal one of the following through his aura once per round as a full round action-

4th- One point of ability damage
8th- One point of ability drain
12th- One negative level

Additional Features:

12th- Aura grants the effects of deathward
16th- Warrior may use raise dead as a spell-like ability once per day
20th- Warrior may use mass heal by sacrifising the use of his aura for the remainder of the day

So there it is. Try not to be too critical, but input would be great.

Thanks guys:)


This is very strong, I am not sure that fighter is better than this in most ways.


In my opinion, fighters are kind of weak, so the class features don't necessarily need to be qual to the fighters to be balanced. Still, that's not to say its not a bit too powerful. Do you think it would be more well rounded if HD, Skills, Proficiencies, BAB, and Saves mimicked the Cleric? Would you tweak something else instead?

The cure effect of the aura doesn't do much compared to mass cure spells at comparative levels, but is far more useful between fights. Kind of the same for the restoration effects. I was worried about monsters that killed through negative energy attacks though, so I added the deathward ability.

The ability to suppress conditions is pretty awesome though. But, they ha e to remain in the aura, and they're never actually cured, and they must make the save every round.


So, basically, the Life Aura replaces Bonus Feats, Weapon Training, Armor Training and Bravery?

The class seems decent, maybe a bit underpowered. However, it looks like the absolute dullest class ever to actually play.


I dunno if I'd say that. Dedicated healer is pretty dull, which is what its meant to replace.

So the questions are...

Does it seem balanced? If not, what needs added/subtracted?
Would it be more fun than a dedicated healer?

I think the answer to the second question is a definite yes, being that you get to act freely every round instead of heal, and have the martial abilities to actually do something. Its the question of balance I'm more concerned about.


have you looked at the vitalist from dreamscarred press? now thats a healer done right...


I have. I like psionics a lot too. Unfortunately my players are a bunch of haters

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A fighter with an at-will healing aura and the ability to have allies ignore powerful status conditions? That's rather broken, actually. I explained in many discussions that at-will healing -- even something as simple as 1hp/round -- has a dramatic effect on the game. Healing ability drain and negative level for free at-will is also extremely powerful. Normally, these effects have a financial cost to fix and can only be undone with a specific spell. Even the heal spell can't fix them.

Sure, you can use the logic that this is all fine since the class doesn't have many class features. However, it's not a good idea to give game breaking abilities as a clutch for making your class weak.

Also, you can't use language like "any mental condition." Unlike a video game, there isn't a finite set of effects and there's no concrete definition on what is and isn't a "condition." Technically, this ability would suppress morale bonuses and enhancement bonuses to mental ability scores, both of which are mental effects. You have to provide a static list.

Finally, the class really doesn't look very fun to play.


@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

As for the language "Any mental condition", I may have misworded. My intent was to mimic greater restoration, but now that I'm looking, there are some other conditions that need added anyway. I'll have to update that.

I'll state again, the class only needs to be more fun to play than a dedicated healer. My players don't like sitting back and healing every round. They'd rather swing at something. This class would allow them to do that.


Hmmm, well, if you're willing to listen to an amateur for a second...

I think the complete abandonment of bonus feats is a problem; I'm not saying to add them all back; but maybe every other even level instead of every other level (so, about 5 bonus feats, tops). Maybe even make it that there are specific feats you take as that class, some of which could be custom built for the class.

I'd also say to give him SOME form of active healing or spellcasting; otherwise it's just dull. Maybe some basic cleric or druid spells. You could also take some tips from the Magus class and give them something like the Arcane Pool; in this case, they spend points from it to boost the power of their healing.

As for the aura itself, I'd say the most healing it should do is a d4, with an added d4 every other level after first. "Lifeforce Pool" (as I shall call it for now) adds a d4 for each point spent.

Edit: Just now noticed the "one point per round, plus one per five levels; that works too.


Alternatively, instead of making a class that does this, I'd say just create a template that accomplishes the same thing. This does seem more fitting for a template than a class anyway.


This might as well be the warrior NPC class with an aura, instead of a fighter with an aura. If the goal is for no one to cast cure spell, then you have succeeded, but the person playing this class has nothing interesting to do. At least a fighter gets to choose which weapons he a better at, and gains a slew of extra feats to customize and diversify his fighting style. This class doesn't have that. There are no options during combat. There are the full-round action restorations, but a character will wait until combat is done unless its a life and death emergency.

