D&D (2024) Healer Feat

[the Jester]

I disagree with your assessment. I think comparing a level 1 5e char with a level 1 4e character is like comparing apples and oranges.
I think, level 3 5e character would be better.
At that point, with the healer feat, you can heal someone 3 times a day for about 1/3 of their hp. This is close enough.

A little bit of tweaking and you are on point.

PS: inspiring word also put the cost of the healing surge on the receipient. So I don't understand your argumentation.

The cost is 100% of your innate healing capacity at first level instead of, I dunno, 15-25%. And it leaves you no way to heal on a short rest, or, if you play a more hardcore game that doesn't give you all your hps back on a long rest... after a long rest. And it screws existing characters with the Healer feat, as well as entire groups built with no magic healing that rely on that feat.

It's very, very different. HD and healing surges are only marginally similar, and only on the very shallowest level.

 

[Haplo781]

I like the idea of "making it useful for magical healing" in theory, but the way they chose to implement it is bad. Rerolling a single die is gonna yield an average of less than 1.5 extra HP on average. Compared to simply taking Magic Initiate or something, it's just bad.

 

[cbwjm]

I like the idea of "making it useful for magical healing" in theory, but the way they chose to implement it is bad. Rerolling a single die is gonna yield an average of less than 1.5 extra HP on average. Compared to simply taking Magic Initiate or something, it's just bad.

I think it's more than 1 die that can be rerolled from the wording. It's a small boost but I think it would be a welcome one when it does come up.

 

[Haplo781]

I think it's more than 1 die that can be rerolled from the wording. It's a small boost but I think it would be a welcome one when it does come up.

Ah yeah I got that confused with Savage Attacker which is abysmally bad.

But rerolling a die that comes up 1 is not very good either. That's worth 0.5 HP per die rolled on average. So a cure wounds cast via a 9th-level slot would restore an extra... 4.5 HP on average. And that assumes you're upcasting cure wounds instead of just using heal for some reason, which doesn't roll dice.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

The cost is 100% of your innate healing capacity at first level instead of, I dunno, 15-25%. And it leaves you no way to heal on a short rest, or, if you play a more hardcore game that doesn't give you all your hps back on a long rest... after a long rest. And it screws existing characters with the Healer feat, as well as entire groups built with no magic healing that rely on that feat.

It's very, very different. HD and healing surges are only marginally similar, and only on the very shallowest level.

Again: comparing a level 1 character of 5e to a level 1 charachter of 4e is a bad Idea. 4e are stronger at level 1.

I still don't see the big difference. If a warlord heals up all your surges, you can't heal with second wind anymore.

If course HD and healing surges serve a slightly different purpose, but the healer feat is more similar to warlord healing than the old one: the receipient spends a surge and heals hp with a bonus. Not limited to once per rest.

That does not mean that HD are now healing surges...

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Ah yeah I got that confused with Savage Attacker which is abysmally bad.

But rerolling a die that comes up 1 is not very good either. That's worth 0.5 HP per die rolled on average. So a cure wounds cast via a 9th-level slot would restore an extra... 4.5 HP on average. And that assumes you're upcasting cure wounds instead of just using heal for some reason, which doesn't roll dice.

It is still a useful feat to patch up people a bit faster without taking a short rest.
And rerolling a 1 is not about the average. It is helping you not rolling a 1 at a crucial time, which somehow happens all too often. :/
Compared to magic initiate... really depends if you need another prepared level 1 spell and some cantrips.

Edit: i missed that it does probably* not include con bonus. This makes the feat a lot worse.

*depends, if you consider the con bonus belonging to the hit die or not.

 

[Haplo781]

It is still a useful feat to patch up people a bit faster without taking a short rest.
And rerolling a 1 is not about the average. It is helping you not rolling a 1 at a crucial time, which somehow happens all too often. :/
Compared to magic initiate... really depends if you need another prepared level 1 spell and some cantrips.

I mean, your rerolled 1 is just as likely to be a 2 as anything else. Not sure how 1 extra HP helps during a "crucial time."

The feat would be better if it just added your proficiency bonus to healing.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I mean, your rerolled 1 is just as likely to be a 2 as anything else. Not sure how 1 extra HP helps during a "crucial time."

The feat would be better if it just added your proficiency bonus to healing.

Makes you feel great if you reroll and get an 8. 1's suck. I could live with adding your prof bonus, but that might push it into "must have territory" for healers. Depends on the final power of 1st level feats.

 

[Haplo781]

Makes you feel great if you reroll and get an 8. 1's suck.

You're essentially arguing that the occasional good feeling from refilling a 1 into an 8 (something that has less than a 1.6% chance of happening mind you) is worth a feat.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

You're essentially arguing that the occasional good feeling from refilling a 1 into an 8 (something that has less than a 1.6% chance of happening mind you) is worth a feat.

No. But the other benefit (if it at least gets clarified that the con bonus is included) to which the reroll of a 1 also counts.
The reroll of 1's on healing spells is just a nice ribbon ability.

Now ask yourself: is having 2 more cantrips worth a feat if you probably can't exploit the few overpowered cantrips and the one time extra casting of a single level 1 spell?
The answer is probably: depends which class you had before and if shield was on your class spell list.