D&D 5E (2014) breaking the healing rules with goodberries

[Psikerlord#]

I don't think this is the OP's issue. The druid is not going to cast goodberry instead of some other spell when healing is needed. At the end of the adventuring day, the druid can use any unused spell slots to cast goodberry before taking a long rest. With the goodberries lasting 24 hours, that's stocking up for the next day.

Also at issue is if the character wants to burn all of their spells slots the "long rest" before the night of a planned dungeon delve, stockpiling a huge amount.

Yep goodberry is free healing. It was already excellent for that reason.

With the life cleric ruling, it is broken - if you're using the slow healing rules. If you are using the standard full heal every long rest... well, you already heal so quickly, maybe it isnt such a problem.... but then ... maybe it still is, again coz it's a big bunch of free healing, undermining the resource management aspect of the game. Too much healing makes the game too easy/unfun.

I recommend ignoring that particular Sage Advice ruling. Not one of his best.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

in 5E (phb 246) you get 10 berries, where each berry provides 1HP and nourishment, I don't know where all these other berries are coming from.

you are correct, the sage advice this week though says a 1st level cleric who gains the spell (and my first hought was multi class) could use the life feature to add 2+spell level... so a 1st level one creates 10 berries that heal 4 each....

 

[GMforPowergamers]

And all it does at the end of the day is save money on healing potions, money no one uses since you can't buy magic items.

I haven't seen a reason yet why this can't be combined with potions... so with X potions you are at full so many fights, with the berries it is more fights...

This is a complete non-issue unless you need the party to buy heal potions as a control on gold. As far as I'm concerned I would rather a player provide the out of combat healing via magical berries than stockpiling magical potions. I like the aesthetic of berries better.

I can see that... so to you this isn't an issue at all

 

[Hand of Evil]

you are correct, the sage advice this week though says a 1st level cleric who gains the spell (and my first hought was multi class) could use the life feature to add 2+spell level... so a 1st level one creates 10 berries that heal 4 each....

never mind, read the Sage Advise and see that WotC staff reductions have started to impact rules. It is not well thought out and really is broken.

 

[pukunui]

[MENTION=67338]GMforPowergamers[/MENTION]: goodberry doesn't scale, so it'll always be considered a 1st level spell even if you have to burn a higher level spell slot to cast it, which means that a druid/life cleric can only ever get 40 hp out of each casting.

Another thing to consider is that each berry provides you with a whole day's worth of nourishment, which means that if you eat more than one in the same 24 hour period, your body will think you're overfeeding it ...

 

[Celtavian]

Yep goodberry is free healing. It was already excellent for that reason.

With the life cleric ruling, it is broken - if you're using the slow healing rules. If you are using the standard full heal every long rest... well, you already heal so quickly, maybe it isnt such a problem.... but then ... maybe it still is, again coz it's a big bunch of free healing, undermining the resource management aspect of the game. Too much healing makes the game too easy/unfun.

I recommend ignoring that particular Sage Advice ruling. Not one of his best.

None of this has been the case in my games. Goodberry is ok, not great.

The game is already too easy, at least it is for my players. They are punching way above recommended XP and still not having many problems. Hardest part of 5E is level 1 to 3, after that life is pretty easy for parties. 5E is a very basic game that is easy to game.

 

[Mistwell]

Out of combat, you've got Prayer of Healing (cleric 2), the 3rd level paladin healing aura, healing potions, the Healer feat, short rests in general with or without Songs of Rest.

Again, don't have my book, but I believe Prayer of Healing is a 2nd level slot that heals, say, 2d8+4 to 6 targets. So the life cleric might be choosing between goodberry with a 2nd level slot for 50 or prayer of healing 102. And the non-life cleric is choosing between 10 and 78.

In many campaigns, healing outside of combat is easily taken care of with short rests and the occasional healing potion (most D&D campaigns end up handing out quite a few). In combat healing is still potentially important, of course. I knew a druid in one campaign who barely bothered with goodberries because she had so much gold that she instead just bought enough healing potions to not care.

Prayer of Healing: Up to six creatures of your choice that you can see within range each regain hit points equal to 2d8 + your spellcasting ability modifier...healing increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 2nd.

So life Cleric with 16 Wis is 2d8+3+4 (16 * 6 = 96, or 102 with 18 wis). Cast as a 3rd level spell, it's 3d8+3+5 (21.5 x 6 = 129). And no multiclassing involved. And it's fine in combat or out. And doesn't take concentration, which means the same cleric can cast it along with Beacon of Hope to get 138 or 192 hp from it. And I am unaware of any games breaking from it.

 

[Mistwell]

never mind, read the Sage Advise and see that WotC staff reductions have started to impact rules. It is not well thought out and really is broken.

When I see inaccurate snark I am unable to resist - WOTC hasn't reduced their D&D staff, they have increased it. It's been nearly doubled since the start of 5e.

As for it being broken - is prayer of healing broken? Is aura of vitality? Hit dice? Healing potions? The Healer feat? Healing between encounters isn't difficult in 5e. I have not heard of anyone's games breaking because they found a way for the party to fully heal up between encounters, and in fact I've found that's pretty common and the rules account for it just fine. I am waiting for someone (anyone) to say they did this and their game broke - so far it's always been theory and nobody reports an actual issue with it in practice. In-combat healing is the issue in 5e, and this spell doesn't help with that. Prayer of healing on the other hand? That's 100 hp in an instant in-combat or out. Still, no reports of games breaking even from that.

 

[Psikerlord#]

None of this has been the case in my games. Goodberry is ok, not great.

The game is already too easy, at least it is for my players. They are punching way above recommended XP and still not having many problems. Hardest part of 5E is level 1 to 3, after that life is pretty easy for parties. 5E is a very basic game that is easy to game.

Not if you use slow healing and injuries it isnt. In a game such as ours, this goodberry ruling would make healing too easy again.

 

[Celtavian]

Not if you use slow healing and injuries it isnt. In a game such as ours, this goodberry ruling would make healing too easy again. ��

It would be a problem if you were going for slow and gritty healing. I'd probably nix a few things if I were going for slow and gritty healing.