Ok, so I tried my hand at GMing but found I did not have it in me so we have made a switch and back to being the player I go.
We are going to do Wrath of the Righteous but without the mythic tiers.
In the group we have a paladin(who will likely be the *star* of the show), a two hander barbarian, a slayer and a blaster sorcerer.
All heads turn to me and I hear "That makes you the healer" ugh....I love this group as people and we have fun so this is not a whine thread.
What I am asking is, this group expects healing in some capacity but I want to try something a little different then a cleric. We love to roleplay and the GM expects clerics to have gods and I just cannot get into that. I am really interested in the shaman. I was thinking of the heavens spirit as my main and then I can choose life that morning if we know we may be in for trouble that day.
But, what other classes would be a good choice for this party makeup? A second paladin is not an option, the GM wants only one. We have enough melee damage and we have our blaster. Archery is boring as heck so I would prefer to stay away from that.I am not that familiar with the campaign so not sure what would work. I always play an arcane so I am familiar with spell casting and so if I have to heal I would prefer to be a full caster.
I guess that leaves me with
-Cleric (ugh)
-Shaman (what I am thinking)
-Druid (a strong contender)
-Oracle
maybe there are archetypes I am missing that could make the above work better as well.
I know I wrote and asked a lot but any brainstorming would be appreciated. Thanks folks!
Paladin can use wands of cure light, sorc can use wands of infernal healing.
Druid is always a solid choice.
Spirit Guide (Life Wandering Spirit) Life Oracle with the Rulership variant channeling. You'll have two channeling pools of 3+CHA and 1+CHA respectively and if you don't want the second pool on a given day you can pick a different Wandering Spirit. Plus you can use your variant Channeling to toss out Save or Daze. Good stuff.
Make sure your group understands that in combat healing is inefficient (until Heal) and then you can just use a Wand of Cure Light Wounds to be the healer (make sure everyone in the group chips on it).
I find the orcacle mechanic of spontaneous casting from the cleric list annoying.
I mean, the wizard list? I use the same spells over and over on that one. (still plays wizard instead of sorcerer, because I like being able to cast teleport when we get access to it without having spent my only high-level spell known on it)
But the cleric list has so many cool spells! And most of them are just cool, or you will only need them once in a while. (desecrate/animate dead, remove curse, ressurection, sentry skull etc.)
It's like walking into a library and being told you can only open one book.
Non healer feeling cleric: Take the Green Faith (no god but restricted to druid viable domains)
Growth domain- gives you the ability to be a very good reach attacker
Feather Domain- gives you an AC at 4th level, makes you a boss at perception, and gives you fly and flying spells which paired with reach and flyby attack can set you up for a lot of fun.
If you're GM will let you get away with it go Hawk domain which gives you a Familiar and familiars can deliver touch spells. flying tiny hawk is a great way to cover your tanks without wasting move actions.
Make note the blaster is going to suck hard... Lots of demons a.k.a spell resistances and elemental DR.
I would recommend a summoning focused Evangelist (Cleric archetype). Take the Glory (Heroism) Domain. By 8th level you'll open combat by dropping something like:
Summon [whatever] (Standard action)
Aura of Heroism (swift action)
Inspire Courage (move action)
Consider the potency of a massive swarm of Lantern Archons all benefitting from your buffs or maybe a Movanic Deva with his Protective Aura (+4 AC & saves), his 7/day Cure Serious Wounds spells, the ability to Remove Curse, Remove Fear and Remove Disease at will and drop an Anti-Magic Field when needed...
You'll also be a killer face, or be able to help someone else be if needed.
|
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I'd build where my fun is. The Paladin your group has could be just as good a healer as anything you come up with. They get channeling and lay on hands. In fact, I think that if you chose what you wanted, the paladin would have to step up to the role. [Point your Paladin at the Oradin Mini Guide.]
I also note that you have NO ONE doing battlefield control. Blaster sorcerers tend to be rotten battlefield controllers -- they usually build towards the blast and forget that they have other spell options.
If you look at the Forge of Combat concept, this group has plenty of hammers to do damage. But where is the arm (support to keep the party going) and the anvil (battlefield controller who shapes the battle?
If you want people who can be both anvil and arm, my suggestions are:
- Druid
- Alchemist -- God, these are versatile and fun!
