I like the PF2E Cleric, I'm just trying a mental exercise at building something that can do the healer role that is not a cleric.
I've been playing around at making assorted characters in Pathbuilder that are themed as healers but which are not clerics.
I'm on the fence right now as to whether or not any of them would actually be good at the role in a group that had no other healing.
So I'm wondering if anyone has their own thoughts on this. Particularly has anyone pulled it off in play - either successfully or as a failed experiment. Is Healing Font so powerful that there's really no way to be effective enough without it? Or am I over-valuing it when I think about this?
If I stack something like alchemy or herbalist archetypes with a leaf druid that has battle medicine - I can get what looks pretty good 'on paper', except I'm tempted to waste all my spell slots on heal. And then I'm starting to think this is an unwinnable mental exercise - that my best possible result is an 'off healer' or a 'heal bot' that has nothing else to offer except spamming cantrips.
So... TL:DR... any thoughts on non-cleric healer options?
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There's a few builds that are comparable to Cleric as healers.
Sorcerers have the excess supply of slots to facilitate a heal spam at higher levels. Divine Sorcerers (and Angelic specifically) can excel in such a role.
Life Oracles are in a similar position. They require a more deft hand with curse management, but are respectably bulky and have explosive burst healing.
Any caster getting Lay on Hands via Blessed One archetype can supplement healing. If you're a CHA-based Divine caster already, then the Mercies start looking tempting, enabling you to attempt counteracts on basically everything at higher levels.
For non-magical approaches, Forensic Medicine Investigators coupled with the Medic Archetype are the best users of Battle Medicine, getting plentiful uses with large bonuses.
With the recent errata, Chirugeon Alchemists can also play an effective healbot (and preserve their own actions by dispensing supplies before fights).
I GM a party that now only have a Bard as main healer during the encounters. Off-encounters the players with medicine usually Treat Wounds until maximum in most cases. Also many APs gives a good amounts of healing potions/elixir of life allowing players to use as emergency heals.
Until now there's no problem with this party configuration. No TPK or situation that they was unable to deal.
I GM a party that now only have a Bard as main healer during the encounters. Off-encounters the players with medicine usually Treat Wounds until maximum in most cases. Also many APs gives a good amounts of healing potions/elixir of life allowing players to use as emergency heals.
Until now there's no problem with this party configuration. No TPK or situation that they was unable to deal.
This is my experience as well. In combat healing can be a good save if anyone goes down, but that can be covered with consumables.
I have a party with an Undead Sorcerer (who has Medicine feats) and a Cleric, and probably 80% of the healing is done by the Sorc out of combat or by using a wand or staff with Heal.
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As others have pointed out, there is really not generally a need for a character dedicated to healing and little else.
The best path in my experience is for at least 1 (2 is considerably better) of the group to have some reasonable in combat healing resources. Which can come from all sorts of places (alchemist, primal spell list, medic archetype, occult spell list, expensive consumables, etc etc etc).
What IS important is for the group to have a decent and efficient way to get out of combat healing fairly quickly and VERY cheaply. The GM isn't always nice enough to let you rest an hour between fights :-). This out of combat healing usually comes from a combination of medicine skill with feats such as ward medic combined with some focus point powered healing (lay on hands, goodberry, etc).
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Investigator/alchemist require melee reach all the time, so they are not that performant ( unless full melee party with tremendous dps), though they can excellent support characters ( especially the former).
Investigator [Forensic Medicine] + Medic Dedication and Doctor's Visitation can be pretty mobile.
I think first you need to specify if you're concerned about in combat healing vs out of combat healing.
Out of combat healing can be accomplished by literally anyone willing to take medicine as trained and spend skill upgrades on it up to legendary, as well as spending skill feats on Continual Recovery and Ward Medic. Everything else isn't needed to be a reasonably competent healer out of combat.
For in combat healing there are some options to allow you to use Combat Medicine more often on allies if you don't want to be a caster. But spell casting access is going to make healing in combat much more efficient. Of course there are also potions and elixirs that can be purchased to help with in combat healing too, so it's not absolutely necessary either.