I suggest starting over.

If the class has a point pool and a list of talents, then you gain customization when you level up and resources that can be used as the player sees fit. Maybe activating the fast healing aura requires a point. Maybe the healing becomes better when you slect certain talents, maybe it supressed certain conditions an ally has depending on talents, maybe you spend a point to use an ability like Lay on Hands.

But how does this translate into a combat style? I think a focus on non-lethal damage would be cliche and boring, but what if the healer absorbed ailments from his allies and inflicted them on enemies? What if he had a means to supress an enemy's healing or resistance? What if he could dabble or focus in necromancy?

It would also help if you wrote a paragraph or so describing what the character does and/or where the power comes from.


Nope, wouldn't do it. At all.

Healing in this game is a resource. It's meant to be hoarded and saved and spent preciously. When this resources is fully consumed, that's when the adventurers need to get out of the dungeon and rest so they can recover this resource.

Many aspects of the entire game are balanced around this idea.

Back in 3.5, we had a level 0 cleric Orison that healed 1 HP per cast. Cure Minor Wounds. But back then, you could only cast orisons a few times per day. Then Pathfinder made Orison's "at will" so you can cast them every round forever, never running out. In the process, the developers DELIBERATELY removed Cure Minor Wounds because they did NOT want clerics to be able to cure 1 HP per round all day long. Fight's over? You took 40 HP damage? Give me 40 rounds and I can heal all that damage for free.

That doesn't even sound too bad, but the developers took it out because it breaks game balance.

Look at the recent Errata to prevent witches from using their "at will" healing Hex with Hex Vulnerability because witches were healing every round. The developers took that away too, because it breaks the game balance.

That said, YOU might want a different game balance than the developers do. That's what house rules are for. I was just mentioning the above to put it into perspective for any discussion about classes (or anything else) that can simply auto-heal every round forever - it's a definite "Never supposed to happen!" item for the game developers.

More to follow.


The Good:

jimibones83 wrote:
Aura: The Life Warrior must possess an item of sentimental value belonging to the person to be affected in order for them to receive the benefits of the aura.

The item requirement is not a limitation, it's a benefit. This character can carry an item from each friend so they can be healed while enemies and monsters cannot. Although, it might be funny to trick a player with the ability: let them loot a monster's treasure BEFORE they fight the monster - wouldn't it be funny if this character were carrying something precious to that monster? He's the fighter with the muscles, he probably carries most of the heavy loot anyway...

jimibones83 wrote:
The 30' aura heals one point of damage every round, plus one point per 5 levels.

You do realize that this is WAY WAY WAY WAY better, yes, four "WAYS", than the Cure Minor Wounds cantrip, right?

WAY #1: No action required. Clerics would have had to spend an action healing 1 HP, but your class does it for no actions.
WAY #2: It quicky starts to heal even more than Cure Minor Wounds (2 HP per round at 6th level, 3 at 11th level, 4 at 16th level).
WAY #3: It's an aura that affects multiple allies at the same time.
WAY #4: You can heal this damage at RANGE. No touching required.

So a 16th level guy with this class in a 5-man group will be healing 20 HP per round at range with this aura and won't even need to spend any actions to do it.

The devs killed Cure Minor Wounds which required an action to heal ONE target of ONE HP.

This is brokenly overpowered.

jimibones83 wrote:

The aura also allows a save every round to surpress the effects of adverse conditions. A save may be made every round in which a recipient remains within the aura. A success merely supresses it for that round, but it resumes if they leave the aura. Conditions that may be surpressed are determined by level as follows-

4th- Paralysis
6th- Curses, Blindness/Deafness, Diseases
8th- Poisons
12th- Any Mental Condition

Wow.

In addition to action-free unlimited healing of HP damage at a rate potentially 20x greater than the Cure Moderate Wounds orison that the developers removed from the game, now we get action-free unlimited condition removal for multiple allies simultaneously.

This just went from brokenly overpowered to insanely overpowered.

jimibones83 wrote:

Additionally, the Life Warrior may heal one of the following through his aura once per round as a full round action-

4th- One point of ability damage
8th- One point of ability drain
12th- One negative level

So, now we can also cast Restoration spells faster than they can actually be cast (Restoration requires 3 rounds to cast it once).

