Favorite healer / buffer and why

Hello everyone. I'm about to run a Pathfinder campaign...and one player has graciously agreed to play the party's healer/buffer. I'm curious what everyone's favorite class is to fulfill this role and the reasoning behind it. The person who agreed to play is an amateur gamer, though she's been playing with us for years now, she's still very much an amateur at heart.

I've looked through the options of cleric, bard, paladin, oracle, inquisitor and witch...and all seem to have their drawbacks and their boons so to speak. The party right now is going to be running with a Barbarian, ranger, wizard and an additional yet to be named besides the one I've been referring to...so needless to say she'll be it for healing/buffing for the most part.

The oracle sounds fun and entertaining, however, if you do not select some of the more damaging mysteries like flame...i don't see why you wouldn't just select a cleric. Witch seems to be a good option as an anti-buffer and honestly the bard seems most versatile outside the cleric in the healer/buffer dual role. I'd like to hear everyone's stance...reasons...fun options they've done and tried etc. And if it matters...I limited races to only core.

Thanks in advance.

I like bard myself. Bard fulfills a variety of roles and can be played in many ways and is backed by a variety of archetypes. Inspire your friends, throw out some spells, maybe some debuffs or go into combat yourself. In particular I like a bard with dervish dancer and enforcer + blade of mercy combo. That's just awesome to see.

In addition, I've been told 3rd party such as Psionic Vitalist and Tactician work well, though I've never used or seen one myself to know.

Imo, the best healer is the healstick after the fight is over with. I hate having to heal in combat myself, and am not a big fan of being healed either.

The best buffer is a Bard. The best Healer is a toss-up between the Oracle of Life and the Hospitaler Paladin.

The Bard is not a viable healer (except between combat with stupid Wands of CLW), and the Hospitaler is a secondary tank, not a viable buffer.

So, I would suggest that the best Healer/Buffer is almost certainly the Oracle of Life.

That said, if you're not looking to be a truly dedicated healer (i.e. healing is your first resort in combat), you could easily do as well or better with a Cleric. In fact, I'd wager an Evangelist Cleric is probably almost as good a buffer as a Bard is, while retaining superior healing capabilities.

So, I guess it should come down to personal preference.

the best buffer, is the bard

the best healer is the life oracle if built correctly, using proper tactics, has access to 3.5 feats, and gains enough levels

the witch is a great debuffer, but heals as poorly as a druid does

I just don't understand why anyone would play an oracle of life? With the incredibly limited spell selection....why not just play a cleric? I guess I simply don't see the benefit of it over your standard cleric healer.

It seems like the spells you gain you'd just have as a cleric anyway...combined with the ability to auto switch out to any cure spell. You'll undoubtedly take channel energy as well...which you'd get for free as a cleric.

I just don't understand why anyone would play an oracle of life? With the incredibly limited spell selection....why not just play a cleric? I guess I simply don't see the benefit of it over your standard cleric healer.

It seems like the spells you gain you'd just have as a cleric anyway...combined with the ability to auto switch out to any cure spell. You'll undoubtedly take channel energy as well...which you'd get for free as a cleric.

Energy Body is a move action self-heal and Life Link is auto-stabilization plus it spreads damage around to make your channels and Energy Body Self-Healing even more efficient (especially with Fey Foundling--extra especially if you can get other party members to take Fey Foundling. And a Barbarian with the Lesser Celestial Totem power makes Life Link ridiculously amazing). Also, early on, the average cleric and the average oracle of life has the same number of channel uses available, the Oracle of Life will keep boosting Charisma while the Cleric is unlikely to, so the Oracle will slowly outstrip the Cleric in that regard.

Having played a healing focused Oracle of Life, I can say that I practically never used any cure spells--I did almost all of my healing with Revelations and used my spells for crowd control, buffs, and condition removal.

I just don't understand why anyone would play an oracle of life? With the incredibly limited spell selection....why not just play a cleric? I guess I simply don't see the benefit of it over your standard cleric healer.

It seems like the spells you gain you'd just have as a cleric anyway...combined with the ability to auto switch out to any cure spell. You'll undoubtedly take channel energy as well...which you'd get for free as a cleric.

Lifesense (essentially blindsight)

Safe Curing, you heals don't provoke

life link, a lesser form of shield other usable at will that makes damage control easier and more survivable

spirit boost, turn excess healing into temporary HP

enhanced cures? no cap on the static bonus applied to your healing spells

less MAD than a cleric whom both casts and channels

charisma based means more channels than cleric at high levels

combat healer, quickened on the fly healing without blowing a spell slot 4 levels higher with an opportunity cost

energy body, turn into a healing elemental that can heal each ally with reach by moving close enough to their square

delay affliction, basically delay poison or delay disease on the fly as needed.

