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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 1547049" data-attributes="member: 3146">WRT the healing domain: I think your analysis is using the wrong rubric Forceuser. It doesn't matter if the healing domain results in an extra million points of curing over the course of the campaign. What matters is the difference it makes to the PCs. This could, in my estimation, happen several ways:1. The after battle cure advantage: The cleric has to spend fewer spells to heal the PCs to full. If the cleric can heal the barbarian and the paladin instead of just the barbarian because of ability X, then the ability helps. If, even with the ability, he is only able to cure the barbarian, the party most likely will not press on and the ability didn't net a significant advantage.2. The hole up and rest advantage: As much as I despise it, there are times--especially at low levels, when the party is all in single digit hit points and needs to find a defensible location, bar the door, and rest for a day or three to heal up. If the healing domain cuts the 2 days of rest required down to 1, then it makes a difference in time sensitive situations (not that it matters much in that case--one day instead of two is not usually relevant). If the healing domain cuts the 1 full day (rest, cast heals, rest, cast heals again) down to one night (rest, cast heals, keep going), then it's made a real difference. (One night of rest is often possible--more than that and the enemy probably got away and its too late to catch up).3. The combat-heal advantage: The fighter has taken 43 hit points of damage this round. The cleric moves up and casts a cure spell. Because of the cure, the fighter can keep fighting. If the healing domain made the difference between the fighter being able to keep fighting, and the fighter retreating or the fighter being confident enough to fight to win and the fighter fighting defensively, the healing domain was helpful. If it didn't make a difference to the fighter's actions and didn't keep the fighter from dying (brought to -9 instead of -10 because of that extra healing domain hit point), then it wasn't helpful.Really, the only of these situations where the healing domain is often helpful is situation 2 where the ability to use the domain slot for healing makes a big difference. Even then, it only makes a big difference around levels 1-4. After that, you've got enough spells anyway and using the domain spots isn't likely to let you keep spells that would be helpful when you press on.Only at first level is 1 point of healing per spell going to make much of a difference in the after battle cure situation. Even then, any situation where the fighter is down 5 points and the non-healing domain cures 4 points, usually just means that a cure minor wounds is cast.And, again, it's only at first and second level that one extra point of healing is likely to make the difference between the fighter staying and fleeing. At no levels are characters being healed in combat and then dropped to exactly -10 (not -11 because then the healing domain wouldn't help) a common enough occurence to make the healing domain advantageous.So, in most situations, the healing domain doesn't make much of a difference."My job is to cleanse the land of evil not figure out how whether more archons or eladrin can dance on the head of a pin. That's the contemplative theologians' jobs.""If I want to help cure your wounds or disease, I'll ask Pelor to do it. What's the point of divine healing if I'm going to stitch and leech like some sawbones?"At least that's how a number of clerics I've seen would justify it.Hmm. Sunburst and Sunray would be powerful applications. However, the text of the ability says "the radius of illumination is doubled" not that the area of effect is doubled. As a DM, I don't think I'd interpret that to apply to the offensive light spells. I suppose it would work for that undead damaging light from BoED but that's about it.I disagree. Limited spellcasting takes classes from OK to worthless in record time. I'd love to see some villainous acolytes of the skin for instance but the abilities they gain just aren't worth 5 levels of spellcasting (not even being able to limited wish when otherwise, you'd be wishing). Once a spellcaster loses more than two levels of spellcasting ability (and two lost levels is really marginal--one is all that spellcasters can really afford to lose), they either have to find a role in the party other than primary spellcaster (the spellsword, for instance, fills a fighter's role, and the Arcane Trickster a rogue's), or be dramatically underpowered. The Practiced Spellcaster feat in CD may help to make up for this but I don't think it will help that much.</blockquote>

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