Hello all,
Lately, I've been fascinated by the Healing Flames spell. A quick overview: It's normally a Level 4 spell for Clerics and similar classes, that does a 10 foot radius burst centered around the caster. It deals 5d8 'half divine, half fire' damage to evil enemies (and half that to neutral enemies), and an equivalent amount in healing to good allies (and half to neutral allies). Reflex Half, Spell Resistance does apply. 1 standard action, all the usual stuff on that front.
For melee front-liners, this has obvious uses. I'm interested in something else. The spell is very flavorful, and I've been considering using a Trait to get it onto a Celestial Sorc's spell list. For reference, the Sorc in question is a traditional 'low armor, low melee ability' sort that focuses on control spells, long range blasting, and defense improvement for allies; pretty typical build overall.
Has anyone tried Healing Flames on such a build, and if so how did it go for you? I'm strongly considering adding it to a character I'm designing and am curious if it's worthwhile. My major reservation is the '10 foot radius on the user' thing means they'd have to be very close to enemies to make it work. On the other hand, dishing out approx. 22 damage (subject to reductions) and 22 healing like this does seem appealing. Those calculations assume caster level 8, which is about when they'd get this spell.
If this is a 'trap' option, I'd rather find out now so I can spend the Trait slot on something else. Note I am distinguishing between 'decent but not optimal' (which I'm okay with) as opposed to 'genuinely bad idea' (which, if Healing Flames on this build is, I could walk away from it).
Any input is much appreciated!
That's what I was thinking, but two things came to mind.
First, isn't Reach fairly common at level 8?
Second, wouldn't it be pretty easy for such an opponent to just take a 5' step and then swing away at the Sorc?
...Good point. I had forgotten you could do it in reverse (drop the flames and then move away), though that would require being really close to the melee to begin with. Hmm.
Just take Mirror Image and cast defensively - the bad guy won't even bother trying to attack you. (Of course, this only works for if you use that trait to get the spell onto an arcane caster)
Fortunately, that's the easy part and I can easily fit that into the build. Well, I think this solves the issue... we've found a solution to the problem, and it fills a useful role in the character I'm working on as well as being very high-flavor.
I'm happy with the responses. Thanks for your help, Cavall and james014Aura!