... Lots of good points...

I love playing my oracle of life in our Rise of the Runelords game. She's only 7th level, and so hasn't gotten her spellcasting really going yet, but as a healer she is top-notch.

Life Link concentrates the damage on me, so cure spells can clean it up easily. Channels can be saved for when everyone is hurt pretty badly.

I find energy body fun to use when I can get it going, but at only once a day it is for special times.

I have dual-cursed archetype, and Misfortune is a character saver. I usually use it for dice that show 20's, to limit the number of crits we take. At early levels, it saved us a bunch.

We were made with a 25-point buy, but nothing less than a 10 or more than a 16 before racial modifiers. I made mistakes, like not enough CON, and no Fey Foundling, but still, she keeps the party going long after they would normally be down.

Some interesting points. Though are group is anything but min-maxing or optimized...so you'll never see anyone take fay foundling and I've never even heard of lesser celestial totem...doesn't look like it's in the PRD, base book, advanced players guide etc.

They can't heal (other than their own eidolon, or with wands and UMD) but summoners are decent buffers that also deliver a lot of punch of their own.

Cleric makes the best healer. But for best buffer overall, that's the Bard.

Best healer : Oracle of Life + Paladin (2 levels dip) with Fey Foundling.

Best buffer : Bard with the Flagbearer feat

the best buffer, is the bard

the best healer is the life oracle if built correctly, using proper tactics, has access to 3.5 feats, and gains enough levels

the witch is a great debuffer, but heals as poorly as a druid does

A Hedge Witch can be a very effective healer she's got the spontaneous casting option of a cleric with a nice variety of other spells to draw from. She's not going to compete with a Life Oracle, or a Healing specced Cleric, but she has some good flavor options and lots of controlling ones. And she's got spell expandibility. And that's before we get to the goodness of the two Healing Hexes. And it's a good choice for those who fancy playing a rustic recluse.

If having a familiar is the problem option for you, go Half-Elf and take the Bonded Witch archetype.

Some interesting points. Though are group is anything but min-maxing or optimized...so you'll never see anyone take fay foundling and I've never even heard of lesser celestial totem...doesn't look like it's in the PRD, base book, advanced players guide etc.

Celestial Totem is in Faiths of Purity, one of the player companions. Sourcebooks can be pretty awesome, had to wait forever to get a celestial totem but a fiend and hive totem were right there from the start.

If she is an amateur then she should stick with the cleric and leave the Oracle mumbo-jumbo alone.

Str based cleric of Desna (Liberation and Travel) will be an excellent support character.

I'd say evangelist cleric too, but that's getting a little too far past core for a newbie

bard

it has a little of everything and allows you to experiment with a variety of roles

it's not a primary healer. but it does a good job of buffing, can double as a face in social interactions, with a level or two or rogue before your 3rd bard level, can be a decent trapfinder and gain a bonus against AoE in the form of evasion and a freed ring slot. trap spotter is an added bonus

it hurts more early on, but later on, those 2 rogue levels will pay off for any bard because they open up the ability to do the trapfinder role without having to buy a wand of mount or similar item, due to the benefits of trap spotter and evasion

but rogue isn't a class you generally max, it's a class you dip 2 levels in for trapfinding, trap spotter and evasion on a bard, ranger, alchemist or inquisitor who wants to do a little trapfinding on the side.

as a bard, you won't be the best trapfinder without a few particular items, but you will be able to deal with most magical traps with 50% accuracy by level 6-8 with a 16 dexterity and a specific pair of cheap gloves and goggles. if you have a 10 wisdom, you might need skill focus in perception too.

Have her play whatever she wants and give her a wand of cure light wounds or something. I've never know a player that liked playing a healer. If a player is going to quit playing or want a character change due to dissatisfaction it is almost always the healer. Especially with an amateur, you want them to focus on having fun not keeping everyone that is having fun alive.

There are lots of fun Cleric builds though, and the ability to spontaneously cast Cure spells makes it an obvious option for those that "need" a healer.

If I personally had to play a healer I would probably use something like the Vitalist from Dreamscarred Press's Psionic's Expanded book, and the Life Leech Archetype. Stealing enemy health and healing effects to heal your allies, along with passing off your party's would and debilitating conditions to the enemy sounds like it could actually be fun.

Have her play whatever she wants and give her a wand of cure light wounds or something. I've never know a player that liked playing a healer. If a player is going to quit playing or want a character change due to dissatisfaction it is almost always the healer. Especially with an amateur, you want them to focus on having fun not keeping everyone that is having fun alive.

There are lots of fun Cleric builds though, and the ability to spontaneously cast Cure spells makes it an obvious option for those that "need" a healer.

