To Heal or not to Heal...In my group there is NO question

[The Dragon]

If you have room for a high cha(A +3 mod by the time you get the hex, if you really want some mileage, and you want int ~13 too to start off), you might want to consider the lore spirit, in order to get the Arcane Enlightenment hex. It's the sort of thing you can build around, but you don't have to have it at level 1.

I don't really see how it'd interact with wandering hex, but it's legal to take it. It might be you select new spells each time you take it, which would make it a superior choice as opposed to having lore as your fixed spirit.

The wiz list has a lot of potential for anvil functionality.

If you don't like this idea, I think the battle spirit has the best spells. I'm unsure of what makes for the best permanent hexes.

A neat trick is the spell 'hex vulnerability'. It makes once/day hexes work on a creature as long as the spell lasts (1rd/lvl)

Kind of useless in combat unless quickened, but if you get a wand of it (750gp) and grab the healing hex, it's 275hp in a wand,+50/lvl above 1, untill you hit level 5, at which point it becomes 450+50/lvl(max500) per wand. Also unlike CLW it increases linearly with caster level, which makes it a good candidate for a staff. According to staff pricing, it should cost 1*8*400=3200gp for 10 castings that can be renewed in downtime, or viewed as spontaneous conversitions of current spells while adventuring.

[Claxon]

Well, firstly I'd tell them they can kiss my ass if they think I'm playing the "healer". The paladin can heal nearly as well as anyone else, that is to say by using a wand of CLW.

I am currently playing Skull and Shackles and our group consists of a Brawler, a Wizard, a Swashbuckler, a Bard, and myself as a Ranger. We have 2 characters that can use a wand of CLW. That's really all we need. We've had a few problems with things like Blindness/Deafness but thanks to the existence of certain NPCs they only presist through a day before they can be cured. Alternatively, things that can be removed by Dispel Magic can be done immeadiately by the wizard.

Now, despite having said that I would probably still make a divine spellcaster (because I really like them) but healing would only be incidental, and primarily through a wand.

[pennywit]

I'm not fond of that style of GMing, wherein the GM more or less says, "You must have an in-combat healer to survive." I usually design my encounters or run items from the books, and leave it to my players to decide whether they want in-combat healing.

[Serisan]

malaketh wrote:

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.

Happens a lot. Glad you recognized it.

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We are going to do Wrath of the Righteous but without the mythic tiers.

That seems...silly. I hope the GM accelerates the xp curve to accommodate.

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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.

Concede to playing a healer of some sort in exchange for one of the other players building something that actually synergizes with the party.

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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.

That's a good option. You can also Wandering Spirit to Lore for amazing Wizard spells that you get to select each time you choose the spirit.

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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!

First off, tell the group that, for you to be a healer, somebody needs to take a support role. The obvious choice is the blaster sorc to select a more viable support selection of spells. After all, they're telling you what to play, so you can tell them right back.

If you don't like the Cleric, skip it. Shaman, Druid, Oracle, White Mage Arcanist, Hex Channeler Hedge Witch (Channel and spont cures with the Witch spell list!), Hunter, Warpriest...these are all options.

[Imbicatus]

Generally, if you are going to die without in-combat healing, you're going to die with in-combat healing the following round. It's giving up action economy to renew the hp resource, but incoming damage will outpace your ability to heal it until you get access to heal.

The real problem is that your group seems to have the tactical acumen of lemmings.

[Rodinia]

malaketh wrote:

Anzyr wrote:

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"

This sounds like a tactical problem, not a lack of healing. Perhaps one or two people are always dropping every battle because the group is not using effective battlefield control. With smart tactics and effective battlefield control, characters should drop a lot less frequently. E.g. Do the other characters willingly rush right in and take full attacks from the foe, or have they learned the various tricks for avoiding full attacks? This, alone, makes an enormous difference.