Healing Bonusus - stacking ??

[Hejdun]

(Spirit of Healing is the name of the ability).

Right, thanks, I edited my post.

I think this is more a problem of surgeless healing than anything else. Those bonuses *are* really great, but when tempered by a daily surge limit, they seem to come more into focus. In essence, that +2 to healing might be a daily total of 12 HP at the *most*, if surges were required. Maybe for really robust characters it would total out to a daily total of 24 or more.

The sudden glut of surgeless healing largely destroys this balance. I am not generally in favor of proactive houseruling, but I see a couple options in this case:
- Give these items a bonus type, to limit stacking
- Only allow them to apply when a surge is spent

It is a hole in the rules, and can be a problem, I agree.

Jay

This I think is the real flaw. If all those healing items only worked with surge healing, then it's not so bad. As it is now, clerics have quite a few ways to exploit these stackable items/feats with surgeless healing (Astral Seal and Spirit of Healing being two examples) that the power quickly gets ridiculous. Spirit of battle can quickly turn that innocent +2 Healer's Brooch into 8-10 extra hit points per turn in conjunction with a power like Spirit of Healing.

 

[Mephistopheles]

I think this is more a problem of surgeless healing than anything else. Those bonuses *are* really great, but when tempered by a daily surge limit, they seem to come more into focus. In essence, that +2 to healing might be a daily total of 12 HP at the *most*, if surges were required. Maybe for really robust characters it would total out to a daily total of 24 or more.

Jay

Good point.

I play a cleric in one game and the shift towards healing without using surges when Divine Power landed was clear; I'm not sure if it was the same for warlords with Martial Power, there are none in any of the 4E groups I play with.

 

[ValhallaGH]

Good point.

I play a cleric in one game and the shift towards healing without using surges when Divine Power landed was clear; I'm not sure if it was the same for warlords with Martial Power, there are none in any of the 4E groups I play with.

It wasn't nearly as extreme. Warlords only picked up a few new healing abilities, and only a couple of those allow surge-less healing (and none are at-will); most of what Warlords got make them viable single characters instead of team-players only (silly 3E bard model; heroes need to be heroes by themselves, not just when they've got real heroes nearby to inspire to greatness).

 

[MarkB]

Even without surgeless healing, massive bonuses to healing surges can make a big difference. One of our local LFR players has a cleric who is entirely specialised towards healing, and even when using mostly surge-based powers, the fact that you're going through far fewer surges to get healed up makes a huge difference. With any other Leader class in the party, we can expect to be down to our last couple of surges by the end of a scenario. With this cleric, even the front-liners generally have more than half their surges unspent going into the final encounter.

 

[Jhaelen]

With this cleric, even the front-liners generally have more than half their surges unspent going into the final encounter.

IOW, it is generally not advisable to stack too many bonuses on healing because every healing surge you have left after the final encounter is wasted.
He's probably 'overhealing' quite often, as well, unless he waits with his healing until everyone's hit points are so low, no point is wasted (which can be risky).

 

[Dice4Hire]

IOW, it is generally not advisable to stack too many bonuses on healing because every healing surge you have left after the final encounter is wasted.
He's probably 'overhealing' quite often, as well, unless he waits with his healing until everyone's hit points are so low, no point is wasted (which can be risky).

This is ture, and for every item or feat that boosts healing that is an item or feat that is not doing something else.

 

[BobTheNob]

I really like the idea of bonus's only on "surged" heals. It allows the player to build as a healer (i.e. build up a healthy heal bonus) at the same time as preventing cheese.

I would place the following exceptions
* Astral Seal. Its flavour is a pure heal ability, but surgless. I wouldnt allow full bonus, but would be tempted to incorporate the cleric Wisdom Bonus
* Cure Light, Cure Serious and Mass Cure Light. Their daily, and it just feels right to allow them bonus even though a surge isnt spent

 

[Thanee]

Spirit of Healing. Level 6 utility. Allies who hit a target heal 2x Wis mod.

Now add in +Wis from cleric. Add +2 from a healer's brooch. Add another +2 from your implement. If you're level 8 with a 20 Wis, you're healing 19 hit points every single time you hit on an attack roll. For the rest of the encounter. It's basically an "I win" button for one encounter a day. All these stacking bonuses make the cleric significantly better at healing than other leaders.

Well, yes, but not because of the stacking bonuses... 15 or 19, 15 is likely good enough already.

Bye
Thanee