Best Healer Class & Build for Small Party as DMPC / Companion?

[SergeTroy]

I'm currently re-introducing myself and a pair of friends to DnD 4e, and while I'm working on a more personal campaign, we're going through first ' Reavers of Harkenwold' a s 2nd-level PC's, move on to 'Cairn of the Winter King' from Monster Vault, and finally 'Madness at Gardmore Abbey.' The party itself is a very small one, just the two player's, and me as DM, and at first we tried to run it with a Brutal Scoundrel and a Dwarven Cleric (Templar w/ the Battle Cleric's Lore option). The cleric was really not to the satisfaction of the player, however, and they've decided instead to run an Earthstrength Warden, either a Dwarf or a Goliath who will use a maul of some type. That's fine by me, because I kind of was wanting to add in a third 'player' or just plain companion of sorts. The idea had been for a Pixie healer of some kind, who via some level of invisibility or concealment flits around the battle, providing a bit of enabling and buffing, but is mostly there to make sure the player's can make use of those healing surges and be at the top of their game. But, I've been having a lot of trouble settling on the right BUILD for this, and part of it is that the only real leader I myself ever seemed to like was the Warlord, and not the Lazy 'Lord, either. I'm not against the Lazy 'Lord, but ... I dunno, I'm having trouble settling on what might be the best option here. My thoughts are Bard, Cleric, or Warlord, or some Hybrid or Multi-class Variant; I prefer the Pixie for flavor and style reasons (if you've ever heard of or read the manga series, 'Berserk' by Kentaro Miura, I'm really thinking of a slightly more active Puck).

If anyone would be willing to spitball ideas with me on how I could set this up - even if it involves re-skinning some other race into a Pixie or something - I would really appreciate it. I also, of course, appreciate counter-arguments and even suggestions for how I can even avoid putting in this DMPC of a sort. Thanks in advance.

 

[MwaO]

Here are the basic options:
Throw in some healing potions and maybe say a magic ring that allows an encounter healing word effect.

Have one of the PCs hybrid. A Str/Int Warden|Warlord MC Fighter with Battle Awareness(Vengeance is Mine to create a nice catch-22 that then gives the Brutal Scoundrel Rogue a chance at getting an MBA with a flank...)

Another option is look at the 3-step role handbook.

There are a couple of fast ways to pick up 'leader' as an option - particularly the Shaman - 2 feats and you've got a blocker and an encounter heal.

Or just make a DMPC 'monster' who has say one encounter attack power that can heal on a hit, an at-will that does a little damage, and a 2/encounter healing word. And maybe some ally enhancing aura representing the main leader class feature.

 

[Terraism]

Not going to get into the question of whether the dm-pc is a good fit or not - I'm going to assume you know your [small] group, and you know what'll work best. But if you're looking for someone that'll put the focus on the other PCs by just offering support and healing, a pacifist cleric is always a *viable* option. Clerics have a number of powers that don't do damage, and for a lot of groups, that's *the* focus that players get most excited about - so it means you wouldn't be infringing on that. In fact, you'd be generally making their damage even better!

Basic build constraints are the Pacifist Healer feat, Astral Seal and True Strike as your default at-wills, and focus on ranged powers so the pixie can flit around a little ways away from the enemies.

 

[Joshua Randall]

You could abstract everything away and simply allow each PC to receive an N/encounter 'healing word' use. And/Or provide buffed Short Rest healing appropriate to whatever kind of game you want to run.

Or go the other route and make the players/characters figure it out. OK, you've got two dudes, neither of whom is a leader. How does that change your approach to these encounters? On the DM side, you'll want to allow reasonable plans and caution to work... and I'm assuming you've already scaled down the encounters to account for 2/5 as many PCs as expected.

 

[Tony Vargas]

A Companion Character out of DMG 2 should work fine. As with monsters you have a fair bit of latitude with them, so could give them abilities that might be problematic for a PC - like the classic old-school Pixie's "become visible at will." Give it an at-will or even Ranged Basic attack that buffs (classic pixies used itty-bitty bows, maybe you could even look at the archer-Warlord powers for inspiration, though it obviously wouldn't be strength) bard powers could be good things to work off of if you picture it using magic. Unlike regular monsters, a daily wouldn't be out of the question, though part of the point is to avoid stealing the limelight, which dailies tend to do. The HotFW Skald's Aura might be good, as the basic surge-trigtger, as it gives the other PCs the ability to activate it for eachother as well as letting the NPC do it...

 

[MoutonRustique]

A Companion Character out of DMG 2 should work fine. ... The HotFW Skald's Aura might be good, as the basic surge-trigtger, as it gives the other PCs the ability to activate it for eachother as well as letting the NPC do it...

Ninja'd (in a sense) - but I wanted to add my voice to this option.

Have the "character" have an aura that enables a few HS uses and it could use something along the lines of (the errata'd) magic missile doing average damage - a little something extra that characters can ask it to do.

If you want it to be a bit of a vulnerability, you could have it "stated" like so :
- no damage on miss
- resist (Surge Value of strongest PC) against area attacks
- All damage suffered is reduced to 1 dmg
- 2 hp

In essence, foes need to target it specifically (unless it's with a pretty big "boom" attack), PCs will usually get the time to protect it in some fashion and there's very little bookkeeping required.

 

[Balesir]

Lots of good stuff, here, but I would just add that you shouldn't feel the party has to have a cleric (or any other healer/leader, for that matter).

We are just reaching the top end of Epic in a campaign in which the party has never had a cleric (although there is a paladin, and one PC multiclassed as cleric, in a seven PC party). Without a healer you might want to avoid encounters that are well above the characters' level (no L+4s and not many L+3s), but remember that healing surges can still be used with second winds and during Short rests, and the pair of characters outlined are not notably squishy.

 

[Tony Vargas]

If you want it to be a bit of a vulnerability, you could have it "stated" like so :
- no damage on miss
- resist (Surge Value of strongest PC) against area attacks
- All damage suffered is reduced to 1 dmg
- 2 hp

In essence, foes need to target it specifically (unless it's with a pretty big "boom" attack), PCs will usually get the time to protect it in some fashion and there's very little bookkeeping required.

That's an interesting variation on the minion mechanics.

Another I've seen is:

Minion (1 hp, no damage from a miss, etc), but:
- dropped, not killed, at 0 hps
- Any effect that can trigger a surge restores it to 1hp
- The player of the character who brings it back runs the minion until it drops again...

 

[SergeTroy]

Uhm, I just got the chance to reply after having pretty much locked myself away to get some work done without the internet distraction, and ... wow, I really just want to say thank you to everyone for replying. I'm throwing all of that out there because it looks like there was some really good bits of advice and even a little back and forth that I can appreciate and use. Give me a sec and I'll actually put together a bit of a better response, than, "Gee golly gosh willickers, thanks guys!"

Edit: Having some really strange issues with editing this post or making a reply that does any of the following. Quotes the user I'm addressing, uses special characters, or involves copy'n'paste, even from one message to another (let alone from something like Word to the post). Will have to contact mods / site admins and make actual reply on Saturday (when everyone else is seeing The Force Awakens (Bassids)). :

 

[Herobizkit]

Bard (Skald) is pretty great as support, mostly because his HS can be used by anyone on their own turn while in his Aura. Skald (I believe) can also act like a LazyLord and hand out Basic Attacks in lieu of attacking herself.

If you're not using E-Classes, you should be. But if not, model her with LazyLord that also focuses on healing and she can yell "watch out!" while giving PC's extra attacks.