- Evangelist Cleric
- Bard
- Oracles -- Heavens is awesome, but pick a mystery that appeals to you
- Witch
To some extent, Wizards, Investigators and Inquisitors can also fill in on this anvil / arm role if they have the right builds.
I am currently playing in a group with no dedicated healer, but just about everyone can use cure light wands -- even if that usage comes via UMD. If there is something else you want to do that wouldn't be primary healer, but would provide something more than just another hammer, propose it to your GM.
Or if the GM really thinks that the group needs a healbot, let him provide a GM controlled healbot NPC.
Hmm
Thanks for all the replys and I will try to clarify a bit more
To be clear, are you looking for healing to be a primary or secondary focus? This will influence your build significantly.
They expect a primary healer but I am hoping to "cheat" a little bit and give them their healer but also contribute more in other situations, combat included.
First, let's ask a few questions:
What books are allowed?
What races are allowed?
What is the point buy?
Anything paizo(not 3P) on the srd is allowed. No point buy, we rolled and i rolled 17,16,14,12,11,10
Make sure your group understands that in combat healing is inefficient (until Heal) and then you can just use a Wand of Cure Light Wounds to be the healer (make sure everyone in the group chips on it).
Even the GM disagrees with this. Maybe he makes his encounters especially tough but we are always dropping one or two every other battle..the GM just says "why didnt someone heal"
Another note of interest, the GM is aware of these forums and of the general consensus towards battle healing..and completely disagrees.
Whether he is adjusting his encounters or not to support his beliefs I do not know
|
|
You have strong stats, and could certainly make any of the above class suggestions work.
So I repeat... What appeals to you? Are you the canny sort who likes battlefield control, or do you want to do something else?
I think the one thing you want to avoid is be the person who has to stop what they are doing to heal and buff everyone else. I'd suggest an oradin for you, but the GM is limiting the group to one paladin. You could go straight life oracle, but I'm thinking going something less obviously heal focused might actually be your better bet to wean your group off this idea.
Hmm
|
|
Actually, would your GM allow a second paladin if one was intended to be an Oradin build? Since he wants in-combat healing, that is by far the most efficient build to do it.
Hmm
EDITED TO ADD: Alternatively, have him let you go full life oracle with the Spirit Guide Archetype and just drop "Boots of the Earth" that fit only you. This will let you keep healing quickly (replacing the Paladin Lay on Hands that Oradins use) so that you can keep life links on the entire party while you do other things -- smash faces, cast spells, etc.
A spirit guide oracle at third level gets to commune daily with a different wandering spirit each time -- getting access to a wandering hex from the spirit and a the spirit's spells. This would make you incredibly flexible and able to change up your abilities on a daily basis according to the needs of the campaign.
Best of all, healing the party would be automatic, and you could concentrate better on doing things to help the party win.
A Life Oracle with Life Link and Quick Channel can heal without wasting any standard actions on it. Go Oradin if you want INSANE healing ability - paladin swift action Lay On Hands on self, plus Life Oracle for life linking goodness.
The Witch gets access to all the Cures, and Removes, and Raise Dead.
Why not Witch?
For fun, be a Half-Orc, and go Scarred Witch Doctor, and use Con for Spells, and Hexes. Debuff, buff, and be a hearty caster.
So, when they ask about a Healer, you bring the Doctor.
That is an interesting option, [Hmm] brought up an interesting point though, battlefield control does seem needed and something I could get into. But does the witch spell list seem lacking in control?
Actually, would your GM allow a second paladin if one was intended to be an Oradin build? Since he wants in-combat healing, that is by far the most efficient build to do it.
Hmm
I can ask him about that
Healing as a primary focus is not really necessary. Healing during combat is rarely better than doing damage and your after-combat needs are suitably addressed by wands, in particular cure light wounds.
This is true at certain tables, but by no means all. If the OP doesnt do "Rocket tag" or "toons" or "Hyper-optimized every splatbook PCs vs straight out of the AP encounter"* they may well need in combat healing and plenty of it. The devs games use in combat healing quite a bit.
* nothing wrong with any of those, if you're having fun.
Oracle is a great choice. Pick something fun. Not a blaster, but either a healer or a utility caster.
But with your party: (two tanks, a tank/scout and a blaster) a Bard or witch may also work, depending on how much healing the Paladin will do.
edited to add: a Archer Oradin may fit the party well.
|
|
I can ask him about that
Also ask him about the second half of my post that I edited in later.
