D&D 4E You Don't Need a Healer in 4E... Yeah Right!

[Mal Malenkirk]

Healing is basically bailing water out of a sinking ship. It might be necessary sometimes, but it's never the ideal thing to be doing./QUOTE]

Inspiring and healing word are burst 5 minor actions.

When someone is hurting, using your minor action to heal him is almost always the ideal thing to be doing. Unless you are aware of a lot of better things a leader can use his minor actions for?

 

[Goumindong]

A warlord can pick up the inspiring commander ability(or whatever) and whenever anyone spends an action point(I.E. a daily), they heal the warlords level + Cha mod. If he is pumping cha/str like he ought to that will be a sizable amount of hit points. Not quite healing surge level, but enough to make a difference

 

[am181d]

A competent DM will scale threats relative to the party's capabilities. If players want to play all rangers, a competent DM can present threats that will be a fair match for them.

 

[Felon]

Inspiring and healing word are burst 5 minor actions.

When someone is hurting, using your minor action to heal him is almost always the ideal thing to be doing. Unless you are aware of a lot of better things a leader can use his minor actions for?

You're missied the point, not to mention a bracket.

They're minor actions specifically because the designers know that healing is a subopimal option if it comes at the cost as an offensive action.

That little drop of healing that the words provide is nice and all, but usually it just amounts to cancelling out one attack's worth of damage. That's hardly any more essential than, say, a wizard's encounter power that cleans up the battlefield. And the other healing abilities leaders have are more restrictive in application.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

You're missied the point, not to mention a bracket. They're minor actions specifically because the designers know that healing is otherwise a subopimal option.

I didn't miss the point. We're no longer talking 3e here; This is 4e forum.

A good portion of 4e healing is done as a minor and that makes it very much optimum and if you claim otherwise, expect to be called on it.

 

[ValhallaGH]

I've heard some people say that you don't need healing now that you have second wind, powers that activate surges, etc. You'd have to be careful, but it was possible to play without a healer.

It is possible. It's really difficult, and you'll have to run away and take a short rest when you face most solos, and teams of brutes. But it is possible with a combination of good tactics, good preparation (STEALTH! Get the surprise round! And buy lots of potions), and luck.

Of course, luck doesn't last forever, and sometimes the seemingly correct tactics are actually the worst onces. But, it's still possible to adventure without a leader.

And don't underrate kobolds. Those little buggers can wipe a party of their level (whether or not they have a healer) with good tactics and a bit of luck.


In combat healing is the one PC ability that almost no monsters can match. That's because it's a huge edge. Plus, most monsters only have 1, 2, or 3 healing surge(s). That's not nearly as powerful as a PC's number of healing surges.

 

[James McMurray]

We had a very hrard encounter (we're 11, it was 14) last night. We've got a paladin and acleric in the party, and it got to where non-healer types were running around using Heal to give unconscious people their Second Wind. We barely won, but still lost three out of five PCs. Without a leader it would have been a TPK very quickly.

 

[Victim]

In combat healing is the one PC ability that almost no monsters can match. That's because it's a huge edge. Plus, most monsters only have 1, 2, or 3 healing surge(s). That's not nearly as powerful as a PC's number of healing surges.

Yeah. Healing ability is pretty much the one area where PC types vastly outmatch monster types. Equivalent level monsters can generally do damage like PCs, usually have some good powers but usually not ones as good as dailies (they tend to have fewer powers, but often have recharges so the monster doesn't run out as easily as PCs do over a long fight), have comparable defenses, and usually seem to have more HP.

The biggest difference is that the PCs usually heal during a fight and the monsters don't.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I would say that you can get quite far without a cleric/warlord, even if you don't multiclass into them either. What you need is a solid paladin and some dwarves and maybe a dragonborn... And maybe a halfling Oh, and a infernal warlock should help as well.

You have to use alternate tactics for this to work though. In other words, the characters need to divide the damage done to all the characters, not just one or two as a regular party would do.

It is suboptimal in a party with a healer to have the strikers/controllers attacked/hit because they have worse AC and less hp than the defenders. In other words, it is easier for the healers to heal the defenders than any other party member. A good defender might take his hp 2+ times over in a fight at level 2+ without going down.

In a party without a healer this isn't an option. You don't have enought in-combat healing for the defender taking more than roughly 1.5 times his hp in damage during a fight. The rest of the damage has to be spread out between the rest of the characters.

There are a powers that help a party without a healer. For instance the ranger has a power that lets him attack a party member that was hit as an immediate interrupt giving the attack a penalty of 3+wis mod. For an elven ranger that will probably be -7 for that attack. In other words, it will probably turn a hit into a miss. The warlock has a power that lets him switch places with a target, etc...

The players has to remember to use their second wind BEFORE they go down, you might even want to use your action point to use your second wind early in the fight. If you are not a dwarf that is.

Remember that the paladin and fighter can be quite good at "healing". Lay on hands with a cha bonus (it takes one feat), healing strike, etc, etc. Oh, and you might want to take feats that dazes, stuns, knocks enemies down etc.

- On his turn the knocked down foe uses his move to get up, and if he doesn't have a ranged weapon he has to use his standard action to move up to you. (You need to shift away after knocking your foe prone)

- The dazed foe only has one action... If he is holding a ranged weapon, just stay close to him, if he is a melee character just take a step back. The ranged weapon holder would take an AO if he attacks, and he can't switch weapons, because he has only got one action. The melee guy needs to get up close to you and then he is out of actions... He might charge you, but then you get combat advantage against him...

 

[TheNovaLord]

A competent DM will scale threats relative to the party's capabilities. If players want to play all rangers, a competent DM can present threats that will be a fair match for them.

indeed, thats how it should work

am writing all the adventures I GM and tied to the party

each adventure gives about 1 level ,has around 14 encounters of all types only 4 or 5 of which are 'unavoidable' combat encounters.