No mention of the 1-week limit of restorations used to restore permanent level loss, so I suppose you can restore both levels on a someone who just received a Raise Dead and it only takes two rounds rather than 2 weeks?

But at least you made this require an action, even if it is less of an action than the actual spells it replaces.

We're up to insanely game-breakingly overpowered.

jimibones83 wrote:

Additional Features:

12th- Aura grants the effects of deathward
16th- Warrior may use raise dead as a spell-like ability once per day
20th- Warrior may use mass heal by sacrifising the use of his aura for the remainder of the day

These are actually the least overpowered parts. I have few complaints here, except I would put the Material components onto these spells. No free Raise Dead; you still need 5,000gp for the component.

Game-breakingly overpowered. I hope that's what you wanted.

More to follow.


Thanks for the input guys:) The idea of absorbing ailments and inflicting them on enemies is pretty cool. A pool is great too. I just came up with this as a starting point in about an hour. I'm going to spemd a bit of time reworking and use some of these ideas. I also like the idea of making it a template quite a bit. It may not be as approachable as such for other people, but its just for my personal group, and that may actually work even better for us.


The bad:

As a previous poster said, this class would be insanely boring to play. Fighters are already boring. All they do is move and hit things. But at least they have feats, lots of feats, so they might have to figure out which feats they need to use in a particular tactical situation, and next round the situation might have changed so they need to use different feats. At least, sometimes this might happen.

But this "fighter with insanely game-breakingly overpowered heals" doesn't even get that. All he does is move and hit things the same way, every round, round after round, forever.

Boring.

You took the boring fighter class and stripped it of what little versatility and interest it might have pretended to have, and replaced that with a "no action required" heal aura which does nothing to make the class more interesting.

If you want this insanely game-breakingly overpowered healing ability, then why not put it on a class that is actually fun to play. Give it to a paladin, they are supposed to have auras anyway. Make it an alternative paladin and replace Lay On Hands. Let them keep their bond, their smite, and their spells so the player has something to do all day.

More to follow.


@DM_Blake

I've only read your first post so far, so I'll address that one only for now.

I didn't realize it, but it seems you are right. The devs did take that out specifically. However, I'm not too worried about it in my personal games, as you mentioned the possibility of at the end of your comment. I don't mind giving it a shot anyway, and seeing what happens.


The rest.

Having said all that, here's how I would suggest making it playable:

1. Put all the spell components back into play, and the time limits. No free restorations (the component costs 100gp or 1,000gp depending on use) that only take one round (the spell takes three rounds). And definitely no free raise dead spells.

2. Make the aura something that has to be activated like a Bardic Performance, an then has limited rounds per day like Bardic Performance, so that the player cannot just have it on all day - he'll need to choose when and where to spend his precious healing resource, like the game designers intended.

3. As I mentioned before, apply this to a more interesting class than fighter. Or if you must put it on a fighter, then don't take away the fighter's versatility. Still, I think a paladin or an inquisitor or even a reflavored bard might fit the concept better.

4. Finally, consider NOT making it a class ability at all. Someone mentioned template. Fine, but those are hard to acquire after your character is made. Why not make it an artifact? That way, you can let the players roll up whatever characters they want (maybe NOBODY wants to be a fighter or paladin or inquisitor or bard, etc.) and they don't need to grab any templates (that always makes character-generation weird and hard to balance), but then you can drop this artifact into the campaign in any way you like, and ANY of the PCs can use it without having to change or alter their character concept.

Sorry for the multiple and/or long posts. Hopefully something in there is helpful.


@DM_Blake

Lol, I'm sorry man, yur review made me snicker a little. Splitting 20 points of healing per round between five 16th level characters is absolutely nothing but a means to heal between fights. I mean, people are getting smacked for 50 points of damage a round at that level, 5 points of healing doesn't really tip the scales much. Like I said, all that is is a means of healing between fights. Its different, not overpowered, and certainly not broken.

As for the removal of conditions, you seem to have ignored the fact that it doesn't remove them, it only surpresses them for the round, and only if they pass another save and remain in the aura. This feature is probably better than the healing, but I still not op.