If he is willing to drop Boots of the Earth as a treasure item, a spirit guide life oracle could single-class the healing with life link without needing the paladin's lay on hands to be super effective.
Oh... and if you are going Oradin route, I do recommend not only "Fey Foundling" feat, but also "Blessed Touch" trait. Get as much buck out of your self healing as humanly possible.
Going Spirit Guide archetype will give you a bunch of fun options for battle field control that you can use.
Hmm
The Witch gets access to all the Cures, and Removes, and Raise Dead.
Why not Witch?
For fun, be a Half-Orc, and go Scarred Witch Doctor, and use Con for Spells, and Hexes. Debuff, buff, and be a hearty caster.
So, when they ask about a Healer, you bring the Doctor.
That is an interesting option, [Hmm] brought up an interesting point though, battlefield control does seem needed and something I could get into. But does the witch spell list seem lacking in control?
I can ask him about thatActually, would your GM allow a second paladin if one was intended to be an Oradin build? Since he wants in-combat healing, that is by far the most efficient build to do it.
Hmm
Spirit Guide Life Oradin who is using Rulership variant channeling sounds like exactly what you want. Guide Here.
You'll get the absolute most Channels possible, Life Link, Lay on Hands, and your Channels can serve as battlefield control. And if you ever don't need the second channel pool from Life Spirit, or need something another spirit provides more, you can just switch it. And since you are probably maxing CHA, grab Noble Scion (War) and consider getting Celestial Obedience (Arshea) later (much later) on.
Are you saying that characters drop as in DIE or drop as in unconscious. If they are unconscious then you're okay to let them drop in combat.
Also I feel you can find that if you do a good Battlefield Control person, you can prevent more damage then you could have healed. A creature that can't move can't do much damage. A creature that can't run to your party because of a pit can't do much damage. Even if your GM thinks you need a healer, battlefield control could still be better use of time.
And as it's been said, the paladin can do the basic healing you'll need. He can use the want and has channel and LoH to top people off if needed.
Don't let them force you into something. It'll make for interesting stories and maybe make your party have better tactics instead of charging in and die.
Are you saying that characters drop as in DIE or drop as in unconscious. If they are unconscious then you're okay to let them drop in combat
They drop unconscious usually, but then the battle quickly unravels from there
The two options I like the most from this brainstorming session are the Life Oracle spirit guide and the Scarred Witch Doctor with the right patron.
A couple questions though...I read through the Oradin guide...then skimmed the comments so maybe I missed something.....but does the healing drop off dramatically in effectiveness after level 6ish-9 or so? This AP apparently takes you right to 20.
Also, if I did go an "Oradin-Like" route would it not also work woth the shaman and choosing the life spirit?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
This group doesn't have a controller. If that is typical, then I certainly can see why they believe in combat healing, because I expect their encounters are just both sided whaling away at each other with little tactics, and a bad roll or two and someone could be at least down if not dead. Basically this party is just focusing on attrition, and if attrition is your tactic, then healing is a pretty big deal.
If that is how this group wants to play, I'd go with an evangelist cleric on this. Bard style buffs for all those strikers and cleric healing. The 'god' thing seems to be a problem for the OP, but their are ways around that (such as the green faith idea above.)
|
|
Shaman is not as good a fit for Oradins because the life spirit has a nerfed life link compared to that of oracles.
The life spirit life link kicks in when you are at 5 or less hitpoints. The life oracle life link kicks in whenever you are down, and continuously tops you off, five hitpoints at a time.
The healing can go pretty darn high.
Lay on hands healing increases every other level of paladin, and you can get even more channeling pools if you take hospitaler paladin after your four levels of life oracle.
If you took half-elf as your Oradin race, you can boost both your Lay on Hands healing and your Oracle Revelations with your racial favored class bonuses. If you choose to stay an oracle and forego the extra paladin levels, you can keep boosting that channeling pool.
Hmm
|
|
This group doesn't have a controller. If that is typical, then I certainly can see why they believe in combat healing, because I expect their encounters are just both sided whaling away at each other with little tactics, and a bad roll or two and someone could be at least down if not dead. Basically this party is just focusing on attrition, and if attrition is your tactic, then healing is a pretty big deal.
