Clerics Hurting to Heal

[BobTheNob]

1.) The cleric should only use HW on a character AFTER they have second winded.

Not sure I agree with that, its a pretty inneficient rule. If your DM enforces the "long day" (i.e. cant extended rest just anywhere/anytime) the amount of hit points you get from each healing surge and getting the most out of them becomes really important.

"Healing word" Gives a not too shabby bonus (our L. 21 warlord gives 5d6+6) per use, meaning they should (by my logic) be used in preference to un-augmented heals (like Second wind).

Mind you, Im interested to here you rational, maybe there is a perspective I havent considered.

 

[Mad Hamish]

This is all from my experience playing a traditional 4e laser cleric from level 1 to 16 and being the only healer in a 6 man party that was striker heavy, aka 4. I will be honest and say that playing as the only healer in a group sucks because if you make choices that increase other things like your damage output then your party suffers from not having that extra healing. It is quite frankly a rather boring role.

A couple of things you may want to suggest to your Warpriest and the party in general:

1.) The cleric should only use HW on a character AFTER they have second winded.
2.) Everyone should consider picking up Cloak of the Walking Wounded as their neck items.
8.) Battle Standard of Healing. +1HP is better than none.
9.) Humans really do well as clerics as the extra feat and at will go a long way for clerics.

Thats just my .02 though. Otherwise retooling to a pacifist or laser cleric as said above are his only options.

P.S. Pacifist's are boring as hell to play as you really feel like your not contributing to combat in a very meaningful, aka adding damage.

1) for non-dwarves second winding means that the person isn't acting for a turn. Generally that's a bad thing as either it reduces control of or damage to the enemy
2) maybe, but there are other nice cloaks out there (my archer ranger had one that gave a bonus to AC & reflex if she moved at least 4 squares
8) note that some item bonuses to healing do affect it.
9) humans aren't a bad choice for most classes.

 

[Almacov]

After running my first 4E game a while back, one of the players found one bit not to his liking....as a cleric (Essentials: Sun), he had abilities to heal others, but it seemed like a lot of his powers keyed off an attack - not simply an EFFECT that happens, but truly dependent upon him whacking someone else to heal a friend. He stated, and I agree, that it seems a little goofy.

Pelor is secretly a Vampire god. (He rules through fear, which is why his subjects flee at the sight of his emblem.)

When your friend's cleric uses one of his whack & heal powers, he's getting a taste of what life as one of Pelor's damned, his worshippers in their afterlife, will bring him. (Of course, seductive and guileful as Pelor's tactics are, this taste is only of the good side of the deal.)

When he strikes his foes, he's not just healing his friends at the same time; He's siphoning the vital essence of his foes, ripping part of their animus out to support his own whims.

Oh, but these cruel magics will have their price in the unlife yet to come...
A wicked bargain indeed.

 

[Obryn]

You know, flavor for those powers is easy when it's a cleric of the Raven Queen.

-O

 

[Nullzone]

Wait until you see the warpriest domain they feature in Heroes of Shadow

 

[Jhaelen]

Honestly, one of my biggest beefs with almost every leader class is this wacky mechanical notion of "I hit an enemy, and everyone feels better!" Warpriests are big offenders.

I guess the 'amost' is in there for the Warlords? Imho, that's the one leader class where this approach makes perfect sense.

 

[Dice4Hire]

Honestly, one of my biggest beefs with almost every leader class is this wacky mechanical notion of "I hit an enemy, and everyone feels better!" Warpriests are big offenders.

Don't you feel better when you start winning, when a few seconds ago you thought you were losing?

I do.

 

[Grydan]

Honestly, one of my biggest beefs with almost every leader class is this wacky mechanical notion of "I hit an enemy, and everyone feels better!" Warpriests are big offenders.

Really?

Seems to me that if their healing wasn't connected to bashing people's brains in, there wouldn't be much reason to call them warpriests.

The very act of warfare is what allows them their healing power? Works for me.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I guess the 'almost' is in there for the Warlords? Imho, that's the one leader class where this approach makes perfect sense.

There's a few instances where it makes sense, but it quite often seems like two disparate effects tied together to each other to cram it into the action economy.

Sort of: I can grok hitting a dude and giving him -2 to defenses.

It is harder for me to grok hitting a dude and giving all allies +2 to hit it.

It's kind of the same, mathematically. But the difference between "I hit you and you are weaker" and "I hit you and suddenly everyone can hit you!" is wide, psychologically. It feels far too gamist to me to be enjoyable.

I'd much rather have the effect be a minor action (with a chance of failure if need be) and not be tied to the attack at all. I understand why they didn't go this route (since minor-action healing should be mostly what leaders do), but I prefer a more sim take on this, even at the expense of some corner cases where a cleric has a tough time choosing between Healing Word and some bonus cookie.

Don't you feel better when you start winning, when a few seconds ago you thought you were losing?

I do.

I've had that effect before without this awkwardness. It's not required for this.

Really?

Seems to me that if their healing wasn't connected to bashing people's brains in, there wouldn't be much reason to call them warpriests.

The very act of warfare is what allows them their healing power? Works for me.

"Warfare" is a much broader act than hitting somebody upside the face with a hammer. What a pacifist cleric does can be considered warfare just as much.

 

[mudbunny]

It is harder for me to grok hitting a dude and giving all allies +2 to hit it.

It's kind of the same, mathematically. But the difference between "I hit you and you are weaker" and "I hit you and suddenly everyone can hit you!" is wide, psychologically. It feels far too gamist to me to be enjoyable.

Anyone who has watched hockey or the NFL will have seen this happen. Someone on team A completely crushes someone on team B with a (legal) hit, and all of a sudden team A is playing with more intensity and energy.