Healing and buffing are both very good things to do.
Primal tradition is really good at healing, but it doesn't have a lot of buffing/debuffing. At least not of the other characters. Primal is better at direct elemental damage, self-buffs, and area control.
Occult is better at buffing/debuffing and has sufficient healing - at least healing of HP.
As for the choice between Druid, Witch, or Summoner: most people will tell you that probably Druid or maybe Summoner would be the better choice. I would mostly agree, with the caveat that the character that you are describing that your wife wants to play would probably be best represented as a Witch.
Witch doesn't have almost any physical combat presence. They rely entirely on spells. And even then, the Druid can do spells just as well as a Primal Witch can - and Druid has better combat survival than Witch does. Divine Witch is probably a better healer than a Druid is, and Occult Witch is a better buffer/debuffer though. Also be aware that there are several feat choices in Witch that are just downright bad - even though they look on the surface that they would be really cool. If you want to go this route, ask further about it specifically.
Druid is probably the most combat powerful spellcaster of the three. Same spell power as the Witch, and focus spells that are targeted more to combat. Goodberry looks like it would be a great healing focus spell - and it is - but really only for after combat. During combat it takes too many actions to use. ◆draw berries, ◆◆cast Goodberry, ◆stride to ally, ◆feed berries to ally.
Summoner is one of the hybrid casters. Much less spellcasting power, but a lot more physical combat power (in the form of the Eidolon). For being a healer/buffer, they can sort of do the job, but they won't have many spell slots to do it with.
Anyone, including a barbarian, can provide some reasonable healing if they build for the Medic archetype. The main things you are going to be looking for is Battle Medicine (for in combat healing), Assurance (reduce amount of die rolling) and using skill increases for the Medicine skill.
The Medic is great if you want to use Medicine skill as your method for providing healing. It is not required, but the automatic skill increase for Medicine skill along with the increased healing from Treat Wounds makes it quite nice.
Regardless of if you use the archetype or not, Medicine skill can provide good healing.
Risky Surgery greatly increases the amount of out of combat healing done.
Continual Recovery and Ward Medic make healing faster.
The Chosen One archetype gives Lay on Hands that can give better in combat healing options and still can provide out of combat healing. It doesn’t fit as many character concepts, but it is worth looking at.
Finally, the Alchemist archetype can be used to provide some healing via elixirs. Concentrate on alchemical remedies. It will not do as well as the other two for the common case of out of combat healing (you will run out of elixirs whereas the other two don’t run out of out of combat healing — they just run out of time to do it) but gives a good amount of flexibility if she is the type that doesn’t mind learning a whole lot of different elixirs and what they do.
If you have a prepared spellcaster with the divine or primal spell list, consider the Flexible Spellcaster archetype so that you can cast Heal at any level. You have less spells, but are able to adapt to the situation each time you do daily preparations.
The Witch can get Lesson of Life for consistent in combat healing.
At this point, I think it would be useful to know which of the above might appeal to her play style.
As for Witch, well, both Witch and Druid is something she likes, though for sure Druid is her favourite class in every fantasy RPG, so bias towards Druid.
Then, being a notorious Witch main, I would recommend Druid. It is more straightforward to build for a first time character.
For subclasses, you can actually get a couple of them through Order Explorer. Leaf order for the Goodberry spell is nice. I would avoid Animal order - animal companions are also a bit complicated. Any of the elemental orders would be good though.
As for Witch, well, both Witch and Druid is something she likes, though for sure Druid is her favourite class in every fantasy RPG, so bias towards Druid.
Alright, that helps a lot.
Druid is a Primal prepared caster. The Flexible Caster archetype mentioned above is worthy of consideration since even at high levels she would only need to select Heal as a 1st level spell and she could use any spell slot to cast it. As the archetype says, it is somewhere between a prepared and spontaneous caster. You select your spells at daily preparation, then can use any spell slot to cast any of those spells.
It does severely reduce the number of available spell slots.
It also means that once she gets it, she can take Dispel Magic as a second level spell and use it in any spell slot. This is really nice since it is not always useful, but when you want it you almost always want to use your highest level slot.
She would have most of the condition removal spells available to her. No problems there.
The Medic dedication would work well with a Druid, but if you are going Flexible Caster you would have to delay entry and probably find yourself retraining some things. Pick one or the other archetype.
Avoid the Natural Medicine feat. It looks great at first, until you realize it is only allows you to Treat Wounds with Nature and the other medicine feats don’t work with it.
I would hesitate at taking the Wild order if you also want to provide healing. I think you would find yourself hurting for action economy.