If that is how this group wants to play, I'd go with an evangelist cleric on this. Bard style buffs for all those strikers and cleric healing. The 'god' thing seems to be a problem for the OP, but their are ways around that (such as the green faith idea above.)
I play the battle field controller in my group -- I am ridiculously good at preventing group damage by tilting the field of battle in my group's favor. I do that as a sorceress, but I think that a druid, witch, alchemist or spirit guide oracle could do that equally well.
The spirit guide oracle would have the advantage of providing what your GM seems to want... In combat healing.
The good news is that we could help you build whatever you decide upon with the stats that you have.
Hmm
This group doesn't have a controller. If that is typical, then I certainly can see why they believe in combat healing, because I expect their encounters are just both sided whaling away at each other with little tactics, and a bad roll or two and someone could be at least down if not dead. Basically this party is just focusing on attrition, and if attrition is your tactic, then healing is a pretty big deal.
If that is how this group wants to play, I'd go with an evangelist cleric on this. Bard style buffs for all those strikers and cleric healing. The 'god' thing seems to be a problem for the OP, but their are ways around that (such as the green faith idea above.)
Yes ! Yes! a thousand times yes. You hit the proverbial nail.....Unfortunately!! Whenever I played Arcane they wouldn't even wait for haste sometimes.....these people need healing
Or....a good control build/healing and try to teach them
Are you entering every battle on full hp? If you are, and people drop, then you need in-combat healing. If you aren't, then buy wands of clw by the truckload, and do something fun with your actions. Also, why isn't that paladin pulling his weight if they want healing so badly? The group's got beatstick enough, he should have time to heal some of the time.
At my table, we didn't heal in-combat at all at any point during the campaign. The healing-capable characters told the people who went down to deal with it, and moved on to perform their own crucial duties, except in the case of people falling into negatives and failing to stabilize. We healed those.
Then again, we had 8-10 players, played e6 so low levels, and low-to mid optimization (the level that's displayed in most guides here being the level of the people who were trying to do well, a notch lower for those that didn't bother to think it through.)
It's been working out very well, people who drop most deaths have been one-shot, nothing healing could've done to save them.
There was one time we refused to spend our clw wand, someone'd made a barbarian designed to have s*!*loads of hp and being capable of functioning in negatives (he had deep negatives), dumped AC, and procceeded to not buy healing with his wbl.
(he was trying to illustrate the point that huge amounts of hp are better than a huge AC. It's a long-standing discussion in my group.)
We thaught that guy a lesson. He died in his second combat.
Not a fan of the White Mage Arcanist for heal and control? It'd be squishier than the Witch Doctor, but would give you more flexibility in your control and utility likely.
What about this? Anyone else have a comment about it? It would bring lots of control. I have come to the conclusion I am not a fan of spontaneous casters..the reason is I have a hard to choosing spells that are permanent....Prepared casting seemed easier to me.
Unless of course I was spoon fed a good level by level spell list but I would not enjoy that either.
Ok...so lets narrow it down
White Mage Arcanist
Druid
Shaman
I have been texting with my GM during this and he concedes that as long as someone has access to the full range of cure spells he would be happy and he would also be willing to work with me and the group with regards to planning a battle a bit better.
3 of the group are still fairly new
you want to play a shaman? do it.
buy (hire) a healing bot, or buy CLW wands.
you want to play a shaman? do it.
buy (hire) a healing bot, or buy CLW wands.
LOL it seems that way doesn't it. That's why I posted here...brainstorming always doesn't lead to new ideas but to reinforce the ones you had already.
However..druid is a strong choice as well. Ok..Shaman or Druid..pros and cons of each for battlefield control and for healing when needed. Which one is the better choice?
|
you want to play a shaman? do it.
buy (hire) a healing bot, or buy CLW wands.LOL it seems that way doesn't it. That's why I posted here...brainstorming always doesn't lead to new ideas but to reinforce the ones you had already.
However..druid is a strong choice as well. Ok..Shaman or Druid..pros and cons of each for battlefield control and for healing when needed. Which one is the better choice?
Which do you like more? Wildshape or Hexes? that's your answer. They are two of the stronget classes in the game.
I'd say druid. It's one more helper on the field at least and you'll have better AC. You and your Animal companion can both use maneuvers to control the battlefield. As a witch your evil eye wont synergies as well with your party. They all sound like they should hit easily, none of them are targeting saves,(yes it effects the blaster some, but it's not the end of the world if a few get reduced damage).
