Well, you could always go with a "casper the friendly ghost" type approach, but tie it to an object.
Are any of the PCs capable of healing? Not as a role, but simply the ability to cure HP damage?
I have included healing aids to small parties none quite this inventive. If you do this I would give the pocket healer a difficult personality. So heals are not guaranteed. Might even go so far as to have it extort the party. Possibly through acts to appease the deity or for monetary donations etc
Nalmid was once an oracle devoted to Sarenrae. He travlled for awhile with a party of adventurers in Varisia, who eventually challenged an evil giant necromancer... and were slain. His anguished soul rose from the dead and was promptly bound into a skull. It was only some years later that a servant of the giant, who was carrying the skull, fell in battle leaving Nalmid stranded in the forests of Varisia.
I applied a modification to the ghost template: Skull-bound unlike a normal ghost, a skull-bound ghost is bound by powerful necromancy into a tiny skull. The ghost loses the incorporeal subtype (including his deflection bonus) and all incorporeal based attacks (i.e. corrupting touch). It also loses the ability to fly. Destroying the skull does not free a skull-bound ghost; when a skull-bound ghost regenerates, the entire skull is recreated along with the spirit.
Nalmid has learned to gesticulate his jawbone in place of somatic components; the effect is a comical amount of clattering, but does allow him to cast spells without hands.
Nalmid Soulbound CR6
Male Human (Varisian) ghost skull-bound oracle 5
NG tiny undead (augmented humanoid)
Init -1, Senses darkvision (60 ft.); Perception +9
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DEFENSE
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AC 11, touch 11, flat-footed 11 (-1 Dex, +2 size)
hp 63 (5d8+41)
Fort +7, Ref +0, Will +5
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +4, rejuvenation; Immunities undead traits
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OFFENSE
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Speed 0 ft.
Special Attacks Channel (3d6, DC 18, 9/day)
Oracle Spells Known (CL 5th; concentration +11)
2nd(6/day)-remove paralysis, resist energy, cure moderate wounds(DC 18), minor image(DC 18), restoration (lesser), levitate
1st(8/day)-bless, cure light wounds(DC 17), detect undead, magic weapon, protection from evil, remove fear
0th(at will)-create water, detect magic, detect poison, light, purify food and drink, stabilize, ghost sound(DC 16), mage hand
Mystery life
Curse haunted
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TACTICS
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During Combat if directly attacked, Nalmid will use an minor image to hide himself. He is, however, essentially defenseless. A devout follower of Sarenrae, he will use channelling and other magic to aid good heroes.
Base Statistics Nalmid was trapped into a skull and bound there with powerful runes by a giant necromancer. Were he ever freed, his size would become medium and he would gain the incorporeal subtype. His statistics would change as follows: AC 15, touch 15, flat-footed 15 (+6 deflection, -1 Dex); Defensive Abilities incorporeal; Fly 30 ft. (Perfect), Melee Corrupting Touch +2 (6d6, Fort. DC 18 halves); Special Attacks Malevolence (Will DC 18), CMB +2; CMD 18; Stealth +7
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STATISTICS
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Str *, Dex 8, Con *, Int 10, Wis 13, Cha 22
Base Atk +3; CMB +0; CMD 10
Feats Extra Channel, Oracular Intuition, Reach Spell, Selective Channeling
Skills Heal +9, Knowledge (Planes) +8, Knowledge (Religion) +8, Sense Motive +11, Spellcraft +10, Stealth +15
Languages Common, Varisian
SQ haunted, rejuvenation, revelations (channel, safe curing)
No one playing a dedicated healer isn't an issue. But to say no one is playing anyone even capable of healing HP damage is scary. That means no one (in a presumed party of 4) is playing a bard, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger, oracle, witch, or inquisitor. They can all use a wand of cure wounds.
Don't cater to the player overly much at the cost of removing realism (there's limits, but dang). If no one were playing a rogue, would you remove all traps? If they were all playing wizards, would you remove all golems? If they need an NPC healer, make them hire a level 3 cleric hireling at 10gp/day (3rd level manager out of Ultimate Campaign, doubling for danger; hypothesizing at the rate). Or make them take a leadership feat and get a cohort.
So the OP asked for advice on an NPC healer build, not whether or not an NPC healer was a good idea ...
Some things that I would definitely recommend in doing this:
- healer class should be a "spells known" class: this will make it far easier on you and leaves it less open for abuse by the players
- speaking of the players, ensure the NPC is played as their own person: don't let the PCs start dictating their actions
- have the healer level at a much reduced rate than the party, especially if you don't plan on targeting it with enemies
- consider going with a "normal" NPC, even if one that refuses to fight: an advantage to using a standard NPC is that the NPC deserves their share of wealth and items too - right now you are basically adding a huge benefit to the party with no drawbacks
I like the ghostly oracle build from Tangaroa, though it may be a little too powerful to have a ghost NPC once freed.
You could maybe decide which main NPC enemy caster bound him to the skull
Some other possible class options that would be fun:
- An oathbound Paladin with an "oath of pacifism" (which you'll have to make up using the other oaths as a guide)
- Favored Soul from 3.5 that refuses to fight
- Merciful Healer Cleric that also refuses to fight
yeah, i agree that a 'pocket healer' is a poor idea... for a number of reasons:
- it sets a precedent that you're going to cover for them when they make poor choices
- it spares them from being forced to think creatively/strategically about how to succeed with the kind of characters they want to play
- it screws up action economy because they're getting heals that nobody is spending actions on
- it introduces an immortal/invincible party member, which will cause issues you aren't anticipating eventually
i'm sure there are others too, that's just off the top of my head. if they have the party they want let them try the AP and see how it goes. you could follow the PFS convention and let them make adjustments to their characters for free until they reach 2nd level... that way you should at least end up with someone investing in UMD, if not at least one character who can use cure wands. if they're having a tough time of things you could always introduce and NPC hireling (or GMPC) who could accompany them (for some payment, and with all of the normal restrictions and vulnerabilities of other PCs).
By the time you get to the point where you can free the ghost, I think he would not be so powerful. Also, ghosts never advance, and his relative power would continue to diminish.