Animal Companions are not overly complicated themselves. Creating a stat block for one isn't hard. The difficulty comes in deciding exactly how and when to use it. They don't have the best HP or AC. Their attack bonus is pretty good though and runs on a separate MAP progression.
Polymorph does prevent you from casting spells. So once you use Wild Shape to transform, you are at least temporarily prevented from using other spells. Edit: and manipulate actions like Battle Medicine.
Are animal companions that complicated? She loves having "magical pets" in RPGs. Also is Wild Order druid capable of healing or pretty much they can't do anything once they transform or can they still juggle between casting in combat and transformation?
I don’t think that animal companions are complicated provided you have a separate sheeet prepared for the animal companion ahead of time.
As for Wild Order, the Wild Morph focus spell says “You can still hold and use items with your hands while they're transformed by this spell, but you cannot hold an item while attacking.” There would still be problems when you do a full polymorph since you would no longer have a healer’s kit out.
Edit to add: Breithauptclan is right, full wild shape does block healing. I would avoid the Wild Order.
She loves having "magical pets" in RPGs.
Leshy Familiar from Leaf Order makes a pretty decent magical pet. No combat ability, but they can provide other benefits.
There is also Bonded Animal that can give a role-play buddy. Again not really any combat power.
I think summoner should be reconsidered. The eidolon is a unique paradigm. If she's ok with dealing damage indirectly through the eidolon (which I assume she is if she likes using summons in other games) than the summoner is a solid pick. They can buff their eidolon every turn through a variety of means, including the Boost Eidolon cantrip. If you want a magic pet that can actually have a starrng role in combat, no one does it better than the summoner.
Cons: having a pet which can actually be a headliner in combat eats up a lot of the class's power budget, and subsequently they get far fewer spell slots. Also, the action economy of the class is hard for some folks to understand.
She would probably like Summoner both aesthetic and role wise, but the class falls on the harder side of the classes we got so far. It is also usually a better class if you go for dedications (like Bard), so I would sit with her and describe what the class does as well as you can and let her decide if she is in for it.
The gist of it is that you "share" actions with your eidolon, you can decide if each action you have is spent by you or your companion. You and your eidolon have different things you can usually do (you are mostly a caster, your eidolon can be a caster/ranged martial hybrid or a melee martial). On top, you get special abilities that let you act with both your character and your eidolon at once, gaining actions in the process.
Druid is probably the best option if she is fine with vancian casting. Besides that, that can be off putting for some players, it is a great class for starters. It is specially sturdy for a caster, so it can be less punishing than other, more squishy options and its abilities are also quite straightforward. I recommend either animal or leaf for her orders. Animal is similar to Summoner thematically, but your companion will be a smaller part of tour strength in general. Plant has some healing and control options and it is generally easy to understand. If she is in for a bit more crunch, wild is also pretty fun, but it requires dealing with all the battle form entries.
If vancian casting is not her thing, a sorcerer might do the trick. It is the easier caster to play IMO and it can be made into anything flavor wise.
It [Summoner] is also usually a better class if you go for dedications (like Bard),
You must play your summoners quite a bit differently than I do. I find Summoner is one of the classes that really needs its class feats to make it work well. Adding any type of dedication is tough and adding a spellcasting dedication will really eat up class feats.
i like the Summoner class and have had a lot of fun with the one I’ve run.
I don’t think it is a good first character fit given the other information Kyle has given in this thread.
Sorcerer could certainly work, especially one with the Primal spell list. I haven’t found a Divine bloodline that I like for the sorcerer but then I generally prefer prepared casters.
Given everything that Kyle has said, I think that Druid and Witch seem the best fits for a first character.
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You must play your summoners quite a bit differently than I do. I find Summoner is one of the classes that really needs its class feats to make it work well. Adding any type of dedication is tough and adding a spellcasting dedication will really eat up class feats.
It is mostly so you get more 1 action options to use with Act Together. Inspire Courage or Doctor Visitation are amazing for Summoner. Summoner Feats are important, but you can sacrifice 2 or 3 of them.
Druids are baller in PF2. A power class similar to the bard. Lots of excellent feats every level and amazing class features. You can focus your stats on the four most important combat stats of Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
I've played three druids now. Powerful.
Most of the healing abilities that Druid has comes from the Primal spell list. And probably the easiest way to learn that is to try out different spells and see what works well with the rest of the party. Since spell preparation can be changed each day, it doesn't hurt to experiment.
The basics would be Heal in a couple or three slots of the highest two spell slot levels. Like damage spells, Heal need to be heightened or it won't change HP values by enough to be useful mid-combat.
