healing ranged dps


Advice

Scarab Sages

A friend of mine is wanting to be a ranged dps that can also heal, but doesn't know if there is a class out there that can do this. This char is for pfs.
Thanks for any advice


Paladins make great Archers, but you could also easily make an Archer from a Cleric or Oracle of Life.


Paladins
Rangers
Clerics

Can all cast healing spells. Any of them can also take the feats required to excel at archery. Paladin Archers can be pretty spectacular and Lay on Hands can be pretty good at supplemental healing. Any of them can use a wand of cure light wounds, which is where most of your healing should come from anyways.


At the risk of being naive, isn't that what Rangers were intended for?


Paladins are probably better healers than rangers; rangers have higher DPS except against smitable targets. Both probably work very well at the healer/archer role.

Scarab Sages

Is there a class that can be both a ranged caster dps and heals? See looked at oracle and only saw stuff that was melee...


Yeah, I second a few different Cleric and Oracle builds, but also consider the Alchemist...

You could do a Chirurgeon Alchemist that utilizes Explosive Missile.

Scarab Sages

Ok he finally agreed to not needing to be a caster for both roles. ( he can get picky/stubborn)


nekoyami wrote:
Is there a class that can be both a ranged caster dps and heals?

Is there a definition for ranged they would like? Do you want a full BAB archer or do you want a guy who blows things up with spells? And what kind of healing they would like? Healing in combat is kinda meh, but if you just want to use a healstick and heal everyone up out of combat almost anyone can do it.


nekoyami wrote:
Ok he finally agreed to not needing to be a caster for both roles. ( he can get picky/stubborn)

So he that he wanted ranged spells for damage?

That actually makes it pretty easy.

Aasimar/Tiefling/some other race with a level 2 spell like ability Wizard/cleric/mystic theurge would be the most obvious.

Samarasan anything (Picking up offensive divine spells from the druid list, or healing arcane spells from the witch list)

Winter Witch

Druids

Clerics

Oracles that pick a mystery with directly offensive bonus spells (Typically flame)

Sorcerers with a ring of spell knowledge


Cleric of Erastil - favored weapon Longbow.
Archery does suck up a lot of feats, but I have one right now.
I did pick-up Reach Spell metamagic for emergency healing.
Cleric is easy to self-buff and spells like Spiritual Weapon and Spiritual Ally can compound nicely with full attack in later rounds for DPR.
I will admit that I don't get as many opportunities to shoot as I would like. End up casting/channeling more than I would like (just hit level 9)


Oracle with the Wood mystery and the Wood Bond revelation can get a decent attack bonus to mitigate the Deadly Aim and Rapid Shot penalties.

Just grab a darkwood composite longbow, the Hunter's Eye and Fate's Favored traits, take your standard archery feats and divine buff spells and you're good to go.


nekoyami wrote:
Is there a class that can be both a ranged caster dps and heals?

There is no real "caster DPS." Blasting is pretty good if you put lots of resources into it, but that requires a razor-sharp focus, which won't leave you any room for healing feats.

The best you can probably get is a Blackened Oracle of Flame with a 1 level dip into Crossblooded Draconic/Orc Sorcerer. Unfortunately, you're looking at 5 levels before you get any kind of range (since you're stuck with Burning Hands otherwise, a 15' cone), but you will eventually get a pretty hefty Fireball and still have the basic Healing spells that an Oracle gets.

Well, ok, an Evangelist Cleric with the same dip and the Fire Domain might be able to pull off something similar, but I am biased towards spontaneous casters.


He should invest in some arrows of healing.


Wouldn't it be better to go for Inquisitor, with wands as healing backup? Inquisitors make fine archers, have about bard-level spells, and can use many divine scrolls and wands without UMD.

Sovereign Court

How about a super-iconic Saeranrae cleric with the Fire and Healing domains? Otherwise, I've heard that Life Oracles get really, really good healing; a Human one could pump Dex and Cha and have Point Blank Shot, Precise Shot, and Rapid Shot by level 3. That way you could spend your spells on heals and use arrows to attack.

If you want something a little more aggressive, a Divine Hunter Paladin is going to have CRAZY DPS when smiting and pretty darn good DPS the rest of the time. He'd also be nigh-impossible to kill with high saves and Lay on Hands compounding the fact that he'll be staying out of melee most of the time. In fact, he'll make an excellent bodyguard for the back line. However, it will be harder for him to optimize healing.

Actually, a Divine Hunter with Fey Foundling and a couple levels in Life Oracle to maximize Life Link would make for a very hardy party indeed, while still being a capable offensive threat.


Divine hunter is kind of meh in comparison to an oath of vengeance paladin. You can build a decent switch hitter with them too.


Hedge witch? Not going to be great DPR with its limited offensive spell choices, but it gets access to good healing.

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