What makes a healer

[Minigiant]

It is often said that the strength of the healer is not in casting a cure spell (As that so often falls to a Wand) but in its access to status removal etc

Am I missing any?

• Restoration(s)
• Heal
• Remove Curse
• Remove Blindness/Deafness
• Resurrection
• True Resurrection
• Remove Fear
• Remove Sickness
• Remove Paralysis
• Remove Disease
• Break Enchantment
• Cleanse

[Ronnam]

Regenerate
Stabilize
Dispel Magic
Calm Emotions
Remove Radioactivity
Neutralize Poison

[Firebug]

Breath of Life
Placebo Effect(can remove dazed)
Soothing Word
Supress Charms and Compulsions

Also, preventative types like
Protection from Evil/et al
Death Ward
Freedom of Movement
Spell Immunity/Communal/Greater/Greater Communal
Life Bubble

(Ninja'ed on the others I was going to post)

[avr]

Is this for a list of all possible status healing spells? Because there's a lot.

If you're asking for some notable spells not already mentioned, there's

Raise Dead
Stone to Flesh
Remove Paralysis
Delay Poison
Reinvigorating Wind

If you're after 'what does a healer really need' you could shorten the list a lot. Also many of the above could be on a scroll or wand or duplicated by other means such as dragon's blood.

[strayshift]

Also it is not a huge stretch to create a huge amount of healing magic items, craft Wand, Wondrous Item, Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll. With a little research and a good spellcraft skill you can vastly expand the parties available healing.

[Minigiant]

strayshift wrote:

Also it is not a huge stretch to create a huge amount of healing magic items, craft Wand, Wondrous Item, Brew Potion, Scribe Scroll. With a little research and a good spellcraft skill you can vastly expand the parties available healing.

Yes, I am considering picking Cure Light as a Witch spell, and then Craft Wands

[Sysryke]

What makes a healer?

Well, when a mommy healer and a daddy healer love each other very, very much . . . . . . . . the kid hates the life, and ships out to join the mercenaries guild :p

The healer's the fella who shows up late.

Just kidding. My first character was a healer. Love 'em, and love your idea

[Chell Raighn]

Good healers may not need to actually cast cure spells... but in all honesty, good healers should always have access to them... having them on your spell list, removes the failure chance with using a wand, which should you actually need to use a cure in combat is an absolute must... nothing is worse than failing to activate a wand in a clutch moment only to have your ally die before the end of the round as a result... and being able to cast them yourself can be a great boon to the party with crafting feats in regards to replenishing potions and wands...

As for what spells to make sure you have... basically everything mentioned above... condition removals for every situation... protective wards to mitigate the need for in combat healing, resurrection spells (especially breath of life), any spells that provide fast healing are also great to have, Heal (to save someone from deaths door... far more reliable than a cure wand in a clutch moment once you can cast it), and of course any sort of AoE heal (for those moments when your allies are all hurting and combat doesn’t look like it will end soon enough)...

[Zwordsman]

I think a good healer probably needs Condition Mitigation. Stat Restoration the most. Healing is important but is often the least concernin in terms of "I can't do it right now" issues. (outside of the "i'm dying" situation of course).

As a solo healer and solo caster for most of the AP for a group that ran Iron Gods. Mitigating the damage or conditions were far more vital for me.

Channel. Condition mitgiation and drain/damage/etc stat fixing are the things that proved most vital. Channel was mainly for healing the entire group post battle in a way that didn't eat the spell slots.

As a strange note. I would say knowing your allies very well is important. You need to know who uses what tactics because your judgement will ressult in their death or their safety. Knowing that one character is the type to fight to the death and the other is the type who uses cover. One is clearly in higher danger. As well as suggesting tactics ti mitigate situations too. Such as spliting up or not, or suggesting usage of cover etc.

basically babysitting skills haha. YOu do what you do, to make them able to focus on what they do. is how i play my healer.

[strayshift]

Zwordsman wrote:

I think a good healer probably needs Condition Mitigation. Stat Restoration the most. Healing is important but is often the least concernin in terms of "I can't do it right now" issues. (outside of the "i'm dying" situation of course).

