D&D 5E Cure Wounds needs help or Healing Word needs a nerf...

[werecorpse]

My 2 house rules that increase the value of cure wounds are:
1. a character doesn’t stop taking damage at 0hp but can go to -10 which makes the amount of healing you give an unconscious character very important if they have gone to say -7; &
2. if cure wounds is upcast at 3rd level or higher it gains a range of 30’ and the spellcasting stat bonus is doubled (ie an 18 wisdom cleric heals 3d8+8).

this makes healing word much less used after about 7th level.

 

[Horwath]

IMHO, best way is to simply merge this two spells into one spell with various levels of healing.

Bonus Action and range: 1d4 per spell level + mod
Bonus Action and touch: 1d6 per spell level + mod
Action and range: 1d6 per spell level + mod
Action and touch: 1d8 per spell level + mod
1 min casting and touch: 8 per spell level + mod

 

[ECMO3]

Healing word is a better spell and more useful in combat but cure wounds will cure more damage throughout the day. Also healing word is only available to clerics, bards and druids, while cure wounds is available to a bunch of classes.

Given the option I would generally get healing word and not cure wounds.

IME experience the cleric in 5E is not necessarily the walking hospital he was in earlier editions. Healing is so widely available through over the counter potions and hit dice and fully recovering on a long rest that I generally don't look at clerics as primarily being healers like they were in past editions. Depending on the way you build them they can be tanks, offensive casters, utility guys or of course healers if that is what you want but they are a pretty diverse class.

 

[NotAYakk]

Healing Surges
Most magical healing cannot create life force from nothing. When an effect magically heals a creature, they must spend a HD to fuel the healing. They heal the amount of the magical healing, plus the roll of the HD.

The exception to this rule consist of rings of regeneration, the regeneration spell, the heal spell, and the mass heal spell. Some similar effects may also provide life energy. It does include potions of healing.

If you are magically healed while at or below 0 HP and have no HD to expend, you are stabilized but not healed.

Cure Wounds
If the creature healed expends a HD larger than a d8, replace all d8s use by Cure Wounds with that HD.

So if you cast Cure Wounds on a barbarian at 3rd level who expends a d12 HD, the Barbarian is healed 4d12+your casting stat modifier instead of 3d8+1d12+your casting stat modifier.

Recovery
At the end of a short rest you can attempt to recover HD. Roll your expended HD; any HD that rolls an even value 4 or greater is recovered. You can only do this once per day.

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Together, these make Cure Wounds a more efficient way to turn HD into healing than Healing Word.

The recovery rule is intended to make up somewhat for the increased HD consumption of magical healing. In a game using gritty rests, keep it at once per day (ie, every short rest) to simulate natural healing that doesn't take a full week of break.