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Ability damage and drain, as well as curses, start showing up in The Snows of Summer and start being really significant problems in Maiden, Mother, Crone. So at some point either the Witch, the Inquisitor, or both is going to want to invest in restoration of some type, as well as remove curse and/or break enchantment. Both have various ways of doing so, from purchasing or crafting scrolls (the Witch will probably learn the spells if they go down this route cause that's just SOP for prepared casters), purchasing or crafting wands, or learning and preparing the spells on a semi-regular basis.
That's out of combat stuff, though. In-combat, they're probably best off following the standard advice: curing HP damage is almost always inferior to some other plausible action. Many of the enemies in this AP are not of the bruiser type, and can do much nastier things to the PCs instead.
My group has no dedicated healer and they have almost died for it several times.
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My group has no dedicated healer and they have almost died for it several times.
This is, believe it or not, a good thing. I believe that the mechanical situation a GM should be aiming to achieve at the very end of an adventure (that is, the point in the plot just before the PCs get a real, uninterrupted chance to rest and recuperate) is to have one PC at one hit point, all the others stabilized in negatives, and all their nonrenewable and daily resources, both in terms of equipment and spells, depleted.
My group has no dedicated healer and they have almost died for it several times.This is, believe it or not, a good thing. I believe that the mechanical situation a GM should be aiming to achieve at the very end of an adventure (that is, the point in the plot just before the PCs get a real, uninterrupted chance to rest and recuperate) is to have one PC at one hit point, all the others stabilized in negatives, and all their nonrenewable and daily resources, both in terms of equipment and spells, depleted.
I like your GMing style, sir...
I'm about to run a game for a party that has no dedicated healer. There will be a witch and an inquisitor in the party, but obviously they'd be better off doing things other than heals if possible. Will this make it too hard for them to survive Reign of Winter?
Parties shouldn't rely on in-combat healing anyway. Everyone should be at least self-sufficient enough (or a group able to work together well enough) that they can survive a single fight and get their healing when its over. Sure, exceptions come up, but not with enough frequency that a group should ever need a 'dedicated' healer.
My group has no dedicated healer and they have almost died for it several times.This is, believe it or not, a good thing. I believe that the mechanical situation a GM should be aiming to achieve at the very end of an adventure (that is, the point in the plot just before the PCs get a real, uninterrupted chance to rest and recuperate) is to have one PC at one hit point, all the others stabilized in negatives, and all their nonrenewable and daily resources, both in terms of equipment and spells, depleted.
A man after my own heart.
During the fight with Rohkar at the end of part one, one player (the Ranger) was in the room with the frost skeletons and was knocked down to one hit point. After Rohkar had knocked two others into negatives, the Ranger played ring around the rosy with Rohkar and the skeletons around the huge table in the planning room.
How'd he avoid taking further damage from the Frost Skeletons' aura of cold? Heck, the two Skeletons together inflict 2d6 damage on a foe (assuming they both attack the same person). It's rather nasty, especially for what are likely 1st level characters.
The need for out of combat healing can be satisfied with 2 partial healers like a witch and inquisitor at low to mid levels. Have not tried it at higher levels yet.
Our group do not like relying on consumables, we always have sexier stuff to spend money on. But we do go without a cleric/oracle when we all want to play different classes. Serpents Skull we have an inquisitor, druid, sorcerer and monk. Kingmaker Paladin, rogue, wizard and Ranger. Both are at mid levels with no deaths.
How'd he avoid taking further damage from the Frost Skeletons' aura of cold? Heck, the two Skeletons together inflict 2d6 damage on a foe (assuming they both attack the same person). It's rather nasty, especially for what are likely 1st level characters.
He kept away from them by continuously moving around the table, never letting them get close.
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Until recently my group had no dedicated healer and survived off of CLW wands that the Inquisitor used to keep them alive... I did just allow one PC to take leadership and rolled up a (DM PC) Cleric of Milani cohort (Leadership is banned in my game, but I made the exception to keep the game running smoothly). The Cleric's level disparity should keep it interesting, I plan on keeping her at least 2 levels behind the PCs for the duration of the game - just because.
There are plenty of ways to make it more difficult or easy for the players if you want to though. I focus on everyone having fun most of the time. I want them to fear their PCs dying, but I also want to make sure they can actually face the challenges with a chance to survive. Lack of Restoration spells and others like it would really change how the game plays out. I see it bogging down play and causing a lot of frustration. Although it could be argued that the players should have created a PC Cleric. I played a Cleric in our last campaign, and can say honestly, it is not the most exciting class - I wouldn't play one again... I didn't want to "force" someone to play a class that they really weren't passionate about, so I bent my Leadership rule.