Witch can heal a ton with your heal hex and the 1st level spell that lets you use as many of the hex as you want for a few rounds. Thus not needing to use higher spells or wands to heal.
|
The people who point out your lack of battlefield control, especially Hmm, are right on. In particular, note her comment about how her Battlefield control character can drastically reduce damage taken by the group. Reducing incoming damage is the most efficient way of healing the party. I'll take her Forge of Combat analysis a bit farther:
Hammer => Inflicts HP Damage
Arm => Support
Anvil => Battlefield Control
A well balanced party has an Arm, an Anvil, and the rest Hammers. This party:
paladin - Hammer
barbarian - Hammer
slayer - Hammer
blaster sorcerer - Hammer
This party currently has 4 Hammers, no Anvil, and no Arm. Here are some typical patterns one sees in groups lacking an Anvil or Arm:
Groups without Anvils: Groups without anvils typically end up having an overabundance of hammers with one or two members playing the part of arms. These groups typically have fast, furious fights where the group takes a lot of damage. In these situations the arms often take on a reactive role providing healing and buffs as able while the hammers frantically try to end the encounter quickly. Depending on the nature of the hammers this often drains the arms very quickly of resources or forces the hammers into more and more defensive roles draining overall resources more as the group is not ending encounters efficiently enough.Groups without Arms: Perhaps the most forgiving of the three major imbalances. These groups usually spend more resources than necessary to finish an encounter. When they don’t they exist on a razor’s edge where an enemies passed save or a characters failed save can mean the difference between failure and victory. This is much worse in groups that lack the means to magically heal themselves and are thus forced into shorter adventuring days or burning wealth on tons of cure light wound wands.
Your intuition is right on that your group needs more than a healer. For example, if you can manage a capable Anvil your group should not need a dedicated healer. If you make a dedicated healer, when the group utterly lacks an Anvil, you pretty much guarantee that the group will need a dedicated healer, and will still struggle.
It's unfortunate that the other 4 players all chose to play Hammers. That no one thought to create an Anvil-style character explains why the group is convinced of the need for a dedicated healer. This leaves you to try to plug both essential roles, which is a challenge. If you had to choose either the Anvil or the Arm role you are probably better choosing an Anvil. That's because the group will suffer less without an Arm than without an Anvil. Mind you, the group will still suffer. The Paladin, with some healing ability, can cover part of the Arm role.
Consider making a character who can cover both Arm and Anvil roles. This is difficult but possible. A Mystic Theurge can nicely fill both roles. A Heaven's Oracle can, too, as can a Cleric with the proper Variant Channel. I've even seen a Life Oracle who took an array of Battlefield Control feats and spells, making that PC a combination Arm/Anvil. A Witch can also do this, as can the right Shaman build.
|
|
Shamans are still pretty new, so it is hard to evaluate them. The good thing about them is that they have some really interesting flexibility with the whole wandering spirit thing. I love the possibilities with the lore spirit, where you can handpick a bunch of control spells from the arcane list, assuming you have emough charisma and intelligence to do so. This would give you both arcane and divine spells to play with. If you coordinate with your sorcerer, you could together cover much of the battlefield control options. Or you could go with one of the other hexes, like the early teleport option with the heavens spirit, or the ability to see through mists from either flames or waves and drop obscuring mist everywhere.
Druids have more spells, particularly if they pick a domain as their nature's bond. On the other hand, I love animal companions, and druids get a lovely list of options. Want to be an early flyer? Pick a small race and get a roc companion and soar over the battlefield. Druids get all sorts of fun battlefield control spells like entangle, obscuring mist, etc. They also get goodberry, which can be made the day before battle, and prepare a bunch of one-hit heals to make wands of curelight last longer.
They're both good. What sounds better to you?
Hmm
you want to play a shaman? do it.
buy (hire) a healing bot, or buy CLW wands.LOL it seems that way doesn't it. That's why I posted here...brainstorming always doesn't lead to new ideas but to reinforce the ones you had already.
However..druid is a strong choice as well. Ok..Shaman or Druid..pros and cons of each for battlefield control and for healing when needed. Which one is the better choice?
Personally, I like the shaman. I've been tinkering with a samsaran lore oracle that goes for the hex that lets it filch off of the wizard spell list, and the racial trait that lets it filch off of a divine spell list. Cast all of the spells!
