Healing NPC's

[Trainz]

Sometimes, when players roll their characters, no-one wants to play a cleric, but often someone ends up playing one anyways. I know that a 3.5 cleric is something to behold, very powerful, but in my experience, when you get in the 12+ levels, often the fights are so hard that clerics end up using defensive-cure spells every combat round to keep the fighting PC's up.

I don't know about your games, but this has been so in my games and my DM's games. You do, as a cleric, have cool offensive options, you just don't have the time to use them.

Some DM's like to let an NPC cleric join the group to act as party healer, sometimes as cohort so that he doesn't suck-up party X.P.. But then, players will from time to time wonder "how come he never fights, and always hang in the back ?". Verisimilitude suffers.

There are a few solutions to this. The NPC cleric...

- is blind
- took the Vow of Nonviolence feat from BoED
- is a coward
- is very weak (very low strength)
- is very old (very low physical stats all around)
- is very small (diminutive faerie)
- is cursed (and thus, hands shake and he falls to his knees screaming when trying to fight)

Just a few musings... I might start a new campaign eventually, and this concept came to mind.

 

[Matafuego]

Wow thanks!
I needed an NPC cleric for my upcoming dungeons (since one of the players took Leadership so as to get more Healing Power) and I wasn't sure how to justify the Non-Attacking (since I hate to attack with NPC's) so the Vows are great options!

 

[Trainz]

Wow thanks!
I needed an NPC cleric for my upcoming dungeons (since one of the players took Leadership so as to get more Healing Power) and I wasn't sure how to justify the Non-Attacking (since I hate to attack with NPC's) so the Vows are great options!

'zactly.

But before you take the BoED vow route, make sure you read the feat carefully: other PC's will suffer penalties if they don't act mercifully, just because the NPC cleric has this vow.

Personally, I would go with the old dude version...

 

[Matafuego]

But if i go with the Old Dude thing they would complain because they could have a younger one, but if I say "it's a religious thing" then... they wouldn't complain as easily... I think

 

[Lela]

One of my old DMs (and player) had a saying. The answer to everything is either Religion or Politics. Running off that principal he could run the most amazing campaigns and everything was believeable. It also worked out extremely well when someone had a question about something he hadn't thought of. He'd just grab one of the two and run with it. It always added to the world too. And was usually good for a laugh.

The thing about it is that no one questions Religion or Politics. They don't always have to be logical or even reasonable. You tell your players that it's a "Religion thing" and they'll almost certainly accept it.

On a different car in this train of thought, have you considered having the player run his cohort NPC in combat? When I had a high level group and vurtually everyone had a cohort this worked rather well. If I haden't I would have spent 70% of the time fighting myself. And the player, who only needs to run two characters (while you're doing the cohorts and 3-20 bad guys) will play it smarter. Just make sure the character knows the cohort's personality and run it yourself during RP time. It saves a lot of work.

One more car back, if you're considering the Vows of Peace and Nonviolence I'd recomend taking a gander at the JollyDoc's/Gfunk's Shackeled City Story Hour. Caine, who comes in about halfway through, is the best example of BoED feats that I've ever seen. Other characters in their have a heavenly feel as well if you're looking for ideas.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

On a different car in this train of thought, have you considered having the player run his cohort NPC in combat? -- Just make sure the character knows the cohort's personality and run it yourself during RP time.

Erm...cohorts are always under player control. Check out page 106 of the DMG. I don't know many people that would even bother with the feat if the DM had control over the cohort.

Also, you can be a pacifist without taking that Vow of Nonviolence feat.

 

[thalmin]

instead of an NPC cleric, how about the Healer from the D&D Miniatures Handbook? It starts out less combat worthy.

 

[Wolffenjugend]

Wow. This is timely. IMC the P's cleric was originally a player but that person has moved on and is no longer playing. We kept the character as an NPC though. As the group got bigger and bigger (we're up to 7 characters now), I made it clear that the cleric would be stepping out of the limelight and would primarily provide healing support. As several new player clerics joined the group (none of them healing-oriented), the NPC cleric took a stronger view in support of non-violence to the point that the P knew the cleric would not use offensive spells or attacks. This all flowed well as the cleric took the Contemplative prestige class and has just taken the Vow of Non-Poverty and Non-Violence. The NPC cleric has become a pure healer and allows the P's clerics to use their more interesting spells. It's worked out pretty well.

 

[Trainz]

[...]and has just taken the Vow of Non-Poverty[...]

I will become filthy rich and appropriate all my comrades belongings, this, Heironeous, I swear on my heart and soul !

 

[DarkMaster]

. As several new player clerics joined the group (none of them healing-oriented)

Funny, non-healing oriented cleric, what about their spontaneous casting(summon monster?)