If I personally had to play a healer I would probably use something like the Vitalist from Dreamscarred Press's Psionic's Expanded book, and the Life Leech Archetype. Stealing enemy health and healing effects to heal your allies, along with passing off your party's would and debilitating conditions to the enemy sounds like it could actually be fun.

i can agree with that. Vitalists are pretty cool.

Definitely the Evangelist. Its a cleric with the best bardsongs (inspire courage is where its at) check out my profile for a statted out 13th level evangelist.

There is no single class that buffs better than an evangelist.

I'm going to second the Evangelist Archetype Cleric as the best buffer in the game along with Life Oracle as the best healer.

Dual-cursed Oracle of Life with Fey Foundling/Flagbearer Feat who summons:
You have excellent healing economy, a constant buff radiating around you and when you're not healing or buffing, you can just summon. With Misfortune, you can grab debuff spells and make sure they land (rod of reach, plane shift and misfortune = ultimate save or die)

Ancient Lorekeeper Oracle of Life with summoning feats:
You have excellent healing economy and when not healing or buffing, you can use cherry picked Arcane spells. I suggest Spell Focus Conjuration and Summoning feats--CHA is your main stat, grab the classic conjuration control spells from the wizard list you can heal/pit/summon to your heart's content as a spontaneous caster.

They can't heal (other than their own eidolon, or with wands and UMD) but summoners are decent buffers that also deliver a lot of punch of their own.

They actually CAN, if they take the Infernal Healing spells.

My favorite healer is a witch with the healing hex. My favorite buffer is a bard. If you want to do both...hmmm. In particular because this is a new player, I'd warn against some of the more complicated concepts. Generally new players are best with spontaneous casters so they dont have to think too much about prepping spells. In particular clerics that have access to all cleric spells at once is a bit of an issue for new players.

Though witches are prepared casters, the option of the hexes often helps reduce the concern over prepared spells because it gives them a good always on option during encounters.

Oracles are excellent healers, but you have to make sure they choose wisely with their mysteries, as the limited spell selection in the divine list can often leave a player with limited options of things to do during encounters if they arent careful.

One key thing to remember is that the 'healer' role isnt really about hit points. Sure sometimes you need a cure spell, but you can provide the party with means to recover hitpoints without it coming directly from a characters resources if they need it. What they need is the ability to remove negative conditions (lesser restoration, remove disease, neutralize poison etc). This is the most important aspect of a 'healer'. For oracles that is a bit of an issue with their limited spells known.

I think i'd have to recommend witch with the healing patron.

I just don't understand why anyone would play an oracle of life? With the incredibly limited spell selection....why not just play a cleric? I guess I simply don't see the benefit of it over your standard cleric healer.

Because the limited spell selection is not actually that limited when you start adding in the human/half elf extra spells known favoured class bonus. By level 10 my Oracle is looking at 10/10/8/5/3 spells known between level 1 and 5 without even looking at pages of spell knowledge.

The cleric spell list isn't so great that you cannot find a group that work together very effectively. You don't need a lot of the very niche spells, many of which are going to be on wands or scrolls in any event even by Clerics.

Then you add in Paragon Surge which can give the oracle spontaneous access to their entire list and then to the wizard list at level 11.

Bards can take the Master Performer and Grand Master Performer feats to boost their performance (Faction Guide) and their spells further compliment their group support role, so I'd say Bards (although the Evangelist Cleric looks attractive too).

The Sensei Monk can share their Ki Powers and have a form of 'performance' too and shouldn't be underestimated. They make fantastic group buffers.

The best healers (I feel) are Life Oracles however you do need another area where you can contribute to the group e.g. summoning, because playing a healer can get quite repetitive and reactive.

The final point is it also depends on your party, their make-up and numbers. Bardic performance for example is a better option for 6 characters than for four, and are all of those going to actively get into combat?

Favorite healer: Monk of the Healing Hand.
Why: Because they are the best at what they do.

I just don't understand why anyone would play an oracle of life? With the incredibly limited spell selection....why not just play a cleric? I guess I simply don't see the benefit of it over your standard cleric healer.

It seems like the spells you gain you'd just have as a cleric anyway...combined with the ability to auto switch out to any cure spell. You'll undoubtedly take channel energy as well...which you'd get for free as a cleric.

In my case, this was the class that resulted from the background story. Cleric wasn't really even an option.

This profile is my character in a Rein of Winter play by post. She was built to provide healing and party support in simple but durable package.

Channeling energy is (normally) an out of combat healing ability.

Rebuke Death allows me to heal my comrades from negative hit points with out using spells or channels.

Gentle repose provides a useful ability against almost any foe as a touch attack, letting me keep a hand free to cast spells.

Combat casting paired with the Desperate resolve trait means that when I really need a spell to work, it probably will.

She's not the sports car the others recommend, but for a novice player, she will get it done.