Healer sorcerer - viable?

[Vardoc Bloodstone]

Any thoughts out there about the viability of a sorcerer as the primary healer of a team?

I’m considering building a Chelaxian human expatriate trying to run away from his diabolical heritage in distant Varisia to become a priest of Erastil. Baseline choices would be diabolic sorcerer, raised by belief background. Possibly picking up either the archer or oracle (flame) archetype.

Specific recommendations are always appreciated but I’m more interested in the overall viability of a divine sorcerer. Thanks!

[Deadmanwalking]

Lots of people have done this, and it works fine. Clerics are a better healer, but Sorcerer does fine and has other advantages.

Unless you have someone with a Focus Spell that heals, you'll want to make sure someone (who can be you, but doesn't have to be) has Medicine and keeps their Proficiency up for out of combat healing, but that's true for Clerics as well.

[Martialmasters]

you can be a spell healer with any of the classes that can get access to multiple kinds of heal spells. so wizard might be the only one out of luck here.

is a cleric a better healer? sure, but you are better at other things and still have heal spells to throw out.

in either case, get a off healer with a character using medicine skill.

[Ventnor]

What if your diabolic sorcerer's dedication to Erastil got him some more tangible benefits. Like say, the Blessed One Archetype? The fiction seems sound, and having Lay on Hands as a focus spell (not to mention the archetype feats that make it better) on your sorcerer would definitely make you a good healer.

[Captain Zoom]

Vardoc Bloodstone wrote:

Any thoughts out there about the viability of a sorcerer as the primary healer of a team?

If by "healer" you mean someone who restores hit points, then yes, Sorceror can be an awesome healer. They have plenty of "Heal" spells to use in combat (or Soothe if an Occult caster), and can do out of combat healing with Medicine or Blessed One or a multiclass.

If you include condition/affliction removal as part of the role of healer, then Sorceror (or any spontaneous caster) will struggle. The Blessed One archetype and its mercies can help offset this with heavy feat investment, but Cleric is still king when it comes to condition/affliction removal (Druid does okay too, but lacks remove curse).

There's debate on whether you need a kick-ass healer in a group (or a more distributed healing function), but if you truly want to kick-ass (healing-wise), I'd suggest a Blessed One Cloistered Cleric of Sarenrae with the Fire Domain:

1. tactical healing (spells + healing font)
2. condition/affliction removal (all applicable spells available at daily prep plus you can put them in your highest slots as needed, plus Channeled Succor gives you spontaneous access to common restoration spells heightened to full level)
3. Medicine (as the god of medicine it's very appropriate to invest in the skill and its feats) for out of combat healing plus Battle Medicine for in combat use) - you might consider this redundant with Blessed One, however
4. Blessed One (one feat investment to get Lay On Hands and a focus point so you can do "unlimited" healing out of combat) - Note that Medicine does have some advantages over Blessed One - you could go with just heavy investment in Medicine and drop the Blessed One, but the extra focus point can be very nice
5. Fire Domain gives you a nice scaling attack spell, which you can use once or twice every battle if you can re-focus.
6. Burning Hands and Fireball (Sarenrae granted spells) give you something to do other than healing)

There's some other Cleric builds along these lines... the important thing is to find things to do in combat OTHER THAN HEALING, so you don't get bored with the character and so you can be useful and pull your weight in situations that don't require extreme healing. For example, Gozreh has some nice domain spells and gives Lightning Bolt, Erastil gives longbow proficiency (or you could just take the Archer archetype), Cernunnos gives bow and lightning bolt, Nethys gives magic missile and a bunch of arcane utility spells, and the list goes on!

If Cleric just isn't your cup of tea, there are some pretty good (but not as good as the Cleric) builds using the Druid class (prepared caster).

But as noted above, if you just want to be really good at hit point restoration, Sorceror is fine.

[Vardoc Bloodstone]

Thanks for the great feedback.

Blessed One looks great - but I don’t see how you can access Blessed Spell, which would be awesome for managing conditions. Plus, for RP reasons, I really like the idea of a PC struggling to be a good priest, only to gain in power from a heritage they wish they could hide.

Managing conditions with a limited spell list does seem to be a weak spot. Maybe I can cover that with wands, or the team with equipment. All 4 PCs will have Medicine to start, so we’ll have that.