Plenty of spell lists have access to different methods of healing spells.
And the medic dedication can let you remedy things beyond HP loss.
Lots of great ideas to consider.
I'm mostly thinking in combat as the out of combat options are so varied any class can fill for it with the right stuff.
I love healers, and have been seeking a way to build one that is quirky enough or different enough to hook the side of me that likes to figure out how to achieve the simplest task in the most complex, unusual, or unexpected way possible. ;)
For in combat healing you can be quite successful with nearly any class with the medic dedication and battle medicine. It's not as great as other methods, but can keep people in the fight. If you play as a forensic medicine investigator you can largely get a similar benefit as taking the medic archetype, but medic can give you even more options.
And if you play a class with some sort of healing focus spell such as a champion with lay on hands that can help out more. Various classes have access to some sort of healing focus spell, but they can be very specific to the build, such as phoenix bloodline, so I'm not attempting to mention them here.
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You'd be surprised at how much mileage the Medic archetype gets you. Doctor's Visitation is a helluva drug. Put that on a caster with heal and you'll likely be fine. Druid will be best at being a Medic but Sorcerer and Life Oracle will use the Heal spell better.
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Life Oracles are set up to have a neat and unique healing playstyle in combat.
What you lack in free Heal spellslots, you make up for with damage redistribution with Life Link. Gradually mitigating damage from your party makes for efficient 3-action AoE heals. Your natural d12 Heals under moderate curse makes for great burst heals, which is perfect for your personal Heals since you redirect a lot of damage to yourself.
Often this means you are the one in the most need of healing, which seems horrible due to minor curse. But since this leaves the rest of your party generally healthier, you can actually save up on actions and Heal spells. You don't have to chase allies down too much, they go down less from the HP buffer you provide, and maybe you burst Heal yourself once per encounter. Sometimes not even since with Battle Medicine, on top of everything else, you're pretty good at keeping everyone standing by the end of the encounter. Maybe not topped off on HP but standing. And at that point, you can Treat Wounds your problems away.
This becomes more serviceable at higher levels when Life Link gains more targets. A bit dependent on party size too as Life Link's heightened scaling is awkward.
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As others have pointed out, there is really not generally a need for a character dedicated to healing and little else.
To some degree, though, that’s exactly what makes the Cleric such a great healer. A Healing Font lets the Cleric provide pretty solid in-combat healing while devoting almost every other aspect of their build to some other function.
What IS important is for the group to have a decent and efficient way to get out of combat healing fairly quickly and VERY cheaply. The GM isn't always nice enough to let you rest an hour between fights :-). This out of combat healing usually comes from a combination of medicine skill with feats such as ward medic combined with some focus point powered healing (lay on hands, goodberry, etc).
This may be a function of the fairly-stable group I’ve GMed for out-of-combat healing seems much easier reliably cover with any random character than is in-combat. I don’t think I’ve ever GMed a group for whom out-of-combat healing wasn’t basically a non-issue by level 5.
This may be a function of the fairly-stable group I’ve GMed for out-of-combat healing seems much easier reliably cover with any random character than is in-combat. I don’t think I’ve ever GMed a group for whom out-of-combat healing wasn’t basically a non-issue by level 5.
That's because the cost is basically 1/3 of your skill upgrades, and 2 skill feats that are 2nd and 4th level (IIRC). After that you can be done in your investment if you like. If you have a consistent play group it is a very low bar for one character to clear.
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That's because the cost is basically 1/3 of your skill upgrades, and 2 skill feats that are 2nd and 4th level (IIRC). After that you can be done in your investment if you like. If you have a consistent play group it is a very low bar for one character to clear.
We usually have two characters (out of 4-5) with decent out of combat healing options. In my current Strength of Thousands campaign the Ranger is really kitted out for Medicine, and we have a Champion supplementing with Lay on Hands, plus the Cleric is a strong back-up on Medicine. I’ve had two players who have been, together, in probably 85% of the PF2 that I’ve GMed, and the other two players in my current campaign are strong regulars, too, and that has to skew my experience.