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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Epametheus" data-source="post: 5081219" data-attributes="member: 719">Responding a little late, but hey.Don't forget to add Beacon of Hope to the things that work with Astral Seal.  It's definitely a respectable little heal.The -2 to all defenses is definitely better than Lance of Faith's "give 1 person +2 to hit that target."  Hell, compare Lance of Gaze of Defiance (psychic, same damage, +1 to hit for all allies, going up to +3 if the enemy attacks the caster).  I think part of the problem is that Lance of Faith is a weaksauce power, so it outright loses compared to Astral Seal.In my current game, my pacifist healer uses it maybe one or twice a fight, I'm usually dropping something far more horrible, like bane (target gets -Cha mod to attack rolls, -Cha mod +1 to defenses), on the party's focus fire target.  She currently gets 13 points out of Astral Seal - she's L10 but doesn't have every item that would boost it (just the Healer's Implement feat).I'm also the DM for that game, and what I've found is basically this:  Astral Seal will only trivialize healing in battles that were themselves trivial.  The -2 to defenses matters far, far more than the healing amount.  Though if your DM regularly runs fights that can't outdamage Astral Seal healing, then he's made conscious decision to hold back.  I pretty cheerfully put my PCs through the grinder, since being able to solo heal a 7-person party is what my cleric was built for.Also, the heal from Astral Seal  doesn't actually work for the caster, so no surgeless healing for him.  [Unrelated to this, but the crazy aoe heal they added in Divine Power (I ditched Turn Undead for it as soon as I saw it) does not heal the caster either.]  If you want to see healing surges get spent, just maul the healbot.I guess the main issue is that you can stack items to make Astral Seal more effective, and you can't do that for Sacred Flame, which is honestly about even with it (half level + cha mod temp HP v. 2+ cha mod + wis mod healing) until you start adding in all of the feats and magic items that up healing.</blockquote>

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