The wording is a little awkward in this section:
you disperse positive energy in a 30-foot burst with the effects of a 3-action heal spell with a level 4 lower than that of the spell you cast.
So if you cast a lvl 7 spell you also trigger the effect of a lvl 3, 3 action expenditure Heal Spell.
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I think the phrasing is intended to make it clear that you aren't actually casting the heal spell, you just get the effects. So, for example, if you have managed to get your hands on the Selective Energy feat, you can't use it on this effect. Similarly, the Moderate Curse bump to d12s on heal spells doesn't kick in either.
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I have to say that I'm kinda weirded out how severe the major curse is compared to other curses O_o; You take twice the damage you heal? What.
It just seems overly debilitating curse for healer where even benefit of it isn't really worth it. Unless I'm underestimating how much hp you have at high levels(even then enemies are pretty good at dealing damage in this game), that sounds like really fast way you burn your healer out
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You don't only take a ton of damage from your own spells (up to 12d8!), you also can't be healed by anyone but yourself.
Wanna guess what happens when you use your higher level spells to heal yourself? Yep, you blow yourself up again. And don't forget to subtract half your level from the healing done! Oh, and you'll probably heal that demon standing next to you for a few hitpoints.
And this is even ignoring the fact that you heal everything in a 30 ft radius. It becomes hilarious if you're fighting undead, but otherwise it will just prolong fights, making your low number of spells even more painful.
The Life Curse is extremely punishing. I'm also not sure Battle and Flame are balanced, but Life really takes the cake.
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the life curse would be ok for the battle mystery where the more you fight and take damage the harder you are to heal, but for the life mystery, it's seems counter productive, why would any healer ever take this. the concept sounds cool for a character in a novel, but to play, no thanks.
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There's also another concern with this major curse, you have to pulse out healing in heal's 30 foot mode. That doesn't distinguish between friend and foe. This means if you're not careful, you can heal your enemies with this. I don't know if a Selective Channel expy is planned for down the road (or if I missed it somewhere in the general feats) but I feel it's an issue worth addressing.
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"Okay, guys! I'll be healing you at the 'healing node' spot approximately sixty feet away from any combatant. Feel free to take any move actions or whatnot to get to my healing area, because we don't want the opponents to heal up. OH, and before I forget, don't get hurt TOO bad, because I take twice as much as you have healing you!"
...why is this even a thing?
EDIT: Not only does that take the character off the map in most fights, it means that they have to *stay* off the map to prevent healing the opponents, which means basically *not playing* in any given encounter.
A life oracle is definitely going to have heal as a signature spell.
Luckily, they can heal themselves for d12s before or after casting their high level blasts. Positioning may be awkward around the healing burst, but I think the ability forcing some interesting choices from the oracle.
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A life oracle is definitely going to have heal as a signature spell.
Luckily, they can heal themselves for d12s before or after casting their high level blasts. Positioning may be awkward around the healing burst, but I think the ability forcing some interesting choices from the oracle.
I actually dont think it does, i think most oracles will do what i did after my first playstest encounter. i just stop casting revelation spells so i didnt have to deal with the curse. the falling unconcious is particaulary ooof. That's a real problem, you could level an oracle to level 20 and never once be affected the curse, and proabbly be the better for it.
Against a single target foe, your blasts are going to do a lot more damage than the healing burst heals. I don't think the ability needs to keep you from engaging in combat, if as ikarinokami says, you even reach that curse level.
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A life oracle is definitely going to have heal as a signature spell.
Luckily, they can heal themselves for d12s before or after casting their high level blasts. Positioning may be awkward around the healing burst, but I think the ability forcing some interesting choices from the oracle.
I actually dont think it does, i think most oracles will do what i did after my first playstest encounter. i just stop casting revelation spells so i didnt have to deal with the curse. the falling unconcious is particaulary ooof. That's a real problem, you could level an oracle to level 20 and never once be affected the curse, and proabbly be the better for it.
at least the revelation feats let you cast 1 or 2 times a day without advancing your curse, but yeah life is just super not good.
I have to say that I'm kinda weirded out how severe the major curse is compared to other curses O_o; You take twice the damage you heal? What.
It just seems overly debilitating curse for healer where even benefit of it isn't really worth it. Unless I'm underestimating how much hp you have at high levels(even then enemies are pretty good at dealing damage in this game), that sounds like really fast way you burn your healer out
The benefit of it is an silly amount of aoe group healing. You can control your ramp up curse wise so if you really need to start turbo healing your party you can ramp up to that knowing that you are putting yourself in danger to do it. Pretty solid risk/reward and amazing action economy boost when it is fully active.
Against a single target foe, your blasts are going to do a lot more damage than the healing burst heals. I don't think the ability needs to keep you from engaging in combat, if as ikarinokami says, you even reach that curse level.
Basically this. Healing your enemy is annoying but if you are up against a single tough opponent the benefit of just chain healing your group while still being able to blast away with your spells more than offsets what healing your opponent is getting.
You can control if you get to the stage it has this effect or not pretty easily. Also it would make a life oracle hilariously OP in undead heavy encounters which are not very uncommon.
A life oracle is definitely going to have heal as a signature spell.
Luckily, they can heal themselves for d12s before or after casting their high level blasts. Positioning may be awkward around the healing burst, but I think the ability forcing some interesting choices from the oracle.
I actually dont think it does, i think most oracles will do what i did after my first playstest encounter. i just stop casting revelation spells so i didnt have to deal with the curse. the falling unconcious is particaulary ooof. That's a real problem, you could level an oracle to level 20 and never once be affected the curse, and proabbly be the better for it.
Honestly the minor and moderate curses seem pretty mild. Like take the life one if you are your parties main/only healer neither the minor nor the moderate curse have any real impact negatively. If nobody is trying to heal you then only being healed by your own spells is not much of a hinderance. The medicine one is annoying but not terrible generally people bothering to battle field medicine in combat generally are pretty geared for it so largely still useful. Gaining the d12s for your heal more than offsets the negative of the moderate curse.