The restoration effects though, maybe they need some work, I dunno. I mean, you can cast it quicker, but its not equal to a restoration. It only heals 1 damage, not 1d4, so that seems like a fair exchange. But I didn't factor in the 1 week waiting period between negative levels. How about this?

This:

Aura at 12th- Remove one temporary negative level as full-round action

Additional Features:
10th- Aura grants Deathward
14th- Can cast Raise Dead once per day
16th- Can cast Greater Restoration once per day
20th- May use Mass Heal as SLA by sacrificing aura for remainder of the day

I just dont get the idea that its more boring than a fighter. I run out of things to spend fighter bonus feats on anyway. In mean, you've got a feat every other level either way. Still, agree to disagree I suppose. For the third time though, this isn't the part I'm worried about.

The idea that its healing ability is insanely game-breakingly overpowered though is just silly.

One thing you said though that I really liked was to make something to give to the paladin. This is the shining idea of this thread to me, so I thank you for that. I'm going to sit down and make an archetype:)


Well, I'm glad you found something you liked... :)

I didn't miss the fact that suppressing is not removing, but almost all these effects have durations, so all the allies have to do is stay in the aura until the duration expires and the condition is removed. So it is, effectively, removing the condition.

But you are right, for the permanent conditions, you'll still need someone to remove it, some day.

I have this vision in my mind of some PC with this aura when one of his friends becomes permanently paralyzed. His friend is fine when he stays within 30', inside the aura, but the mischievious guy with the aura keeps choosing funny times to move more than 30' away, paralyzing his ally by removing the suppression:

Fred: Hey, Joe, thanks for suppressing this paralysis for the last few months since I got permanently paralyzed.
Joe: No problem.
Fred: But I have to ask a favor.
Joe: Anything, bud.
Fred: Well, see those hot chicks at the bar? I wanna go chat one up.
Joe: No problem, bro. Go pull her digits.
Fred: Digits? You mean her BAB and HP?
Joe: No, dude, just go talk to her. I'll stay within 30'.
(Fred saunters over to the cute elf chick at the bar)
Fred: Hey, cutie, did it hurt?
Elf chick: Really? The old "angel" pick-up line? You're gonna lead with that?
Fred: Well, I, uh, no actually. I was going to go with azata instead, because you are so beautiful you could actually be an azata.
Elf chick: Oh, aren't you sweet...
(Just then, Joe steps to the far side of the room, taking his aura with him. Fred crumples in a paralyzed heap, hitting his head on the bar as he collapses limply to the ground)
Elf chick: What the Abyss?
Elf chick's friend: Wow, did some witch just hex this guy?
Elf chick: Oh, look, he's drooling on the floor.
Elf chick's friend: Let's blow this lame scene. There's a better bar across town.
Elf chick: Too bad, he was kinda cute. And that azata line was working...
(They try not to step on Fred too much as they leave)
(Of course, Joe is laughing his butt off on the other side of the room)
(Fred just keeps drooling)

Man, if I were Joe, I'd totally punk my heavily-conditioned-but-suppressed allies all day long (except when it mattered, like in dangerous dungeons, of course).


Its not effectively removing the condition at all lol. Any round the afflicted fails his save, he still suffers the affliction. He has to make the save every round to ignore the affliction for that round. You probably wouldn't pass that save every round of a fight, let alone indefinitely.

I liked the paladin idea a lot, but it wasn't all I liked. Criticism on the restoration effects was also useful.

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jimibones83 wrote:

@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

When I say "broken," I mean in a game design sense. As DM_Blake pointed out, healing is designed as an important finite resource that the entire game's flow revolves around. A class that gives free healing at-will dramatically changes that flow.


Its a constant trickle of healing. Its limited by the tiny amount per round and the lack of bulk healing to use during a fight. It allows a group to continue all day by resting for a few minutes between fights, but they'd need to be careful about how much they bite off at once. I dont see it being a dramatic impact, but I respect your right to have a different opinion.


Why not just give everybody in the whole party a magical tattoo (or some other slotless item) that gives DR 1/- and ER 1 vs. every kind of energy? At level 6, they can upgrade that to DR 2/- and ER 2 vs. All. Etc.?

Why don't these items exist in the game (tattoo, or a ring, or armor, or whatever?

