Boosting cure spells

[hong]

Because a lot of people don't like playing the party medic, and also because magical healing is wonky at the moment.

What would happen if we changed the cure spells to heal equivalent to a certain amount of rest?

Eg:

CLW: 1d8 points + 1 days rest (1 hp/level + 1 point ability damage restored if any)
CMW: 2d8 + 2 days rest
CSW: 3d8 + 3 days rest
CCW: 4d8 + 4 days rest

At low levels, things wouldn't change so much. However, it would allow the low-level cure spells to play a more significant role at high levels, plus reduce the need for multiple wands of CLW.

Thoughts? One consequence might be that you might want to tone down the cleric or use a cleric replacement (eg the shaman from OA), since the cleric can be pretty badass if they don't have to sink their spells into healing.

 

[mikebr99]

I agree about the wonky healing rules as they stand... I feel that there should be some benefit for memorizing cure spells instead of spontaneously all the time. I have been debating giving cure spells that are memorized and automatic Empower or Maximize (with no level increases)...

I tend to play Clerics (all the time...) who are heavy into combat casting, and whatever is left at the end is available for curing, which may not be enough... This stand does encourage the rest of the party to invest in curing wands for general use, which they don't seem to mind, because the spells I use during combat seem to help more then the curing stuff.

 

[Greyskull]

Clerics and Healing

I do not think that the low-level spells should have their usefullness increased.
If you look at the game you will note that as the players gain levels the low-level spells are less used, so why should cure spells be made more useful?

Now, about the difference between memorized and spontaneous healing spells I have to agree, but in my campaign not all clerics can spontaneously cast healing spells.
When a cleric is created and he chosoes his two domains he can decide which of his domains will be spontaneous, and from then on he can only spontaneously cast spells from that domain.

 

[Spenser]

There is an advantage to memorizing cures instead of spontaneously casting them. Spontaneous casts are a full round action. If you want to dive in save the poor rogue from getting shredded next round, and she's 15 feet away, too bad -- she's dead.

As for out-of-combat healing, CLW wands are so cheap and there are so many classes that can use them that the "nobody wants to play medic" problem hasn't really come up in my campaign. (In fact, since clerics are already so powerful, the problem is more like "everybody wants to play medic".)

 

[mikebr99]

There is an advantage to memorizing cures instead of spontaneously casting them. Spontaneous casts are a full round action. If you want to dive in save the poor rogue from getting shredded next round, and she's 15 feet away, too bad -- she's dead.

Will you point out where this rule is located???

 

[Caliber]

While I certainly can't speak for the original poster, perhaps they were thinking that metamagiced spontaneous spells take a full-round action? Just a random thought, until we can clarification.

 

[Spenser]

Hmmmm. I can't find the full-round spontaneous casting "rule" in the SRD. I could have sworn that my group read it a long time ago... but it looks like we've just been playing wrong all this time. How distressing. So forget what I said earlier, I take it back.

However -- I should point out that as a house rule, this one seems to do the job of getting the clerics to memorize a few cures here and there. I can assure you that it has been extensively playtested.

 

[hong]

Will you point out where this rule is located???

See the PHB chapter on Feats. It's exactly the same as how bards and sorcs need a full-round action to cast metamagiced spells.

 

[hong]

Re: Clerics and Healing

I do not think that the low-level spells should have their usefullness increased.
If you look at the game you will note that as the players gain levels the low-level spells are less used, so why should cure spells be made more useful?

Well, as said

1) it's out of sync with the hit point model;

2) perhaps they _should_ continue to be used.

What I basically want is to make cure spells consistent with the rest of the model, and also to boost the amount of healing available. I've found that people generally don't like playing clerics (even though they can be pretty powerful) because they get pushed into the medic role. If you could make this role less onerous, by making healing easier, perhaps people would be more willing to play a cleric. Or shaman, or shugenja, or what-have-you.

 

[Spenser]

See the PHB chapter on Feats. It's exactly the same as how bards and sorcs need a full-round action to cast metamagiced spells.

Wait... so my buddies and I weren't imagining this rule after all? Aha! In that case, I take back my previous taking-back.

Edit: To hong -- I can only speak for my own group, but so far we haven't run into a problem finding people willing to play the medic role. By "medic" do you mean "the person responsible for healing everybody up after the fight?" Or "the person responsible for saving someone who's about to die?" Because in the first case, this is not too onerous as long as there are a lot of potions, scrolls, and CLW wands floating around. In the second case, every class has its own way of saving a comrade in trouble. Cures are one way to do it. But fighters and monks can grapple the big bad guy, wizards can throw in a well-timed invisibility or wall of force or whatnot. And so on. This all depends on the opposition and what your levels and capabilities are, of course... but in some sense I think pretty much anyone can be a medic.