D&D 5E Ridiculously good healer

[FormerlyHemlock]

Observation: it is possible to heal 240 HP with a single third-level spell.

Explanation: Aura of Vitality heals 2d6 HP per round for up to 1 minute. It's a third-level spell, and Disciple of Life adds 2+(spell level) in healing every time you heal another creature with a spell, so 2d6+5 points of healing per round. Extend Spell costs 1 sorcery point and doubles the duration of a spell lasting at least one minute, to a maximum of 24 hours. So you get 20 rounds of healing from an Extended Aura of Life, for 40d6+100 points of healing total, at the cost of one third level spell slot and one sorcery point.

Implication: by 10th level, you can be healing 2060 HP of damage per long rest. (Lore Bard 6/Cleric of Life 1/Sorcerer 3.) On top of that, by 15th level you can be healing 480 HP of damage per short rest (add Warlock 5).

Ridiculously specialized build which is nevertheless surprisingly gishy: take a human (Mobile) with high Cha and at least 13 Wis.

Level 1: Wild* Sorcerer 1 (for Con save proficiency and Booming Blade)
Level 2: Cleric of Life 1 (heavy armor, Bless if needed)
Level 3-8: Lore Bard 6 (Aura of Vitality, Bardic Inspiration, Cutting Words, Hypnotic Pattern)
Level 9-10: Wild* Sorcerer 3 (Extend Spell, Quicken Spell)
Level 11-15: Fiendlock* (Tome Pact*) (Agonizing Blast, Devil's Sight, Book of Ancient Secrets*)
Level 16-19: Lore Bard 10 (more secrets, Animate Objects)
Level 20: Wild Sorcerer 4

*Vary to taste

Mobile cancels out the movement penalty on heavy armor and allows you to Booming Blade + move away.

You'll get ASIs at level 6, 14, 17, and 20. If you spend these on Cha you can max out Cha by level 14, which coincidentally is the point at which you have Eldritch Blast fully online and Shillelagh Booming/Greenflame Blade, which together with your heavy armor proficiency and Con save proficiency will make you surprisingly tanky. If you need to, you can use your Sorcerer spells like Blur and Shield to make you even tankier, but try to resist the temptation to blow spells on defense (including Bless) unless you are very close to death, because it will probably be cheaper to just soak the hits and patch yourself (and everyone else) up afterwards. If you think weapons are cooler than spells, you could go Bladelock/Thirsting Blade instead of Tome Pact/Book of Ancient Secrets; or if you love terrain effects you could go for Repelling Blast.

I don't know what to do with the 17th and 20th level ASIs. Maybe spend one on Inspiring Leader or Healer for extra ridiculousness.

I think this build would be fun and playable from level 2 onwards, and at level 8 it starts to seriously rock. Everything after level 10 is really just overkill.

 

[mellored]

i would add shillelagh at lore bard 6, then you can hit things with Cha.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

i would add shillelagh at lore bard 6, then you can hit things with Cha.

You could, but that's a long-term suboptimization and also redundant--you'll get Shillelagh anyway at Warlock 3, and you'll have Eldritch Blast as well, and you can already Fire Bolt/Chill Touch/etc. with Cha from level 1. I can't imagine spending my other Magical Secrets on something that ultimately is just going to boost my melee damage output by a small fraction.

If you really want to be a melee beast for the early levels, though, you could take Mounted Combatant instead of Mobile. Advantage against medium creatures is likely better than an extra +2 or +3 to-hit.

 

[mellored]

you need to wait 4-5 levels for warlock cantrips to come online.

and if your depending on firebolt and eldrich blast, then there's little reason for mobility, since the majority of ehat you do is after battle, there's little reason to rush in.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

you need to wait 4-5 levels for warlock cantrips to come online.

and if your depending on firebolt and eldrich blast, then there's little reason for mobility, since the majority of ehat you do is after battle, there's little reason to rush in.

The main reason for Mobile (/Mounted Combatant) is that having a speed of 20' is unacceptable, since it makes it impossible to run away if you get outmatched. Being able to Booming Blade when needed is a fringe benefit. Remember, this PC is primarily a healer and support guy anyway. If the combat takes 5% longer and the enemies do 5% more damage because he didn't take Shillelagh, he's barely going to notice the difference.

The main point is that you can be fantastically good at healing and support and still be mostly SAD.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Final note: the Extend Spell trick also works for paladorcs.

 

[faria]

why wild magic instead of draconic bloodline? shenanigans? i get that draconic AC boost is pointless in life cleric's heavy armor, but some of the stuff on the wild magic chart is...dangerous. if we're talking optimization, it seems like an unnecessary risk (though it would be fun). and don't draconic sorcs get a small hp boost too? i don't have my phb in front of me

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

why wild magic instead of draconic bloodline? shenanigans? i get that draconic AC boost is pointless in life cleric's heavy armor, but some of the stuff on the wild magic chart is...dangerous. if we're talking optimization, it seems like an unnecessary risk (though it would be fun). and don't draconic sorcs get a small hp boost too? i don't have my phb in front of me

Just personal preference--choose the sorc type you prefer. Wild Magic will rarely trigger anyway because it only triggers on sorc spells, whereas you're spending spell points mostly on Aura of Vitality.

Still, I like the possibility of bombarding the enemy with extra Fireballs and Confusion spells whenever you cast a Shield spell, and I like Tides of Chaos. There is the very slim possibility that you could accidentally Polymorph yourself into a sheep or whatever, but 1.) you can Counterspell that Polymorph, 2.) you can use Tides of Chaos to save with advantage against that Polymorph.

You're correct that a dragon sorcerer gets +1 HP/level. But when you heal 480 HP (to the whole party) per short rest, an extra +4 HP at 19th level doesn't look so attractive any more, and I'd rather have the Tides of Chaos/free Fireballs/etc. Still, the true reason I picked Wild Sorc in the above writeup is just habit: I prefer Wild Sorcs in a party because of Bend Luck at 6th level (from a save DC standpoint it's like boosting the prime requisite of everyone in your whole party by 4, Int 20 => Int 24), but in this case the sorc won't ever get Bend Luck so you could take Dragon Sorcerer instead with no real regrets.

Optimization doesn't have to mean "no fun allowed." In this case, we're optimizing for ridiculous healing, and since both sorc types are equally good at that, optimization doesn't care which one you pick as long as you get Extend Spell metamagic somehow.