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Character Builds & Optimization
Best in-combat healer
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<blockquote data-quote="kalani" data-source="post: 7037822" data-attributes="member: 88085"><p>Personally, I find damage prevention is superior to in-combat healing, and as such I lean heavily on things like <em>shield</em>, and <em>counter spell</em>. In-combat healing is a panic button if you need to get someone back in the fight so that the party doesn't lose action economy by losing an entire character's turn of actions. Sacrificing one action (or bonus action) to keep someone in the fight is all in-combat healing should be used for. </p><p></p><p>As such, when it comes to in-combat healing, I favor spells that don't require concentration, and preferably use a bonus action (<em>healing word</em>, <em>mass healing word</em> and the like). With that being said, a <strong>Life Cleric 1-2/Lore Bard X</strong> is able to accomplish all these goals by picking up <em>counter spell</em> at 6th level (the best damage prevention spell in the game IMO, as countering a single fireball can prevent an average of 14-28 damage to each affected character, and often exceeds the benefits of <em>heal</em>). It does have its limits though. <em>Lightning bolt</em> and other long-range spells cannot be countered easily, as the spell has a range of 60, and requires line of sight (so invisible spellcasters, or being blinded will prevent you from using CS). </p><p></p><p>As far as in-combat healing goes, you can't really do much better for your action than the <strong>Life Cleric's</strong> 2nd level Channel divinity.</p><p></p><p>Personally, while I like <em>aura of vitality</em>, I find that there is way too much competition for my 6th level magical secrets. As is, I would like to have all of the following spells from just wizard and cleric alone, and this makes it very difficult to decide what to choose: <em>shield</em>, <em>spirit guardians</em>, <em>mass healing word</em>, <em>counter spell</em>, and <em>revivify</em>. Fortunately for me, <em>Hypnotic Pattern</em> is on the Bard List, so I don't have to worry about that competing for the same spell choice, although I will eventually want to upgrade it to <em>wall of force</em> later.</p><p></p><p><strong>Regarding Feats: </strong><em>Inspiring Leader</em> is a good choice, as is my personal favorite: <strong><em>Lucky</em></strong>. The Lucky feat is often under appreciated, and used poorly. I have found its best value is to be used on a high-AC tank (AC 20+ with the <em>shield </em>spell is ideal), as it can easily turn hits into misses on such a character. You don't know how frustrating it is for a DM to hit such a character, when <em>shield</em> makes most enemies unable to hit you without a crit, and then <em>Lucky</em> turns most crits into misses. Between the three, that means you can normally only be hit by an attack roll 1/400 times while you have Luck dice remaining. </p><p></p><p>The only downside I can think of with a<strong>Life Cleric 1-2/Lore Bard X</strong> is the fact that none of the bardic spell foci are one-handed (all instruments in the PHB require two hands from what I can tell). As such, it makes it incredibly difficult to use a shield with such a build, which is a loss of 2-4 AC (assuming a magical shield at some point). The upside to this is that you can always take <em>tavern brawler</em> and become proficient with your <strong>instrument of the bards</strong> allowing you to double as a grapple bard/healer.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="kalani, post: 7037822, member: 88085"] Personally, I find damage prevention is superior to in-combat healing, and as such I lean heavily on things like [I]shield[/I], and [I]counter spell[/I]. In-combat healing is a panic button if you need to get someone back in the fight so that the party doesn't lose action economy by losing an entire character's turn of actions. Sacrificing one action (or bonus action) to keep someone in the fight is all in-combat healing should be used for. As such, when it comes to in-combat healing, I favor spells that don't require concentration, and preferably use a bonus action ([I]healing word[/I], [I]mass healing word[/I] and the like). With that being said, a [B]Life Cleric 1-2/Lore Bard X[/B] is able to accomplish all these goals by picking up [I]counter spell[/I] at 6th level (the best damage prevention spell in the game IMO, as countering a single fireball can prevent an average of 14-28 damage to each affected character, and often exceeds the benefits of [I]heal[/I]). It does have its limits though. [I]Lightning bolt[/I] and other long-range spells cannot be countered easily, as the spell has a range of 60, and requires line of sight (so invisible spellcasters, or being blinded will prevent you from using CS). As far as in-combat healing goes, you can't really do much better for your action than the [B]Life Cleric's[/B] 2nd level Channel divinity. Personally, while I like [I]aura of vitality[/I], I find that there is way too much competition for my 6th level magical secrets. As is, I would like to have all of the following spells from just wizard and cleric alone, and this makes it very difficult to decide what to choose: [I]shield[/I], [I]spirit guardians[/I], [I]mass healing word[/I], [I]counter spell[/I], and [I]revivify[/I]. Fortunately for me, [I]Hypnotic Pattern[/I] is on the Bard List, so I don't have to worry about that competing for the same spell choice, although I will eventually want to upgrade it to [I]wall of force[/I] later. [B]Regarding Feats: [/B][I]Inspiring Leader[/I] is a good choice, as is my personal favorite: [B][I]Lucky[/I][/B]. The Lucky feat is often under appreciated, and used poorly. I have found its best value is to be used on a high-AC tank (AC 20+ with the [I]shield [/I]spell is ideal), as it can easily turn hits into misses on such a character. You don't know how frustrating it is for a DM to hit such a character, when [I]shield[/I] makes most enemies unable to hit you without a crit, and then [I]Lucky[/I] turns most crits into misses. Between the three, that means you can normally only be hit by an attack roll 1/400 times while you have Luck dice remaining. The only downside I can think of with a[B]Life Cleric 1-2/Lore Bard X[/B] is the fact that none of the bardic spell foci are one-handed (all instruments in the PHB require two hands from what I can tell). As such, it makes it incredibly difficult to use a shield with such a build, which is a loss of 2-4 AC (assuming a magical shield at some point). The upside to this is that you can always take [I]tavern brawler[/I] and become proficient with your [B]instrument of the bards[/B] allowing you to double as a grapple bard/healer. [/QUOTE]
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