Can a Wizard make a Healing Spell?

[dead]

In D&D there has always been a division between Wizard magic and Cleric magic. In 3E this has been named: arcane and divine.

What happens if you get a PC Wizard who wants to create a healing spell?

Do you say: "Nope, only divine magic can handle such things"?

Why couldn't a Wizard make a spell that stitches back together torn tissue; that mends broken bones? This task is no more fantastic than some of the other things they can achieve with magic.

I'm not knocking this aspect of D&D. I actually think this division in the D&D magic system is kind of cool. It's one of those things about D&D that has been around since the beginning and gives D&D a certain flavour. I'm just looking for some creative answers that go beyond: "Arcane magic is destructive; divine magic is healing and defensive".

 

[PugioilAudacio]

A wizard can make healing spells. As you notice, there is no actual rule preventing a wizard researching healing spells.

That said, as a DM I would limit this ability. For instance, cleric's have devine holy energy that just flows through the target, completely eradicating any problems. A wizard's heal spell might stich skin and tissue together, but it might not have as complete a healing effect. You might rule that scars may develop. they take a few points of subdual damage etc.

One avenue a wizard could pursue is to call in energy from the positive energy plane. In small doses, that would work well. Actually, now that I think of it - it does make sense. Cleric's use divine energy, while wizard's use positive energy.

A wizard is the most focused caster in the game. As a result, he has almost unlimited options.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

DM's call.

I wouldn't allow it, personally, because I think keeping class archetypes somewhat separate is important. Imagine the reverse -- a cleric with fireball or lightning bolt or other wizard standards. But that's my game -- YMMV.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Officially: No. Unofficially: What ever works for you!

 

[Gregor]

DM's call.

I wouldn't allow it, personally, because I think keeping class archetypes somewhat separate is important.

I totally agree.

Plus, if you want to play a character who can cast healing spells from an arcane source, check out the Bard. He is so lonely...pay him some attention!

Cheers,

 

[DM_Jeff]

Wizards Healing

Indeed, it seems to be an unwritten rule, having wizard spells blend into cleric spells dilutes the cleric class a bit too. Over the years however, I have seen a number of creative arcane/wizard spells I allow in the game in the vein of necromancy. Don't remember the details so here's the basics:

* A spell that allowed the wizard to syphon a few of his own hit points off to lend to another.
* A spell that didn't actually heal but "stitched up" the target, allowing immediate sabilization.
* A spell that allowed transferrance of hit points from one target to another.

I suppose another in-game excuse could be that living things are so beyond mortals to heal at such amazing rates (even surgury today can mean weeks of bed rest) that only "miracles" (i.e. divine magic) can heal so well.

-DM Jeff

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

DM's call.

I wouldn't allow it, personally, because I think keeping class archetypes somewhat separate is important. Imagine the reverse -- a cleric with fireball or lightning bolt or other wizard standards. But that's my game -- YMMV.

Though the cleric may not have lightning bolt or fireball they do have spells that can cause area effect damage using the same elemental energies. There is no area I can come up with off the top of my head where the cleric is unable to anything similar to a wizard (I'm sure I'm about to get pounded by people providing examples of where I'm wrong ). The wizard has nothing at all in the healing realm, a couple of necromantic spells are the closest they get. I would allow the wizard to research healing spells, but they would have limitations on them. They would not be as effective as the cleric spells, or they would probably be a higher level than an equivalent clerical version of the spell, or they might have a cost of some kind, maybe even a combination of these, so that the wizard would never trump the clerics abilities as a healer.

Bards can heal using arcane spells, why not wizards as well?

 

[Khaalis]

I would allow it but within a strict set of metaphysical laws per-say. In fact there already is a core example - Vampiric Touch.

Arcane magic should never equal divine magic for healing. This is both from a game balance point of view as well as from a metaphysical view. No arcane magic should be able to equal a gift normally bestowed by deities. With that said, healing is technically a Necromantic effect, so I would allow healing versions of Necromantic spells but that have a cost either to the caster or to someone else.

Example something that canibalizes the caster's HP to heal others (as Vampric Touch in reverse), or that canibilizes HP form others within an area of effect to heal the recipient, or that heals the recipient at the cost of a temporary loss of Strength for a period of time, etc.

JMHO

 

[Danzauker]

the *only* acceptable motivation is... game design.

Bards HEAL, and they are ARCANE casters.

So it all resolves on how much you want to enforce D&D "tradition" and stereotypes.

 

[Telperion]

There's an arcane "healing" spell in Relics and Rituals 2. It isn't very good, but it does heal you, after a fashion. Don't recall the name at the moment, but I think it was something like "Time Heal" or "Greater Time Heal".

The point being that this is medium to high level magic, and how it works is like this:

A normal person heals an equal number of hit points to his level during a single day of rest. Well, the Time Heal spell does a paradoxical time acceleration effect, and basically heals the character of some hit points by the means of temporal acceleration.

It isn't very effective, but it can be done. Personally I wouldn't allow a wizard any sort of healing spells unless the wizard's player could clearly show me the wizard has come up with a reasonable way to heal himself.

It's like this: wizard's can, and should, be able to do basically anything they can dream up. Whether or not the arcane spell that does the desired effect is in any way practical is an entirely different topic. In this case you need to start playing around with time to do the healing.

Another wizard might figure out that maybe he can temporarily step out of the time stream and cancel whatever damage was dealt to him during the previous round of combat. This sort of thing would require immense amount of knowledge, control over basic laws of reality and arcane power. In the end it would probably be a 8th or 9th level spell that would remove any damage dealt to the wizard during the previous round of combat. Big deal, since the cleric next to him could have done the same thing with a 6th level spell and not arouse the anger of some extra planar entity who didn't appreciate the fact that the wizard just screwed with the local timelines.