D&D 5E Healing, range and action economy

[Tony Vargas]

What I really was fishing for, however, was to see if there was design space wide enough for a third basic healing spell, either the
Bonus action, touch range
Or the
Action, at range
Hypothetical spell, to complement the existing ones.

Thoughts?

Clerics probably wouldn't want to devote 4 prepped spells to healing optoins like that, players would still be puzzling over which is 'best.'

 

[The Crimson Binome]

What I really was fishing for, however, was to see if there was design space wide enough for a third basic healing spell,

You should have said that in the beginning. It should be obvious that you could make a ranged/action spell, or a bonus/touch spell, that heals 1d6+ damage. Presumably, the designated healer would choose between one and three of these spells, and just eat the difference if they happened to be caught in a situation where they didn't have the optimal spell for the situation.

Although I would still argue that the three spells should be 1d4+, 2d4+, and 3d4+; as it currently stands, magical healing in this edition is woefully insufficient for my tastes.

 

[nlghty]

In combat, cure light wound is undone by half of a monster's attack most of the time, so healing word is the top dog because it's more flexible and you should only heal to get somoen on his feet in many case. Out of combat, where hp recovery vs spell slot is the bigger issue. There is often a better, oae spell of higher lvl that can do the job, like prayer witchwill double your dice gained if only 2 targets need healing for +1 spell slot. Cure wound ends up being VERY niche for priest: when only one perso needs healing.