I bet you know the answer. It's the same answer as the reason that there are no items (at all, but especially no slotless items) that heal 1 HP to all allies (with or without using any actions).

You know it's overpowered. I've explained the reasoning behind it, and the developers' efforts to prevent it.

At this point, defending the idea by calling it a "trickle of healing" is just pointless. Either say "Yep, it's overpowered and maybe even game-breaking, but I want to do it anyway" or say "Yep, it's overpowered and maybe even game-breaking, so I won't do it", but don't try to debate that it's not an issue.

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jimibones83 wrote:
Its a constant trickle of healing. Its limited by the tiny amount per round and the lack of bulk healing to use during a fight. It allows a group to continue all day by resting for a few minutes between fights, but they'd need to be careful about how much they bite off at once. I dont see it being a dramatic impact, but I respect your right to have a different opinion.

That's precisely what's wrong with it. I explain why here.


Cyrad wrote:
jimibones83 wrote:

@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

When I say "broken," I mean in a game design sense. As DM_Blake pointed out, healing is designed as an important finite resource that the entire game's flow revolves around. A class that gives free healing at-will dramatically changes that flow.

As I've told DM_Blake before, that horse left the barn 15. f#%*ing. years. ago. Out-of-combat healing de facto not a limited resource, and hasn't been since Craft Wand was printed. At-will trickle healing does not significantly change the game.

Design goals and design results are not the same thing.


I thought about something like... Of course many of the issues listed by other posters are valid.

What could be done with it? Make the aura active ability, like bardic performance or barbarian rage perhaps - you turn it on and off, using up a limited number of rounds per day. The limited number of rounds per day should probably lead to increased fast healing granted by this ability, maybe half the class level (minimum 1). Add life power every two levels that expand effects of the aura, such as bestowing a small number of temporary hit points, granting an energy resistance, extending range of aura, grant fancy side-effects like having the aura illuminate the area, etc.


Drejk wrote:
Make the aura active ability, like bardic performance or barbarian rage perhaps - you turn it on and off, using up a limited number of rounds per day.

You mean like this?

DM_Blake wrote:
2. Make the aura something that has to be activated like a Bardic Performance, an then has limited rounds per day like Bardic Performance, so that the player cannot just have it on all day - he'll need to choose when and where to spend his precious healing resource, like the game designers intended.

We so rarely agree on things...


Casual Viking wrote:
Cyrad wrote:
jimibones83 wrote:

@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

When I say "broken," I mean in a game design sense. As DM_Blake pointed out, healing is designed as an important finite resource that the entire game's flow revolves around. A class that gives free healing at-will dramatically changes that flow.

As I've told DM_Blake before, that horse left the barn 15. f%*+ing. years. ago. Out-of-combat healing de facto not a limited resource, and hasn't been since Craft Wand was printed. At-will trickle healing does not significantly change the game.

Design goals and design results are not the same thing.

If 3 gp per hit point is de facto not a limited resource to you could you please send me a quarter of the loot your party receives? You clearly don't need it anyway if 3 gp per hit points is unlimited for you! :D


DM_Blake wrote:
Drejk wrote:
Make the aura active ability, like bardic performance or barbarian rage perhaps - you turn it on and off, using up a limited number of rounds per day.

You mean like this?

DM_Blake wrote:
2. Make the aura something that has to be activated like a Bardic Performance, an then has limited rounds per day like Bardic Performance, so that the player cannot just have it on all day - he'll need to choose when and where to spend his precious healing resource, like the game designers intended.
We so rarely agree on things...

Ah, sorry, I overlooked that you already suggested this.


Note that my suggestion was offered from a point of view of a game designer assuming you want to create a new class for the fun of creating a new class. If the OPs intent is to change the balance and dynamics of healing I'd suggest simply house-ruling the way the healing works: maybe have the rest recover all the hit points for a starter, like in 5th edition and give each character two uses of Second Wind per day, healing 1/4th of the character's hit points, and have Heal skill applications recover some hit points as well.


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Drejk wrote:
Casual Viking wrote:

As I've told DM_Blake before, that horse left the barn 15. f%*+ing. years. ago. Out-of-combat healing de facto not a limited resource, and hasn't been since Craft Wand was printed. At-will trickle healing does not significantly change the game.

