I am playing a Binder/Wizard/Anima Mage in a campaign and have noticed that in my opinion the vestige Buer seems to be game breaking. I have from self restraint decided not to use this vestige.
For those that do not know Buer is a vestige that gives you Fast Healing 1 and lets you heal 1 point of damage per round as a standard action (or a random amount every five rounds). It doesn't seem like much but unlike something like a Wand of Cure Light Wounds this is something that is not exhaustible. It means at the end of every battle the party spends a few minutes recharging and are off to the next battle undamaged. On a low level Binder, under 8th, this is a minor thing as the Binder will rarely select this vestige as it is the only one they have and gives them nothing else to do other than heal really. On a higher level Binder or an Anima Mage where they can have multiple vestiges or cast spells and bind vestiges it is a great choice. I would assume a high level your resources for healing are so great this is also no real big deal but in the midrange it is giant.
I was wondering if anyone else had seen this vestige used and had an opinion on the effect of it on game balance.
That's one of my gripes with the Feral template, as a DM. Fast healing of any kind essentially gives you infinite between-combat healing, which removes the entire challenge of hit point management from the game.
Maybe one possible fix for this would be to take a page from the Dragon Shaman and only allow the wounded to benefit from the Fast Healing and the 1 hp per round healing until their hit points are upto half their normal maximum. Then maybe allow the full-round random amount healing to be used once per day per binder level. That should balance things out, right?
I don't feel Fast healing breaks the game too much. What my groups always did when we got to mid to higher levels was simply stockpile Cure Light Wounds wands, and just hand them to the healer in between fights. Yeah, that's expending a resource, but when you figure how cheap a wand is by the time you're 8th level, it's not hurting the party too much. Especially Fast Healing 1, it's still going to take a few minutes to get you back to full.
I am currently running a gravetouched ghoul ranger, with 2 levels of Evolved Undead, which grants him Fast healing 6 total, and he still almost gets wiped out in combat. The fast healing just makes me want to be more resourceful, hit and run more.
I could see how you might see this as a problem in a 3.5 context, but if you're playing in Pathfinder (hope you pre-ordered :-)),
this doesn't seem to remotely encroach on the Cleric's healing ability...
For a Cleric-less party, maybe with this Binder and a Paladin/ Druid/Bard/Ranger (or somebody with UMD),
between the whole party, perhaps most of their "standard" healing could be covered... That's basically how it would stand in 3.5 as well.
And for comparison, is Buer more effective than just taking Leadership Feat and a Cleric Cohort?
One is still left with the specific curative effects BEYOND mere HP maintenance (i.e. status effect removal, attonement, resurrection) that only Clerics (and Paladins to an extent) can cover. If you HAVE a Pathfinder Cleric in your party, I don't think Bueran will be such an attractive option. If you don't, I think you'll need more than just Buer to actually fill in for the lack (of a Cleric): Binder w/ Buer AND a Paladin might fit the bill though.
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It depends on what your party does when they are out of healing spells.
If they just break out the lesser vigour wand then all the class ability is doing is saving a small amount of cash.
If they rest, then all the class ability is doing is keeping the game moving and helping to avoid the "15 minute adventuring day".
In my experience PCs tend not to carry on adventuring when they are not on full hit points. Whether they have "managed" their hit points well or badly (and the meatshield type characters basically put themselves out to be hit, so the amount of management available to them is limited), out of healing = time to rest.