Can you recommend general build breakdown for Druid that mainly wants to be healer/support?Druids are baller in PF2. A power class similar to the bard. Lots of excellent feats every level and amazing class features. You can focus your stats on the four most important combat stats of Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
I've played three druids now. Powerful.
This is the class feat layout of a Leaf+Stone order Druid I just made quickly
Initial order: Leaf
Lvl 2 Order Explorer (stone)
Lvl 4 Order Magic (stone)
Lvl 6 Advanced Order Magic (stone)
Lvl 8 Fey Caller
Lvl 10 Green Empathy
Lvl 12 Primal focus
Lvl 14 Verdant Metamorphosis
Lvl 16 Impalling Briars
Lvl 18 Effortless Concentration
Lvl 20 Hierophant's Power
Healing would be covered with goodberry and medicine skill
The Stone Focus spell are meant to slow down enemies and do some damage in the meanwhile. Good offensive base so she can get more support on her spells.
Fey Caller will give her cool stuff to do with illusions both in and out of combat and Green Empathy is fine if she enjoys more the roleplaying parts than combat.
I chose some flavor first feats so it is an easy to understsnd build. If she decides for something similar, she could make great use of the Shadow Signet. Also couldake use of being Human and getting the level 5 human feat that let's her get True Strike to her list (it combines with some of the stuff from the focus spells and with some other spells she will get later).
As for support spells, my top recommended ones are Heal, Enlarge (both level 2 and level 4), Loose Time Arrow, Slow (both at level 3 and 6), Lvl 3 Fear, Haste (depends on your party, only pick the lvl 3 one if it is really needed. The lvl 7 is nuts, tho), Airwalk, Stoneskin, Regenerate, lvl 8 Mask of Terror and Moment of Renewal.
I would also add a bit of blasting as well. Scorching Ray is quite good before Fireball comes online, Blazing Fissure does decent damage and trips on failure and Chain Lightning is just Chain Lightning.
She should try to keep most of her healing and all of her damage in her top 2 or 3 levels of slots. Things that interact with HP need to be worth the actions they cost, if you would be doing more damage by just using a cantrip, what's the point of using a slot? Having a low level Heal or 2 is not a bad idea, she could stabilize an adjacent creatire with it for just one action, but she should try to keep those low quantity.
Can you recommend general build breakdown for Druid that mainly wants to be healer/support?Druids are baller in PF2. A power class similar to the bard. Lots of excellent feats every level and amazing class features. You can focus your stats on the four most important combat stats of Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
I've played three druids now. Powerful.
I don't bother with healer support in PF2. PF2 is truly a game where all you need is an emergency spot healer and a trained Medic with ward medic and continual recovery as more of a bookkeeping situation to get hit points back up between fights.
In fights, the 2 action heal is your bread and butter. Druid can memorize one two action heal every level or more, then get scrolls.
I would go Storm and Animal. Start with Storm for 2 focus points and a nice focus spell good for damage and support. Then when level 2 get Order Explorer and an animal companion. Build the animal companion up with feats. Druid should be emergency healing, pick up the medic feats and build up medicine, then spend most of their time doing damage with electric arc and an animal companion or bow.
Watch the damage numbers stack up and become the most useful person in your group other than maybe a bard. Druid much better than a cleric in a group in my opinion past the first few levels where the Divine Font is very powerful.
A druid should be more damage and emergency healing build.
You want to do good heal and support, you make a bard or a cleric. Druid is damage and healing. They're a damage hammer healer.
Fervor witch can be decent support.
So I know for sure she will like to play as Druid or Witch as she loves "nature casters" (Clerics are out of question, she hates clerics). As for races I am sure she will lean towards Leshy, Kitsune or Catfolk. She also loves summons (she is Summoner main in FF XIV for example, healer main in general) so I included Summoner class too if it can be healer too (dunno). She was dissapointed healing/buffing was so bad in DnD 5e so I hope she can have fun with that in PF2e.
I currently have a leshy fey-blooded sorcerer, a catfolk monk, and a kitsune kineticist in my party, though the kineticist is a playtest character who has not left the party yet. Those ancestries are fun. We also have a gnome storm-order druid. Kyle_TheBuilder's wife could go for a kitsune leaf-order druid, and get to play both a kitsune and her leshy familiar.
The Empty Sky kitsune heritage gains Kitsune Spell Familiarity for the divine/occult cantrip Forbidding Ward, so the character would have a built-in buff independent of her primal druid spells. Any kitsune could take Kitsune Spell Familiarity as their 1st-level ancestry feat, and the player may prefer a heritage that transforms into a fox rather than a human or elf, but having the feat from the heritage frees the character to take another 1st-level ancestry feat, such as Foxfire or Retractable Claws.