Design goals and design results are not the same thing.

If 3 gp per hit point is de facto not a limited resource to you could you please send me a quarter of the loot your party receives? You clearly don't need it anyway if 3 gp per hit points is unlimited for you! :D

Here's another thing we agree on.

At low levels (1-4) when Craft Wand is unavailable, healing 1d8+1 is fairly powerful and entirely up to the GM to let the party find such a resource and up to the GM how many charges that resource has, and therefore, if the party has such a wand at all, they probably think about conserving that resource. You know, just like I've described resource management in this thread.

At 5th level the party can finally craft the wand, IF somebody takes that feat. Many parties don't have anyone who takes Craft Wand. So few wands are truly cost effective and useful much past 5th level that people with feats to spare on crafting magical items are often looking at other things that aren't wands.

So, for the group who has somebody who wants this feat and uses it to craft wands of Cure Light Wounds, then yes, this group has some access to lots of out of combat healing. Of course, that guy might have only made, say, 2 wands, 100 total charges, and every fight for a 5th level group might use 5-10 charges. If the adventure is long enough, they might run out of charges before they make more wands. Or not. It's definitely really useful at 5th level.

But at 10th level they might blow an entire wand after just a couple fights. That starts to get expensive AND it takes time. "Hey, Fritzie, we're going into this dungeon. Rumors have it that it's pretty big. We might have 20 fights in there. Can you whip up 10 wands so we don't run out of healing?"

"Sure thing, Bob. Give me 10 days and we'll be ready."

That's when the GM says "Yeah, but that princess will be sacrificed on the full moon in just three days. Are you sure you want to spend 10 days making those wands?"

No, Casual Viking, that ship has definitely not sailed. I'll grant you that it's sitting at the dock, the crew is boarding and the captain is making plans to sail at high tide, but it's still in port.

(Metaphorically, I'm partially agreeing that Craft Wand and even Brew Potion actually do grant substantial extra resources for out of combat healing, but I'm disagreeing that it's unlimited and maintaining that it's just a larger pool of resources available only to some groups, and it still needs to be somewhat managed.)


@DM_Blake The idea that its op is laughable. It doesn't allow them to nuke a balor at 10th level, or take the challenge out of the game in any way. Your argument is ridiculous.

What does it matter if the group fights the bad guy today or tomorrow? It does not.


On a side note:

This whole thread is about making some potentially game-breaking class features that require a player to take that class or archetype.

But there is a much simpler solution.

Just drop a whole bunch of wands, potions, and/or scrolls into the dungeon so the group can loot them. These resources do the same thing as the class feature. Heck, at first level you can have them kill a half-dozen goblins who were each wearing a Ring of Regeneration - now they never have to worry about HP, and can find wands for those pesky conditions. Sure, that blows the WBL tables out of the water but it's no more game-breaking than the potential class feature we're discussing.

Or have them find a GMPC who is amazing at low-level healing and high-level condition removal who tags along, but the guy is a half-wit savant who cannot be used to make decisions. All he does in battle is cower in the corner and cast defensive spells on himself, then heal everyone after the fight. Make him a cowardly goblin or any of a few dozen other small and helpless races in the bestiaries, but with a kind and helpful disposition as long as the party treats him well.

I mean, if the GM's goal is to just make sure the party never has to worry about healing and removing negative conditions, there are already resources in the game that can do it very easily without creating new classes/archetypes and, more importantly, without forcing someone to play that class to get the benefit.


I'll drop a ring of regeneration into the game for each of my 4th level players this Friday. They dont have a healer anyway. I'll be sure to come back in a few months and report how it went


jimibones83 wrote:

@DM_Blake The idea that its op is laughable. It doesn't allow them to nuke a balor at 10th level, or take the challenge out of the game in any way. Your argument is ridiculous.

What does it matter if the group fights the bad guy today or tomorrow? It does not.

So why stop there?

Why not give Wishes to first level wizards?

Too much?

Why not multiply the daily spell slots by, oh, say 100? So a level 1 wizard can cast 300 first level spells per day?

Why not give first level fighters 100 feats instead of only 1?

I mean, each round they can only use 1 spell or 1 feat, so it still won't let them kill a balor.

Why have limits at all? We should all do what we want with no limits and, heck, with no rules.

