D&D 5E Healing

[KarinsDad]

I am hoping on getting the PHB on Friday and starting play in a few weeks.

So, my wife was using the leaked alpha to create a halfling bard and she noticed that the cure wounds spell did 2D8+2 and the healing word spell did 1D8+2. This, to me, is a reasonable amount of healing. Sure, it's high at level one, but at level 20, even using a 9th level slot, it's 83 points of healing (to PCs that have 120 to 250 or so hit points) for cure wounds.

Cure wounds in the basic rules is 1D8+2 healing and healing word is 1d4+2.

That's a major difference. Looking at the healing at various levels in the Basic Rules yields:

Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Prayer of Healing, Mass Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, Heal, Mass Heal

   CW HW PH MW MC HL  MH
1:  7  5 
2: 12  8 16
3: 17 11 21  6
4: 21 13 25 10
5: 26 16 31 12 18
6: 32 20 36 15 23 70
7: 36 22 40 17 27 80
8: 41 25 45 20 32 90
9: 45 27 49 22 36 100 700 split

Note: Assuming +1 to spell casting ability at levels 4 and 8 to initial +3.
Note: Did not take into account class abilities which might boost this.


Would anyone ever really use a 9th level slot to cast a Healing Word spell now? In the leaked alpha, it was 33 points of healing, now it's 22. That's between 1/6th and 1/12th of most PCs hit points at those types of levels.

Prayer of Healing does about 300 points of healing (out of combat) as a 9th level slot whereas Mass Heal does 700 (in combat).

It seems like healing spells did not get the same level of thought put into them as many other aspects of the game. At least if the PHB reads like the Basic Rules.


Granted, if the leaked alpha is closer to correct, then healing is better thought out:

Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Prayer of Healing, Mass Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, Heal, Mass Heal, Power Word: Heal

   CW HW PH MW MC HL MH        PWH
1: 11  6 
2: 20 11 10
3: 29 15 15  6
4: 38 20 19 11
5: 47 24 24 15 33 
6: 56 29 28 20 33 60
7: 65 33 33 24 47
8: 74 38 37 29 47
9: 83 42 42 33 47    500 split 66 each

Prayer of Healing takes a drop now though. And Power Word: Heal is added.

Course, Mass Healing Word is still pretty lame compared to Mass Cure Wounds. It has better area, but still.

Let me know if I messed up the numbers anywhere.

 

[the Jester]

I actually think the healing in the alpha set is way over the top and am very glad they turned it down.

Obviously, this is a playstyle thing.

 

[MerricB]

I'm sure healing got a *lot* of thought. The last public playtest version of healing was the same as those alpha rules: double what the final version was. It was entirely a conscious decision to reign in its power.

It should be noted that when you prepare Cure Wounds as a 20th level cleric you are gaining versatility in the place of power. You can cast the spell using any of your slots. Meanwhile, if you prepare Mass Heal you've got a spell that can only be cast with your 9th level slot.

Using Cure Wounds with a 9th level slot will be a rare occurrence, I'm sure, but you have the ability if you need to. Versatility or Power? It's one of the interesting decisions that 5E gives spell casters.

Cheers!

 

[Paraxis]

I also agree that healing is low and monster damage is too high.

If you house rule max healing with the current method it gives you the average amount from the alpha.

I plan on running ToD adventure path using the rules as written but the above is making my house rules short list.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It's hard to really get a handle on the healing situation, without trying out the new numbers for a while. On the one hand, it's nice to get away from the ridiculously over-the-top amount of free healing in Pathfinder; but on the other hand, it almost feels like this is a waste of a spell slot - let alone the horribly inefficient waste of an action.

The thing that I'm finding difficult to comprehend is why they toned magical healing so far down, when they've turned natural healing so far up​.

 

[KarinsDad]

I actually think the healing in the alpha set is way over the top and am very glad they turned it down.

Obviously, this is a playstyle thing.

Sure.

But when players will rarely if ever take a spell, or they feel that they must take the spell, but rarely use it (like Mass Cure Wounds), it's more detrimental than helpful.

Is a player with a 9th level PC really going to cast Mass Cure Wounds very often to cure 18 points on up to 6 PCs as an action with his one and only 5th level slot when PCs tend to have 50 to 100 hit points at that level? Or is he going to rely on Mass Healing Word as his "get multiple PCs conscious" spell and typically use Flame Strike or Insect Plague instead?

Granted, it might happen with certain classes that get bonuses to their healing, but still.


Lowering the healing just brings back the days of the golf bag of healing wands issue, and/or the 15 minute adventuring day (in the 5E case, with 2 or 3 short rests in between).


The alpha healing seemed to be part way between the 4E mega-healing and the 3E limited healing.

 

[Tormyr]

Having played our campaign under the October playtest since April and Basic D&D since it has been out. The healing is lower, but not under powered. Most of our healers have a +3 on their spellcasting modifier, so healing word does 1d4 +3 or an average of 5.5. Previously it was 1d8+2 or 6.5 average. 1 point difference is not that great. Cure wounds has a larger difference. 1d8+3 (7.5) versus 2d8+2 (11). The real difference is that the party is actually using their hit dice during a short rest now. Previously their spells and potions were enough healing. Now the party is being stretched and has to strive for victory.

The high early damage of monsters also keeps a low level party cautious and executing better tactics, burning their inspiration points, etc.

 

[Joe Liker]

My group is about halfway through the Starter Set adventure, and it seems to me that healing is just about spot on.

Our cleric has used spare the dying a lot more than cure wounds, however, so maybe we're not the best model.

Even so, we've found plenty of healing potions along the way, so even if we didn't have a cleric at all, I feel like we'd be mostly OK, give or take a death save.

If healing were more powerful, we'd be back in the "every party must have a cleric" boat because they would have had to crank up the monster difficulty even further to compensate.

There's just no way around the fact that strong healing = mandatory healers.

 

[CM]

It will be interesting to see if the PHB or DMG throws in an option for a 4e-like Second Wind for everybody. This will probably be something I'll add, if not. I'd probably make it a bonus action, though.

 

[Shiroiken]

I think the main reason for the tone down was the desire to make higher level spells better. If you look at a lot of the wizard spells they got a big boost in damage starting at level 3 (compared to the playtest and aPHB). Healing needed the same treatment, but considering that Healing was super strong before, they toned down the lower level healing spells instead. Even Spare the Dying got a massive nerf (which it partially needed).