Can a Wizard make a Healing Spell?

[Elephant]

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.

Using Wish as a guide, I would allow a wizard to develop arcane versions of the equivalent cleric healing spells at +2 level; thus, an arcane Cure Light Wounds would be a third level spell, and so on. It's a simple extrapolation of Wish and Limited Wish down to lower spell level versions.

 

[Styrovore]

Wizards gain magic through study of natural magical forces. Clerics gain their power through a boon.

Wizards cannot cast healing spells simply because the magic of the world cannot effect healing. Clerics are granted healing magic as proof they are servants of a power greater than "common" earthly magic. Wizards do not have access to this magic, because this is an unearthly power that cannot be "tapped", it must be bestowed.

It's that easy!

 

[Blue Sky]

Wizards gain magic through study of natural magical forces. Clerics gain their power through a boon.

Wizards cannot cast healing spells simply because the magic of the world cannot effect healing. Clerics are granted healing magic as proof they are servants of a power greater than "common" earthly magic. Wizards do not have access to this magic, because this is an unearthly power that cannot be "tapped", it must be bestowed.

It's that easy!

Eh? Then what about bards?

In all honesty, I don't think I would have a problem with an arcane caster casting healing spells. I would probably allow either WoT healing, or a previous poster's idea of days of rest/per level. Either way, I'd say it's not a conjuration spell, as it wouldn't be dealing with positive energy.

 

[fafhrd]

Wizards gain magic through study of natural magical forces. Clerics gain their power through a boon.

Wizards cannot cast healing spells simply because the magic of the world cannot effect healing. Clerics are granted healing magic as proof they are servants of a power greater than "common" earthly magic. Wizards do not have access to this magic, because this is an unearthly power that cannot be "tapped", it must be bestowed.

It's that easy!

This smacks more of an arbitrary mandate than any sort of coherent system, especially when you consider that arcane and divine magic have some sort of parity in just about every respect. What's so earthly about control of extra-planar matter and beings? After all, doesn't clerical turning and healing come from the positive energy plane? Why exactly is the wizard prevented from manipulating positive energy when we have plenty of examples of their using negative energy?

 

[DonaldRumsfeldsTofu]

There's no in-game reason for why it shouldn't be allowed, therefore it should be allowed, with apropriate research.

I think it's that simple.

 

[jsaving]

If the question here is whether wizards/sorcerers can research healing spells, the DMG answers this question. It says that that wizards/sorcerers shouldn't cast healing spells. To balance this, it says clerics should always be behind wizards/sorcerers on damage.

Or is the question here whether ANY arcane caster should be allowed to research healing spells? If so, there's an equally easy answer: "arcane casting" per se doesn't bar someone from healing spells, as the bard proves. It's dishing out damage as well as the wizard/sorcerer that bars it.

And that should hold true even if it's a divine caster. Though the DMG never explicitly says so, if you created a divine version of the wizard that used the wizard spell list, he shouldn't be able to heal...

 

[LoneWolf23]

I've considered making a style of "Arcane Healing" feats and spells which, instead of following the "miraculous healing" path of Divine Cure Spells, would actually seem more like Medieval medicine in all it's often gory glory.

For exemple, instead of a spell like Cure Light Wounds, which repairs 1d8+level of damage, you could have an Arcane spell called "Cauterize Light Wounds" which simply converts 1d8 of Lethal Damage to the same amount of Subdual damage, represented as the wound suddenly sealing, while leaving still sensitive scartissue.

Or you could have "Leech Sickness", which litterally uses leeches (the material component) to drain poison or disease out of a patient, giving a strong bonus to Fortitude Saves on recovery.

 

[Remathilis]

I like those spells... I'm off to write them up right now!

YOINK

 

[Plane Sailing]

In the future I think I will probably eliminate the whole arcane/divine thing and just have a single spell list. Some people will say that their magic comes from their god, others will say it is the exercise of their will. It doesn't really matter.

This is the policy that Monte Cook used in his Arcana Unearthed, and to be honest it is closer to any fictional fantasy source I remember coming across outside of the D&D range.

 

[Faraer]

It's certainly true that an absolute division between religious magic, non-religious magic, and psionics doesn't exist in reality or, much, in pre-D&D fiction. The tactic of splitting them was much like how Gary turned Medusa the Gorgon into two monster types in order to get more monsters.