Because aside from Infernal Healing, arcane magic isn't able to replicate healing. Even magic has limits, and one of those limits happens to be arcane magic not healing. Same reason why humans in the real world don't all fly and cook hot-dogs with laser eye beams, we are unable.
Except when it does.... As has been said repeatedly, Cure light wounds is an Arcane spell in the Bards list.
And of course the Infernal Healing, and the Vampiric touch, and I'm sure there are a couple of other ones floating around where Wizards can increase their HP after taking damage.
In 2E I always liked the idea that Arcane magic could 'move HP around' I could take them from one source, and give them to another. I once actually saved a party member from becoming a vampire and turning on us in the last fight... I reversed 'Vampiric touch' and gave her a 'HP transfusion' that was able to buy her a little more time... It was kind of fun :)
If you want to create HP from nothing and just fill them up.... that was divine only.
I'm all for Wizards not casting healing... I just like a consistent 'in universe' explaination. Though, honestly WHY does that sound like it would be OP??? One of the wizards greatest strength... (I'd say their ONLY one...) is that that they have access to more spells than the other classes. They don't get much else in the way of fancy class abilities... but they get magic.
However that is a double edged sword.
They STILL have to prepare ahead of time... and there is a HARD limit on what they can cast each day... For all the OP spells that people claim wizards have, for every Healing spell they chose to memorize, their effectiveness PLUMMETS... HARD.
I played a wizard who ransacked a library of a dead archmage once... got 'all the player handbook spells' up to... 4th or 5th level I think...
I could still only cast X amount of them... I had a TERRIBLE time trying to pick and choose what I MAY need or what I won't need for that day. It was a case of TOO MANY choices being his downfall...
I'd see the same thing here. Every 3rd level healing spell he takes... is one less fly or Fireball...
A wizard isn't going to be able to be the wizard, the rogue, the cleric and whatever else people claim they can do efficiently all at the same time.
Well, let's see:
First there's wands and scrolls via UMD, but that's not really wizard specific.
Infernal Healing is hands-down the best spell for downtime healing, so non-emergency healing is covered right from the get-go.
Samsaran lets you pick up a fair amount of healing options from the bard, witch and possibly alchemist list.
When you get to the mid levels Summon Monster and Planar X allows you to call on a variety of creatures which can remove conditions.
Limited Wish can handle quite a lot, though it gets pricy unless you Blood Magic it.
Magaambyan Arcanist lets you pick spells from the druid spell list, which has quite a few good offerings.
This is all I can think off at the top of my head but I'm sure there are other options.
Though not as efficiently as a cleric or an oracle, a Wizard can do a decent job of healing if they so choose.
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But it's enough to get my to shut the overly critical part of the game and appreciate how awesome it is that I can heal your wounds with the power of rock!
This made my day.
Do you want to know the real reason wizards can't cast healing spells? It's because your GM won't let them.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I present...Captain Obvious!
Does every change to the rules that you want need to be immediately implemented by the rules publisher? Even when there are just as many people that don't agree with your interpretation? Why is it that when you come up with an idea everyone else has to be forced to abide by it? Why don't you just eliminate all of the classes as they exist and rewrite them the way you want them to be? I did, and the group I'm in has been playtesting the new rules for a couple weeks now. And the best part is, nobody from Paizo has shown up at our door telling us to immediately cease playing wrong.
Chill out, dude.
My interest in what Paizo does or doesn’t do is directly proportional to the amount of time I spend playing PF, which for the past two years has been exactly one night per year. Before that it was zero nights, ever. You do the math.
And while you’re at it, maybe don’t assume wildly improbable intentions that others never express?
Is it possible you're just looking for a cudgel to beat any GM that doesn't agree with you with?
Yeah, I can see how you might think that…but no.
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Do you want to know the real reason wizards can't cast healing spells? It's because your GM won't let them.Ladies and gentlemen, may I present...Captain Obvious!
Does every change to the rules that you want need to be immediately implemented by the rules publisher? Even when there are just as many people that don't agree with your interpretation? Why is it that when you come up with an idea everyone else has to be forced to abide by it? Why don't you just eliminate all of the classes as they exist and rewrite them the way you want them to be? I did, and the group I'm in has been playtesting the new rules for a couple weeks now. And the best part is, nobody from Paizo has shown up at our door telling us to immediately cease playing wrong.Chill out, dude.
My interest in what Paizo does or doesn’t do is directly proportional to the amount of time I spend playing PF, which for the past two years has been exactly one night per year. Before that it was zero nights, ever. You do the math.