The answer to all this is game balance. You obviously don't care or don't understand the idea, which is fine. I've tried to explain it. You've either missed the point or ignored the point and called it laughable. Fine. You're welcome to your opinion, even though it clearly is quite the opposite of the developers' opinion (which means you might be playing the wrong game - there are other games where the developers' design goals are much more in line with what you're looking for).

I've made my point. You don't want it, but maybe it will help other players reading this thread with similar questions.

Or maybe not.


Drejk wrote:
Casual Viking wrote:
Cyrad wrote:
jimibones83 wrote:

@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

When I say "broken," I mean in a game design sense. As DM_Blake pointed out, healing is designed as an important finite resource that the entire game's flow revolves around. A class that gives free healing at-will dramatically changes that flow.

As I've told DM_Blake before, that horse left the barn 15. f%*+ing. years. ago. Out-of-combat healing de facto not a limited resource, and hasn't been since Craft Wand was printed. At-will trickle healing does not significantly change the game.

Design goals and design results are not the same thing.

If 3 gp per hit point is de facto not a limited resource to you could you please send me a quarter of the loot your party receives? You clearly don't need it anyway if 3 gp per hit points is unlimited for you! :D

Have you checked out the wealth-by-level and treasure-per-encounter numbers of even 3rd level characters? 3 gp per HP is chump change.


I do care about the design of the game though, I just don't believe healing a hit point every round disrupts anything at all. So you get to fight the bad guy today instead of tomorrow, so what. Not that big of a deal.

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Casual Viking wrote:
Cyrad wrote:
jimibones83 wrote:

@Cyrad

Its broken if your playing with a healer in the group that can heal large amounts in the heat of battle, but is it when its the only means of healing?

When I say "broken," I mean in a game design sense. As DM_Blake pointed out, healing is designed as an important finite resource that the entire game's flow revolves around. A class that gives free healing at-will dramatically changes that flow.

As I've told DM_Blake before, that horse left the barn 15. f!$@ing. years. ago. Out-of-combat healing de facto not a limited resource, and hasn't been since Craft Wand was printed. At-will trickle healing does not significantly change the game.

Design goals and design results are not the same thing.

Wands make healing easier to stockpile, but it's still a finite resource that relies on money, another finite resource. Playtests have shown that at-will healing does significantly alter how the game functions. Anyone can see why this is the case if they understand how the encounter system and the fundamental game design pattern in D&D/PF works.

Even beside the whole healing issue, at-will abilities are very valuable due to how the game works on a fundamental level.

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If you want to know if it's on a comparable level as the current game (and therefore presumably not overpowered), look at what else does what you are describing. A ring of regeneration is the only thing in the game I can think of that currently gives unlimited healing 24/7 (or however many hours in your days/days in your weeks). And it heals 1 hp/round, which is less than what your aura is doing at later levels. And it costs 90,000 gp, and only affects one person. Using the Wealth-By-Level chart, and assuming you can only have up to half that number in a single item, you have to be 14th level before you can expect to own one.

Design-wise, this is a red flag.

Use the CR mechanic. Your first level party of 4 characters has 36 hp (for example). A single encounter of the party's level is designed to use up about 1/4 of the party's resources. Let's assume that the consumption is spread evenly so they lose 9 hp across all 4 characters. In 9 rounds, they're all better. That's under a minute. You cite the 20hp/round spread out across all party members at later levels. So, in a minute you've handed out 120 hp across the party. Not enough? Wait another minute, and you gave out 240. Depending on your environment, you can usually expect to be undisturbed for a minute or two in any dungeon. Your party really has unlimited hit points, as long as they all survive an encounter. They're entering every encounter totally fresh on one of their resource types.

Consider: WHOSE resources are they?

The only classes who have HP as their only resource are martial classes. Everyone else I can think of has limited use abilities that require a night's rest. Even a barbarian that's out of rage might consider going on all day with the guarantee of a full tank for every room.

I think you're looking at the single combats in isolation and seeing that this doesn't ruin a single combat. I agree. One hp/round is nothing. What changes the game is the fact that between fights, this is a free reset, but only for martials. Your casters will still be hampered by limited spell slots and item charges.

And that's really it. It will change the game. Whether you decide it's breaking the game is up to you.

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