Three of my PCs have animal companions. The goblin liberator champion had a Str 12, Dex 18 build at first, so she relied on her velociraptor animal companion for offense. The others use their animal companions as mounts. The travel spells can't handle a party of eight, so the party travels by riding their animal companions and summoning Phantom Steeds for everyone else. I have built NPCs with familiars and familiars do not seem as useful as the animal companions. On the other hand, a familiar can gain the Speech familiar ability for more roleplaying.
Can you recommend general build breakdown for Druid that mainly wants to be healer/support?Druids are baller in PF2. A power class similar to the bard. Lots of excellent feats every level and amazing class features. You can focus your stats on the four most important combat stats of Str, Dex, Con, and Wis.
I've played three druids now. Powerful.
I suggested Leaf Order mostly for the leshy familiar, but they also gain the Goodberry focus spell. Focus spells cost a focus point rather than a spell slot to cast, and a druid can Refocus by communing with nature for 10 minutes. I let the druid in my campaign refocus by giving attention to her animal companion, and a leshy familiar would work equally well depending on the GM's opinion. Thus, Goodberry is rechargeable healing magic.
Unfortunately, Goodberry takes too much interaction to be good in the middle of combat. My players have mastered teamwork so that they need to heal in the middle of combat only during Severe-threat encounters, but just in case the kitsune druid should either prepare a Heal spell or learn Battle Medicine. The druid could learn Battle Medicine as immediately from her background, either Field Medic or Once Bitten, or at 2nd level as her skill feat.
As for the build, the stormborn druid in my campaign attacks solely with spells, often cantrips. Thus, Strength and Dexterity are not important, though a little Dexterity aids AC. A kitsune with Foxfire or Retractible Claws would also want Dexterity (or Strength for claws) to attack well.
Sample Kitsune Leaf Druid
NG Medium kitsune humanoid druid 1
Background Once Bitten; Heritage Empty Sky Kitsune
Perception +7; low-light vision
Languages Common, Elven
Skills Athletics +3 (+2 in armor), Diplomacy +4, Medicine +7, Nature +7, Stealth +5 (+4 in armor), Survival +7, Undead Lore +4
Str +0, Dex +2, Con +1, Int +1, Wis +4, Cha +1
Items dagger, studded leather armor, wooden shield, healer's kit, scroll of Heal, backpack containing rations and bedroll.
Skill feats Battle Medicine [One Action]
Shield Block
Change Shape [One Action] Sample can assume elf form.
Familiar Corsage
AC 15 (17 with shield raised); Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +9
HP 17
Speed 25 feet
Melee [One Action] dagger +5 (Agile, Finesse, Thrown 10 ft., Versatile S) Damage 1d4 piercing
Ranged [One Action] foxfire +5 (unarmed, maximum range of 20 feet) Damage 1d4 fire
Divine innate kitsune spell (charisma-based from Kitsune Spell Familiarity) DC 14, attack +4; Cantrip (1st) forbidding ward
Prepared primal druid spells DC 17, attack +7
1st Fear, Magic Fang
Cantrips (1st) Dancing Lights, Detect Magic, Electric Arc, Gale Blast, Guidance
Corsage Familiar
NG Tiny plant minion
Perception +7; low-light vision
Skills Acrobatics +7, Stealth +7
Familiar Abilities of the Day Ambassador Corsage gives Sample +2 Aid to Diplomacy; Speech Corsage can speak Common
AC 15; Fort +4, Ref +5, Will +9
HP 5
Speed 25 feet
The studded leather armor on Sample is unusual, because she lacks the Strength to wear it effortlessly, but she would be standing close enough to combat to need some protection. I could not find many buff spells in the primal list: Fear is a debuff and Magic Fang would probably be a self-buff unless the party has another unarmed attacker. Heal is for emergency healing, so I put it on a scroll until 2nd level. I chose Foxfire for Sample's 1st-level ancestry feat for the fun, but Retractible Claws would be safer for combat and Kitsune Lore would help fix her shortage of trained skills. Her two damaging cantrips are not attacks, so she could Strike with Foxfire as a 3rd action at no multiple attack penalty.
The Familiar is also a core part of their theme, and can become a Leshy with the Wortwitch class feat.
The rest of your post, I agree with.
But Wortwitch is one of the many Witch feats that look good on the surface, but are actually useless. It provides nothing of value without the Leshy Familiar Secrets that is only available to Druid.
