Neonchameleon said:
I want non-magical spike healing if the Cleric's main healing is going to follow that approach.
To keep making sure I'm on the right track, as I'm digging into your posts, your case seems to be "D&D
must include non-magical spike healing as a class feature or else fail to meet my needs as a gaming system."
Most of my posts thus far have been trying to demonstrate how your stated needs can be met without non-magical spike healing, but I think that tactic was inappropriate. It reminds me of my conversations in undergrad as a student of religion -- like trying to talk a religious fundamentalist out of believing that their particular religious rules are
essential for peace and happiness. Clearly, no other rules are going to be appropriate, because you already have the correct ones, and all the game system needs to do is adhere to the correct rules, or be forever unacceptable in your eyes.
And if that's the case here -- if you're Manichean about your mechanics, and there is only one way for D&D to do the thing, and it is by this rule, and only by this rule -- this isn't a conversation as much as it is you shouting about how anyone who dares to dissent is wrong and likely also not very smart because they don't see what you do so clearly. There's probably a place for that here on a message board full of passionate nerds, but design isn't a mathematical science, so I don't see much benefit in that for me personally if that's the case. That's so far removed from my experience and worldview that all I can do is basically say, "You have your game, go have fun with it." If there's a right way to do it, and you've found it, please go enjoy it.
Non-magical spike healing as a class feature isn't the only way to have a competitive defensive mechanic in a game where magical spike healing as a class feature exists, though.
If that's not something you're prepared to accept the reality of, then you've made up your mind, and I wish you all the best. If that
is something you might be able to believe or be convinced of, if you can entertain the idea that there is a diversity of potential solutions to the underlying problems you're experiencing, and that 5e may in fact include some or all of those potential solutions, maybe this can still be productive. But in order for that conversation to happen, you first have to be able to believe that non-magical spike healing as a class feature is not The Answer. If that can't happen, then I don't need to waste my time convincing you of it anymore.