And while you’re at it, maybe don’t assume wildly improbable intentions that others never express?
Is it possible you're just looking for a cudgel to beat any GM that doesn't agree with you with?Yeah, I can see how you might think that…but no.
So is the sum total of your point here just to figuratively point and snort derisively at people who want to play the game the way it's currently designed? If it isn't, what am I missing? For someone who rarely plays PF, you've spent a lot of time and effort into trying to convince others that they're wrong for not letting arcane casters do healing spells.
But it's enough to get my to shut the overly critical part of the game and appreciate how awesome it is that I can heal your wounds with the power of rock!This made my day.
Thanks Sindalla. Though I meant to say "the overly critical part of my brain..." The power of rock is awesome at healing wounds but really, as the famous bard Patch Addams showed us, the greatest source of healing is the power of comedy. "Knock knock. Who there? Your liver. It's back now."
So you decided to join in the snark and take the contrarian opinion just for the sake of taking it. Fair enough, I'm familiar enough with the workings of Internet forum to understand that this happens quite often.
Just to clarify, I'm not playing devil's advocate here: I actually do have the opinions I've presented on this thread.
...Are we going to use crappy children's books as any kind of standard for how we view fantasy? Should I start referencing Goosebumps if we get into a discussion of horror and vampires?1. Crappy children need to read too!
2. It's still better reference material than some of the really terrible vampire-related material one sees these days.
Also, since when is HP crap? If this wasn't a forum full of fantasy fans, I'd assume that MattR was one of those "Fantasy is for losers who never grew up" snobs.
Not saying that fantasy fan = HP fan, it's just an unusual claim to make.
Me? I was just playing on the phrase "crappy children's books." I happen to feel the first six Harry Potter books were decent fantasy fare for the youth. (Omission deliberate.)
Oh, my bad; I didn't mean to imply that I think that you were agreeing that HP is crap.
There was a Wiz/Sorc spell in The Book of Exalted Deeds (3.0 splatplus) that transferred nd6 hp from you to an injured ally. I think it was a Conjuration(Healing) spell but the name escapes me.
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It's far from the most spectacular or difficult thing a Wizard can do.
Plus, Wizards can already heal, via the Infernal Healing spells, or by using various methods of poaching heal spells from other lists (Samsaran, Magaambyan Arcanist, etc) or simply by summoning creatures with healing SLA's.
On the other hand, when given the ability to add some spells to their already considerable list, how many Wizards would actually choose healing spells? In-combat healing is generally considered a waste (it's not an MMO, you will not outheal incoming damage, so keep up the offense). Out of combat, save your spells for ability damage and rub yourself with the healy stick if you need HP.
I'd still withhold healing from Wizards out of principle: They do not need any more treats than they already have. Were that not the case, I'd let them have it simply because it does not make sense for them not to.
I would take it out of Conjuration, however; Conjuration is already the most powerful and versatile school. I'd give it back to Necromancy (mastery over the powers of life and death) or to Evocation (evoking Positive Energy the same way as evoking fire, force, etc).
This is mostly where I come down on this question, aside from the 4th paragraph above. I figure that if wizards can heal, but every wizard healing spell is set at 2 lvls higher than the equivalent spell for clerics, wizards who DO heal will either be sacrificing power for flavor, or they will do so only in emergencies. Optimizers would avoid healing as a wizard--why do poorly what several other classes do well?
Also, if healing spells were placed back in the Necromancy school (where they were before 3rd Ed) then Necromancy would actually once again BE the magic of life and death it is billed as. Currently there are almost no arcane necromantic spells that utilize positive energy. Necromancy is frequently chosen as an opposition school. Giving it healing might not change that, but if not would reinforce the idea that very few wizards heal (and none find it easy) while wizards would still not be absolutely debarred from doing something almost every other spell caster can manage easily.
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*shrug* I rarely play PF, but I am a potential customer. That doesn't obligate anyone to care about what I have to say, but if you feel I need a justification to share my opinions concerning topics that I have notable play experience with, there you go.
While I may personally disagree with wanting Wizards to cast healing spells, I found your arguments for quite reasonable and couldn't care less whether you currently played or not, a good discussion point is a good discussion point no matter who brings it up (I know my own opinions about various games I no longer play still seem quite valid, too), and until this discussion went the inevitable way of pretty much all discussions on the Internet I was following it with interest.
Anyway, just wanted to mention that :)