As a solo healer and solo caster for most of the AP for a group that ran Iron Gods. Mitigating the damage or conditions were far more vital for me.

Channel. Condition mitgiation and drain/damage/etc stat fixing are the things that proved most vital. Channel was mainly for healing the entire group post battle in a way that didn't eat the spell slots.

As a strange note. I would say knowing your allies very well is important. You need to know who uses what tactics because your judgement will ressult in their death or their safety. Knowing that one character is the type to fight to the death and the other is the type who uses cover. One is clearly in higher danger. As well as suggesting tactics ti mitigate situations too. Such as spliting up or not, or suggesting usage of cover etc.

basically babysitting skills haha. YOu do what you do, to make them able to focus on what they do. is how i play my healer.

I agree with this and say this for just about every build query. It is very much contextual to the party you are with and their capabilities as well as the play styles of players. Of the five players I DM for, 2 are 'In your face' players, aggressive and leading the line. 2 are 'tactically minded' and playing the percentages unless they have to do something to save the situation and 1 is 'defensive', who has to be encouraged at times to take any risks. They would all play exactly the same build differently.

[Mysterious Stranger]

To me a healer is someone who can restore HP and remove permanent negative conditions. Removing temporary conditions is a nice bonus but not really required. If you can restore stats, remove negative levels, cure disease, remove curses, cure blindness/deafness, bring a character back to life and dispel magic you qualify as a healer. Obviously if you can remove even more conditions that is even better, but the ones listed above are the core you need to worry about.

[Ryze Kuja]

Sysryke wrote:

What makes a healer?

Well, when a mommy healer and a daddy healer love each other very, very much . . . . . . . .

This wins. /EndThread

[Mark Hoover 330]

Being a good healer requires 2 things: going first every round and either doing so much damage or using such a high DC save or suck spell that the enemy is defeated before they can attack back.

Otherwise, y'know... condition removal and wands of CLW.

[VRMH]

The whole discussion got me curious: how many conditions can be removed by simply using skills, feats and alchemical items? Does a healer even need to be a caster at all?

[avr]

VRMH wrote:

The whole discussion got me curious: how many conditions can be removed by simply using skills, feats and alchemical items? Does a healer even need to be a caster at all?

Depends on definitions a bit.

Basic use of the heal skill: HP, bleeding, diseases, poison, foot injuries, speed ability damage recovery
Alchemical items: frostbite, nauseated, sickened, sleep, paralysis, staggered, unconscious, exhausted
Restoration mastery feat (and a permanent item with a 2nd+ level conj.(healing) spell used in its construction): ability damage, blindness, deafness, paralysis
Curative mastery feat (and a permanent item with a conj. spell used in its construction): HP, death (within 1 round)
Dragoncraft feat (and a dead dragon): negative levels
Agent of purity feat (and have completed that story): disease, poison, curse
Dispelling blood (and be a vishkanya who can spit poison): dispel magic
Unravelling blood (and be a vishkanya who can spit poison): break enchantment.

There are feats to improve lay on hands; I've not included them because paladins are spellcasters by default.

Ability drain, stone to flesh, dead for over a round, most mind-affecting stuff you can't dispel? Just no. A lot of the above has really specific requirements (including high levels), more of it gives another save but doesn't reliably fix the condition (especially alchemical remedies).

[Firebug]

Mind-affecting that allows a save: Alchemical: Meditation Tea. Doesn't even have to be a magical mind-affecting effect. 30 gp.
Ability Drain: Long-term care with a Specialized Healer's Satchel, but that takes a day. 3,000 gp. Magic Item though, so not quite the question, but probably a good purchase anyway for any healer with the heal skill.

[Mark Hoover 330]

A hireling cleric 3 requires 1 or more GP per day. Add in 40 GP for every Lesser Restoration or other level 2 spell they cast. You protect your hireling as much as a wizard protects their spellbook, and it's one of the best items you ever take on an adventure with you.