OK, your tank just burned TWO rounds and isn't up there Tanking, where he's supposed to be. Meanwhile that high CR guys is smacking a squishie, and killing him.OR the Oracle of Life can Cast TWO (count 'em TWO) Cure spells, which are boosted. And he has a Life Link up, which also cures 5 HP. All in ONE Round, while you go Full Defense, still holding the line.
Cool story mr. strawman.
Why are my squishies being smacked? Did they jsut pick there nose the past 4 rounds?
What buffs did that oracle cast the first two rounds?
Is this a three man group? What's the other guy doing?
tl;dr please don't make up these kinds of scenarios. I can easily just say the cleric spit on the fighter for his cowardice and charge/smite/powerattacked the monster in question and crushed it utterly as it turns out it had one hp anyway. That's what Blueluck has been saying all along.
OK, your tank just burned TWO rounds and isn't up there Tanking, where he's supposed to be. Meanwhile that high CR guys is smacking a squishie, and killing him.OR the Oracle of Life can Cast TWO (count 'em TWO) Cure spells, which are boosted. And he has a Life Link up, which also cures 5 HP. All in ONE Round, while you go Full Defense, still holding the line.
Cool story mr. strawman.
Why are my squishies being smacked? Did they jsut pick there nose the past 4 rounds?
What buffs did that oracle cast the first two rounds?
Is this a three man group? What's the other guy doing?
tl;dr please don't make up these kinds of scenarios. I can easily just say the cleric spit on the fighter for his cowardice and charge/smite/powerattacked the monster in question and crushed it utterly as it turns out it had one hp anyway. That's what Blueluck has been saying all along.
You made the scenario, not me.
"Scenario 1: High CR guy clocks guy down to three in two rounds.
My Thoughts: Withdraw action, use a potion/good self heal, make sure caster gives me some kind of good hard miss chance buff because I ain't going back if he's hitting that hard and that fast.
I mean why on earth am I sticking around to get killed in round 3? Or worse, why am I going to get my cleric/oracle up here adjacent to me to touch me within smackdown range of said guy?"
And there's no reason to get rude and antagonistic.
Your squishies are being smacked as the tank just ran off and the high CR guy can now run in and attack them.
What spells? Well, he has access to the Cleric list which is chock full of great boost spells- why isn't he casting a boost spell on the early rounds?
Hmm, I'm more in the 'healing in combat is a waste of actions' camp. I will qualify that by saying that I've always thought that preventative measures were more effective in terms of actions/cost than healing. As well as everyone can optimise damage but very few characters can optimise healing.
That said, a way to remove debilitating status effects is very important. Otherwise, you're on a downward spiral that can be very hard to get off of.
(The problem with healing is the same for evokers. If you don't specialise in it it's really bad and it means people don't think it works when they try it out.)
You made the scenario, not me.
Actually no, no I didn't. I commented on another hypothetical scenario. You unnecessarily added to it to try and make a point and failed.
As for being rude, I asked simple questions to make a point about making up strawman scenarios.
Like, why is the guy going after squishies when he's got a wounded fighter with 3 hp he can annihilate right now?
Why isn't the high cr guy trying to struggle his way through 4 rounds worth of battlefield control, debuffs, summons?
Again, where's the fourth guy?
What's the environment like? Is there cover for me to use? Can the fighter climb to a safe vantage point?
Do we have a speed advantage? Can we play keep away while we troll him to death with arrows and spells?
I can go on for hours like this.
I'm just going to flat out say I hate oversimplistic scenarios as presented. All they do is lead to circular arguing.
Great Healers are those that have something to do when not healing.This, a hundred times this.
It's not that you should never heal in combat, but you should never go into combat expecting to do nothing but heal.
I think its pretty boring when you play the cleric who ask if someone needs healing constantly.
If yes!> Channel.
If no> Pass.
Not really exciting for the party either. I've had a few people join with a cleric and expect it to work out just fine, but I've always found it underwhelming and it can lead to a lack of interest/focus in the game.
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Well, first level games are a bit different. Still, how did that kill the Ninja? It would have had to do 21 pts, assuming the Ninja only had a 12 Con, which means you had to roll 8 on each.
Unlikely, but still, bad luck does kill someone once in a while. So, no other PC took any damage at all for 4 or so encounters, then one guy did 21 pts in one Full attack? Weird.
10 Con. 19 points to kill.
Well, that was his fault.
So, no other PC took any damage at all for 4 or so encounters?
A Basilisk is CR 5 and the petrifaction is permanent. Way out of the league of a 1st level party, who should have all been so much garden statuary. (Was there a gnome?)
I don’t think you’re running what most would consider a standard type game.
Honestly, we never have a combat enounter go by without taking damage. Usually we have to heal during combat.
A Basilisk is CR 5 and the petrifaction is permanent. Way out of the league of a 1st level party, who should have all been so much garden statuary. (Was there a gnome?)
PFS can be pretty standard. You can even play up to fight higher CR characters. I know a scenario where there is a basilisk at the higher tier that level 1's can face.(if I remember right.)
The petrification has several cures, including the basilisk blood.
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Basilisk blood can be used to restore petrified characters.
The basilisk had the young template, reducing its HP and save DC. The party also gained a +4 to the save thanks to the illusionary wall not being totally dispelled. (Had there been more than four players, they would not have had that benefit.)
Still, they killed it with no one taking a single hit and only one of them failing a save?
Restoring hit points in combat should be a last resort.
Obviously there are times when last resorts are needed.
In general our group finds ourselves needing healing in combat because of one of the following situations:
1. It's an epic boss battle and there's just no way that we're not going to have someone take some serious damage and need healing.
2. Something really unusual happened, like two crits in a row on one of the PCs.
3. We got lazy and didn't really utilize our tactical abilities properly.
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Kayerloth, it has been my experience that having a dedicated combat healer is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Having someone constantly healing damage encourages a playstyle that allows constant damage. Then, when taking damage is assumed, the healer becomes "necessary." And eventually the players don't even realize that having the healer available is exactly what made having the healer necessary.
Aasimar Life Oracle. The Aasimar favored class bonus can add 1/2 level to 1 revelation which should be channel. By level 5 you channel like a 7th level cleric, plus charisma is all you really need so not MAD like a cleric.
Take Fey Foundling at 1st level for an additional +2 heal to yourself for every dice rolled and life link revelation and you will be a beast. Hands down best healer. Take a curse that adds some damage spells like Blackened and you can do more than just heal.
Great post and great advice.
Not that I want to play a healer (right now) , but if I did I’d would indeed take the Blackened curse and probably play an Aasimar.
This:
Kayerloth, it has been my experience that having a dedicated combat healer is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Having someone constantly healing damage encourages a playstyle that allows constant damage. Then, when taking damage is assumed, the healer becomes "necessary." And eventually the players don't even realize that having the healer available is exactly what made having the healer necessary.
Well put AD.