I even played it for one session before my group convinced me to DM. Shamans are downright mean. Their spell list isn't all that good, but there are options to shore up on it, and their class features are downright mean. (Compare domain slots to spirit magic, for example.)
I suspect it's an oracle for those of us that dislike spontaneous casting.
The druid is fun too. You can always have moar bear.
This group doesn't have a controller. If that is typical, then I certainly can see why they believe in combat healing, because I expect their encounters are just both sided whaling away at each other with little tactics, and a bad roll or two and someone could be at least down if not dead. Basically this party is just focusing on attrition, and if attrition is your tactic, then healing is a pretty big deal.
If that is how this group wants to play, I'd go with an evangelist cleric on this. Bard style buffs for all those strikers and cleric healing. The 'god' thing seems to be a problem for the OP, but their are ways around that (such as the green faith idea above.)
Yes ! Yes! a thousand times yes. You hit the proverbial nail.....Unfortunately!! Whenever I played Arcane they wouldn't even wait for haste sometimes.....these people need healing
Or....a good control build/healing and try to teach them
Unfortunately, making a good control build is unlikely to help. Tactics is a team thing, not something you can demonstrate with the right build, since no matter how good your build is, you aren't a team by yourself.
Either you have to get buy in from the team on trying to work as a team, or you need to adapt to the situation that exists and create a useful character for your unruly mob of psychopaths. Healing the crazy psychos when they charge in recklessly and receive full round attacks in return is probably about the best you can do.
|
|
In response to Magda's comment, the group that I am playing in has no dedicated Arm. We do have several people who can cast CLW so just about everyone can use a CLW wand -- my sorc can do it with UMD. So maybe instead of a dedicated arm, we have a bunch of people hammers who will pitch in as arms when needed.
But we have a dedicated anvil (me) and that has made a tremendous difference in how we do in combat. I totally vote for anvil utility over arm if you have to choose between the two.
Hmm
Thank you all for the advice and how quickly you all responded. All of it was taken in but it just helped cement for me the fact that shaman is ultimately what I wanted.
So I've decided to go half-orc shaman with the sacred tattoo/shamans apprentice alternates.
He will come from the same tribe as our barb for roleplay purposes.
Any advice on stat array based on the above stats, as well as the fixed spirit?
EDIT: remember, I chatted with the GM and we will work towards a more cohesive tactical group
EDIT part 2: so would you mind helping me make a shaman the anvil.
I think a oracle is a good choice. Be a Human and Pick the favored class thing for extra spells. Get that new feat that give your cha to saves. Oracle have Lots of spells known and all the Cure ones for free. Depending on your preferances you can be hammer, anvis or arm. And you can be a amazing arm.
Versatilie human oracle would be my choice.
A half orc druid with str 19 con 16 wis 14 dex 12 could also be fun use a falchion in the begenning and switch to shapeshifting when you get to level 6ish. Get the favored class bonus and remember to get wis boostere so you can cast your highest level spells.
Edit: good luck with the shaman:)
Are you wanting to melee it up or just use hexes and spells?
If melee:
str 17+2, dex 11, con 14, int 10, wis 16, cha 12
If hexes and spells:
WEAR HEAVY ARMOR! It's really neat because if you aren't making attack rolls you're not penalized at all for this.
str 10, dex 11, con 16, int 12, wis 17+2, cha 14
Are you wanting to melee it up or just use hexes and spells?
If melee:
str 17+2, dex 11, con 14, int 10, wis 16, cha 12If hexes and spells:
WEAR HEAVY ARMOR! It's really neat because if you aren't making attack rolls you're not penalized at all for this.
str 10, dex 11, con 16, int 12, wis 17+2, cha 14
Yes jus hexes and spells...I like the armor tip. Any suggestions on my fixed spirit...after that I should be good to build it
Battle is good because you can Enlarge for AoO, it does make you more melee so probably not that good. It's spirit ability is a pretty good buff for you martials.
Flame has some neat stuff. Faster move, see through fog, but not so good spirit abilities.
Heaven is pretty good with some good stuff.
I'm not a fan of heal, pick it up as wandering if you want some channels for the day.
Lore has some good stuff and lets you get arcane spells.
nature has some control hexes and pretty good spirit abilities.