Better Healer Cleric or Favored Soul?

[satori01]

On the surface I would have thought Cleric with Healing Domain and Augmented Healing.

However, I just stated up a player's cohort and for ease of use I made a 12th level Favored Soul with Augmented Healing and Deity's Favor Alt class power from PHB II. I was shocked at how efficacious Deity's Favor will be.

For those of those that do not have PHB II, Deity's Favor replaces the Weapon Focus and Weapon Specialization class ability with the ability to instead add 3x the spell level in Temporary Hit points to the recipient of a spell, or to any amount of recipients at 12th level.

Thus a 12th level Favored Soul with Augmented Healing, casting a Cure Serious Wounds would heal 3d8 + 18 + 9 Temporary Hit Points.

That is a pretty substantial boost.

 

[Nonlethal Force]

True. But if you are looking for an RP reason to make sense of this, you could limit the PHB II class adjustment to deities that stress healing. Such as Pelor. A Favored Soul of Kord might not qualify for this alternate class ability. Note that this is purely opinion and not really RAW!

Also, remember that the hitpoints are temporary. Still quite good, of course.

 

[Someone]

If you're looking into alternate class options, you may want a cleric with the Healing domain and the Spontaneous domain casting class feature. You lose the spontaneous casting of cure spells, and instead get the spontaneous casting of cure spells, Heal, Regenerate and Mass heal.

Also, clerics get turn undead, and there are several healing-oriented divine feats, if you want to heal evn more.

On a tangent, if you get augmented healing don't overlook the spell Close Wounds from Spell compendium, a 2nd level spell that heals 1d4+caster level (max 5) with close range as an Immediate action. With augmented healing you'll be healing 1d4+9 hit points, which is very good, enough to save your companions' life more than once.

 

[satori01]

1d4 +9 + 6 Temporary Hit points Yeah, Close Wounds was the first spell I put on the Cohorts list. I love the modeling of the "reactive heal", Close Wounds is probably the single best low level healing spell in the game.

Since this is a Cohort, I am going to leave it a Favored Soul for ease of play, that way the player does not have to spend an inordinate amount of time picking spells, and with a buff/heal spell selection, we do not risk the Cohort outshining PCs.

A crazy though I had for a super healer would be to take 12 level of Favored Soul for the advanced Deity's Favor. Take one level of Divine Crusader to get the Healing Domain special power. Take 3 levels of Knight of the Raven to get Turn Undead and access to the Sun Domain, and then take 4 levels of Radiant Servant of Pelor.

Mix in Feats like Sacred Healing, and Divine Ward and the super healer is complete.

 

[moritheil]

Favored souls needed a boost to make them worth playing compared to clerics. Sadly, I still don't think that this does it, though I continue to use FS for NPCs due to the fact that making dozens of lists of spells memorized is annoying.

 

[Chosen_of_shaundakul]

how long does the temp hp last from this ability??

 

[durza120]

Dont forget the cleriks Heal spell, 10 hp per lvl maxed out at lvl 15 with 150 hp

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I would argue the Favored Soul is the best healer because he doesn't have to pre-choose his spells each day.

So if you run into a bunch of poisonous toads, he can spin off a bunch of Cure Poisons. If instead of toads its a bunch of shadows he can crank out loads of Restorations or Lesser Restorations.

If the FS chooses all the "band aid" spells he is a healer extreme because of this versatility. He will always have the right spell handy for whatever situation comes up.

DS

 

[satori01]

how long does the temp hp last from this ability??

1 minute per level of the spell cast. Having seen the Cohort in action now, the Temp HP are making the Favored Soul a great combat healer. The Temp HP are the first to go, and they go fast, but it is a noticeable buffer. Good Saving Throws is also nice in a Cohort, a oft overlooked aspect of the Favored Soul.

Very useful so far.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I too thought that the deity's favor class feature from PHB II looked very promising for a favored soul. The greater spells per day and spontaneous casting aren't really suited for a melee character (like Weapon Focus and Specialization are) but the deity's favor feature IS quite promising for a healing and support caster.

Also, look into using insignia of healing with the ability. 1d8+16 healing +9 temporary hit points for everyone in the party is darned good for a 3rd level spell. And a Righteous Wrath of the Faithful topping everyone off with 15 temporary hit points as well as the usual bonuses is pretty darn cool.

Now, the real question: if you pick up holy smite somehow or other (Contemplative of the good domain perhaps) do you heal your allies for 12 points at the same time as you damage your enemies? And if your allies are neutral, which effect of the spell comes first? the temporary hit points or the damage?

1 minute per level of the spell cast. Having seen the Cohort in action now, the Temp HP are making the Favored Soul a great combat healer. The Temp HP are the first to go, and they go fast, but it is a noticeable buffer. Good Saving Throws is also nice in a Cohort, a oft overlooked aspect of the Favored Soul.

Very useful so far.