D&D 4th Edition RulesAsk questions about 4th-Edition rules and the like in here. General discussion about 4E or any other game belongs in General RPG Discussion, above.
I think the amount of healing should almost always be based on a healing surge so it stays porportionate to the target (or even half a surge I saw somebodies house rules using 10 percent of your hit points as a healing surge.) .But we are less concerned about the economy of surges... our battle encounters are sometimes very separated.
It is differently a potent prayer, in all likely hood the best Cleric 6 utility power, yet there are clear opportunity costs to the power as written.
Minor action to cast, Minor Action to sustain, and only allies in or adjacent to the BIG GLOWING MAN get the healing. Move action to move the BIG GLOWING MAN 4 squares.
I have put BIG GLOWING MAN in caps to illustrate an obvious visual component coupled with a clear effect via the healing. Any intelligent foe should be able to discern the power w/in a round or two. If you do not agree with that assessment and simply have the next battle include a similar effect but for the monsters and see how quickly the players figure it out. The second monster to hit and heal will probably seal the deal. In fact if you made the power open to everyone, you would quickly see the encounter shift into king of the hill.
Given that, most monsters will attempt to keep players away from locus of the healing.
As for the healing itself, the power will heal pretty close to a 6th level healing surge (probably below for Defenders), and the Minor action to sustain, and Move Action to move 4 squares, means that unless all the cleric wants to do is solely heal....this power is going to take the place of Healing Word.
Using Healing Word with Spirit of Healing either means resources are being wasted by over healing, or the encounter is tough enough to warrant maximum healing (in which case Kudos to the power).
Likewise I find most times, people do not spend all of their Healing Surges, so again, this power either allows people to save a few more Healing Surges, which is a big woop, the person has a few more of a resource they were not going to use and which resets after an extended rest anyway....OR...the prayer really saves someones Bacon by allowing them to heal when completely out of Healing Surges or allows preservation of Surges for 1 more encounter...which again is Kudos to the power.
Tactically the wonkiest aspect would be to cast this in the back ranks and let the Ranged AOE person reap the benefit, A wizard could reap a huge reward...but again odds are this is the person w/ lowest Healing Surge value, (kudos for the power), but also behind the Defenders (cover) and thus not taking damage as much as others, and thus less effective use for the power.
Clearly given terrain, party composition, tactics, and power choice this Prayer can be exploited by the players.
On the DM side, this Prayer could very well encourage Party clumping which is easily exploited as well.
Last edited by satori01; 9th August 2009 at 10:12 AM..
The power works somewhat simirlarly to a shaman's spirit (in that you move it around to give buffs to adjacent people). It moves a bit slower, but generally monster's don't get to move around so much once you engage them (fighter's combat challenge, AoO etc) so the movement isn't too much of an issue.
I've played a shaman for almost 10 levels, and if you're any good at tactical thinking then honestly the 'limitations' of this spell are fairly trivial to work around. The only real drawback to this spell is the same as consecrated ground... daze/stun/charm will end the sustain (or at least force the cleric to do nothing else but sustain it in the case of daze).
Unfortunately most encounters won't necessarily have those.
I came online to see whether or not I was misreading the power ... unfortunately I'm not...
In our last few games it has completely trivialized the combat in which it appears. At lvl 6 we are getting 17 HP each turn (which is almost equal to our clerics healing word. Staying next to the spirit is easy and it takes some REALLY creative or clever thinking from the DM to stop it. He hasn't come up with anything yet. I'm sure with some eureka experience he'll come up with something, but it shouldn't require that.
Our party of 3 killed a village of orcs (10 minions, 6 soilders, 4 archers, 4 mages, 1 very very nasty leader with a magic great axe). The spirit wasn't the only thing that made us successful, but it pretty much got to a point towards the middle of the fight, after it came out, we were healing up to full HP each turn and it got a bit boring because we were pretty close to invincible. 17 HP was a massive amount of healing per character each round.
I mean if they run, we shoot bows ... the healing is too good to pass up.
Healing has gone over the top a bit ... makes DMs NEED to eat through WAY too much HP.
Once for each hit, yes. Likewise, a ranger that attacks twice and hits twice will get his healing twice.
Sounds like my Wizard MC Cleric should pick this up for dangerous encounters and just sit it beside myself up the back and range nuke.. im always the first to run out of surges and this little baby could keep me going energizer bunny style.
Sounds like my Wizard MC Cleric should pick this up for dangerous encounters and just sit it beside myself up the back and range nuke.. im always the first to run out of surges and this little baby could keep me going energizer bunny style.
Unfortunately, it only works on allies. My Invoker|Cleric is disappointed, too.
Linear Mode
And yet another word from our sponsors
