Give me choices!

[jasin]

I'd preferred aura effects than this strange way of using a monster as a launch platform for buffs: this way you could act freely and still give bonuses, without healing surge coming out of your critical strikes.

I certainly hope (and expect) that monsters as launch platforms won't be required, and that this is just being emphasized because it's a change from the current model.

I hope the cleric will be able to heal the fighter by/while smacking the monster, but also heal the fighter even better if there's no monster he needs to fight off.

 

[GeorgeFields]

I hope the cleric will be able to heal the fighter by/while smacking the monster.

This still just blows my mind. How does smacking someone heal another someone?

Oh, magic...

 

[Klaus]

That's why.

Actually, it's not that my questions imply that the only type of D&D play is big wilderness adventures, it's rather that having a cleric enables such games. You can run low-level urban games without a cleric, but they're not the only type of adventures!

I've run the Age of Worms AP from 1st to 21st level. My homebrew campaign is currently 15th level, and my previous homebrew finished at about 15th. I've had quite a bit of experience at the higher XP levels, and once you hit 7th level or so, the requirement for a cleric in the group keeps getting stronger and stronger.

Cheers!

When there's no cleric in the group, you downplay the aspects of the game that are the province of the cleric (namely undead and repeated combats in a short span of time).

Would you still send golems against a party with only clerics and wizards?

Would you still include high-CR traps against a party with no rogues or scouts?

If you don't consider the make-up of a party when designing (or adapting) adventures for them, you're not being a DM, only a referee.

 

[Wormwood]

I hope the cleric will be able to heal the fighter by/while smacking the monster, but also heal the fighter even better if there's no monster he needs to fight off.

That is most probably the case.

 

[LostSoul]

This still just blows my mind. How does smacking someone heal another someone?

Who cares if it's more fun to play?

 

[D.Shaffer]

This still just blows my mind. How does smacking someone heal another someone?

Oh, magic...

Well, yes. This is why he's a Divine class.
Why does holding up a holy symbol cause undead to cringe and run away?
Why does shouting out a few words cause holy fire to fall from the sky?
Why does wiggling his fingers over a sword cause it to start glowing blue and cut better?
He's a PALADIN. I'd have expected 'It's magic!' to be obvious.

 

[GeorgeFields]

Who cares if it's more fun to play?

kewl powerz does not equate to more fun in everyone's opinion

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

This still just blows my mind. How does smacking someone heal another someone?

Oh, magic...

The cleric smacks the hit points out of him in the form of little red numbers and the fighter catches them.

Why does studying how to jump-kick somebody in the head really well teach you to speak Otyugh? It's a game, and they made up some stuff they thought sounded fun. Like Gary did. Embrace it or don't. It's the 70's all over again!

 

[GeorgeFields]

The cleric smacks the hit points out of him in the form of little red numbers and the fighter catches them.

Ah, that explains it!

 

[Rel]

This still just blows my mind. How does smacking someone heal another someone?

Oh, magic...

Maybe the Righteous Deity of Whomping thinks its righteous when you whomp somebody who is unrighteous and therefore heals your wounds and those who are aiding you with the righteous whomping. Makes perfect sense to me.