[mrspaghetti]

Scrolls can help cover any blind spots too

[PawnJJ]

I've been solo healing as an angelic sorcerer and it's been going fine. Just make sure to have a couple condition scrolls until you hit level 8 and then you can invest in a greater healing staff to cover most of the conditions besides curses

[Deadmanwalking]

You can access Blessed Spell because the Blessed One Archetype gives access to the Mercy Feat from Champion, along with Greater Mercy and Affliction Mercy.

And Blessed One just means you have a God's blessing. It even specifies it can be from heritage, so thematically it could just be an extension of your Bloodline rather than a separate thing.

[Gisher]

I don't know if it will help, but here's a listing of Divine spells useful for a healer. I made it for multiclassing so it only goes to level 8.

Spoiler:

Cantrips
Guidance - Not directly related, but a nice boost to Medicine Skill rolls.
Stabilize - An obvious choice.

1st
Detect Poison - Probably not that useful for a secondary healer.
Heal - This is the big one.
Spirit Link - For specialized cases only. Usually Heal is better.

2nd
Dispel Magic - Good for removing those pesky spells.
Gentle Repose - Hopefully you never need this one.
Remove Fear - Nice, but pretty specific.
Remove Paralysis - Nice, but pretty specific.
Restoration - Nicely versatile.
Restore Senses - Nice, but pretty specific.

3rd
Neutralize Poison - A solid choice.
Remove Disease - A solid choice.

4th
Freedom of Movement - Remove movement restrictions.
Remove Curse - Nice, but pretty specific.
Vital Beacon - A nice choice for healing multiple wounded.

5th
Breath of Life - A great spell to avoid the cost of Raise Dead.

6th
Field of Life - Decent mass healing. Damages Undead as well.
Raise Dead - Expensive, but this is a 'must have.'
Stone to Flesh - Nice, but pretty specific.

7th
Regenerate - Temporary Deadpool powers. Solid spell.

8th
Moment of Renewal - Magical caffeine for the entire party.

And here is the same for the Primal list.

Spoiler:

Cantrips
Guidance - Not directly related, but a nice boost to Medicine Skill rolls.
Stabilize - An obvious choice.

1st
Detect Poison - Probably not that useful for a secondary healer.
Heal - This is the big one.

2nd
Dispel Magic - Good for removing those pesky spells.
Gentle Repose - Hopefully you never need this one.
Remove Fear - Nice, but pretty specific.
Remove Paralysis - Nice, but pretty specific.
Restoration - Nicely versatile.
Restore Senses - Nice, but pretty specific.

3rd
Neutralize Poison - A solid choice.
Remove Disease - A solid choice.

4th
Freedom of Movement - Remove movement restrictions.
Vital Beacon - A nice choice for healing multiple wounded.

5th

6th
Field of Life - Decent mass healing. Damages Undead as well.
Stone to Flesh - Nice, but pretty specific.

7th
Regenerate - Temporary Deadpool powers. Solid spell.

8th
Moment of Renewal - Magical caffeine for the entire party.

[Seisho]

Vardoc Bloodstone wrote:

Blessed One looks great - but I don’t see how you can access Blessed Spell, which would be awesome for managing conditions. Plus, for RP reasons, I really like the idea of a PC struggling to be a good priest, only to gain in power from a heritage they wish they could hide.

Blessed one gets focus spells and no spellcasting.

And since it has neither Access nor Preriquisities everyone is free to take the archetype without limitations - it might make sense to have an ingame explanation but it is not neccessary

[cavernshark]

I just want to point out that the sorcerer's ability to freely refocus while doing nothing in particular makes the Lay on Hands from Blessed One particularly appealing. If you're also invested in medicine feats, you can lay on hands and treat wounds every 10 minutes, only to have your lay on hands ready to go immediately after. In time-sensitive situations this can be a life-saver.

Plus, given your backstory idea, it makes thematic sense that you'd focus your efforts on the focus powers from Blessed One over time instead of doubling down on your bloodline focus powers from your diabolic ancestors.

P.S. I really like this character idea and hope it works out for you.

[Vardoc Bloodstone]

I missed the Additional Feats section of the Blessed One archetype - thanks for pointing that out! After hearing your thoughts I feel comfortable that this will be a solid build, and Blessed One is the route to go.

I love these boards- you guys have been great.

[Gortle]

If you want to be able to cover condition/affliction removal as a sorcerer
Then look at the Scroll Trickster archtype
The scroll cache feats can give you any common spell from the core book that you want. So you may not have the spell on hand but if you hunt through your cache you can have it tomorrow.