As for Summoner builds, this is what I would propose:
Plant Eidolon (STR based)
lvl 1: Advanced Weaponry (Grapple)
Lvl 2: Bard Dedication/Medic Dedication
Lvl 4: Tandem Movement/Doctor Visitation/Lingering Performance (Would retrain into it later)
Lvl 6: Eidolon's Opportunity
Lvl 8: Doctor Visitation/Tandem Movement/Inspirational Performance/Inspire Defense
Lvl 10: Hulking Size
Lvl 12: Grasping Limbs
Lvl 14: Towering Size
Lvl 16: Link Focus
Lvl 18: Whatever
Lvl 20: Eternal Boost
At level 4, you have a few options depending on your dedication. If you are a medic, you take either Tandem Movement or Doctor Visitation. If you picked Bard, you pick Tandem Movement and once you reach level 8, you can retrain it for Lingering Performance if you want.
At level 8, If you are a medic, I would pick the other you didn't get at level 4. If you are a Bard, depending on what the rest of the group has, you can take either Inspire Courage or Inspire Defense. In order to pick Inspire Defense you need to have Lingering Performance (due to how Basic Muse Whispers and Advanced Muse Whispers work).
This type of summoner works like this. You move your eidolon into position, then you strike or grapple your opponents (you need to boost Athletics for this). Meanwhile, the summoner itself can use its remaining actions to cast, move, use Doctor Visitation or cast Lingering Performance/Inspire Defense.
For example, One possible turn could be Act Together with 1 single action so you get to move your Eidolon and cast Boost Eidolon, 1 action to the summoner to use Doctor's Visitation and the last remaining action to the eidolon to Strike.
Grappling works really well if you plan to use Knockdown, they not only target different saves, but they can also be used on the same enemy to lock them down. Medic Dedication would make her a better healer, Bard Dedication would make her better at support.
If she likes the Bard idea and she likes elves, one good option is to go Ancient Elf to pick the dedication at level 1 and free the level 2 feat in order to pick something else.
I still think Druid is a better pick if she prefers to keep things simple, though.
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I would say go Bard and then some Primal casting dedication to be able to use scrolls and staves.
Bard is an incedible buffer and debuffer thanks to both the class features AND the Occult spell list.
Which includes Summon Fey BTW.
I spent the latest PFS scenario judiciously Inspiring Courage or howling a Dirge of Doom while making PCs invisible and casting Soothe, Heal (from a scroll), Fear or Magic Missile as needed.
Reach spell for distant buffing/debuffing is quite nice too.
Healing options are clearly focused on Divine and Primal spell list. The Occult spell list has roughly one healing spell which is lackluster even if better than nothing.
When it comes to buff, all traditions have their buff spells. It's hard to decide which one is better as they all have their selection.
Considering the order (healer, then buffer) of the title, I'd not go with Bard, which is primarily a buffer/debuffer.
In my opinion, any healing class (Cleric, Sorcerer) with Psychic Dedication for Amp Guidance fulfills the fantasy.
How is Occult vs Primal when it comes to healing options vs buff options?
TL;DR Both can do HP restoration. Primal is better at status removal, Occult is better at buffs/debuffs.
Healing:
Cantrips, Primal has Stabilize.
HP restoration, Primal has Heal but the best way to cast that is the 2-action version. Occult has Soothe which only has the 2-action version and does approximately the same amount of healing with a minor buff in the process.
Primal also has a handful of other HP restoration spells like Soothing Spring and Healing Well.
Status removal, Primal has some classics like Remove Disease and Neutralize Poison. Occult also has some classics like Restoration. There are also quite a few that they both have, like Restore Senses], [url=https://2e.aonprd.com/Spells.aspx?ID=252]Remove Fear, and Remove Paralysis
Buffs:
Primal and Occult both have them, but they do them a bit differently, though again there are spells that are on both lists. Remembering things off-hand: Primal is more protection/resistances and self buffs, Occult is more mental protection, has a bit more numeric boosts in the form of status bonuses. I have to run, I'll get some example spells in a bit.
Buffs (continued):
Primal has things like Protector Tree, Shattering Gem, Shillelagh (self only), Barkskin, Animal Form and other polymorph forms (self only), and Stoneskin.
Occult has things like Shield (cantrip, self only), Forbidding Ward (cantrip), Mage Armor (self only), Bless, Magic Weapon, Protection, Sanctuary, True Strike, Invisibility, Mirror Image (self only), Chromatic Armor (self only), and a lot more.
Both can get some things too, like Guidance (cantrip), Resist Energy, and Haste.