Healing reserve feat?

[Shadeus]

Complete Mage introduced the concept of reserve feats. They are supernatural powers fueled by spells. I was trying to see if there was a way to make a balance one for a Conjuration (Healing) ability.

Healing Palm
Prereq: Ability to cast 2nd-level Conjuration (Healing) spells
Benefit: As long as the caster has prepared or the ability to cast a 2nd-level or higher Conjuration (Healing) spell, he is able to cure a touched creature of 1 point of damage per spell level. For example, a cleric with Mass Heal prepared can use Healing Palm to cure 9 points of damage per touch. This requires a standard action and has no effect on undead.

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Because clerics don't generally prepare healing spells, there is a definite "penalty" there. Of course, favored souls and bards could get a fair amount of use out of this feat. I see it's usefullness limited to after combat to give the party time to fully heal before the next encounter with the cost being time. Buff spells will wear off and enemies will have time to better prepare for them.

This is just a rough draft, so I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Cheiromancer]

Could they use it repeatedly on the same person? Perhaps it can only be used once on a given person in a given day. Or only once on a given set of injuries; it a person is re-injured the new wounds can be treated.

 

[Nadaka]

I would raise the spell level requirement to 5th, otherwise every good cleric can get 4hp/round free healing without "wasting" a spell slot due to spontanious cure casting. Even then, its debatable if it would be balanced.

That or as Cheiromancer suggested it would need some other balancing limit.

 

[Crothian]

Seems fine with me and does what other reserve feats do. I like the 5th level spell requirement though.

 

[Thurbane]

I imagine a similar feat will be in the upcoming Divine equivalent of Complete Mage.

 

[Nadaka]

If free instant healing seems out of balance, you might consider the following option.

instead of actually healing, it converts damage to subdual damage (effectively requiring the wounded to rest for some time before recovering fully).

 

[Shadeus]

My rationale for keeping the spell level requirement low was it is most beneficial at low levels. First level clerics are essentially worthless because they have to blow their two first level spells (assuming a Wis bonus spell) on healing every time. I actually considered having it a lower pre-req so 1st-level clerics can take advantage. But if I went that low, I would put a skill requirement on it, like 4 ranks of Heal or Knowledge(religion) or both!

The healing is low enough that it's ineffective in combat, except for stabilizing someone. Even at 9 hp per round, at level 17, nine hp isn't enough to make a difference.

Once per day is far too limiting. I mean, what's 2 - 9 pts of damage healed in a single day good for? Sure, you could cure a whole town maybe, but that's not really the intent. Once per wound requires too much book-keeping.

I do see the logic behind a higher level spell requirement (5th-level seemed popular), but by 9th level you can afford your wands of CLW and this feat really isn't all that great suddenly.

 

[Nadaka]

The biggest issue with free healing is that it breaks the assumptions of balance in a campain that features multiple combats between rest because you can make shure that everyone is fully healed at the start of every combat without any cost in GP or spell slots. A wand of CLW while it can mimic this, also has a definate (though sometimes acceptable) cost to it.

even at 2hp per round you can heal 1200 HP in one hour. It is something significant to consider and to date, it is the reason there are no WotC published magic items at any price that allow use activated healing without a daily limit.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

instead of actually healing, it converts damage to subdual damage (effectively requiring the wounded to rest for some time before recovering fully).

That's what I'd recommend. Has the added bonus, that if you spread the damage conversion around, it'll double the effects of the Healing spells when you get around to casting them.

It's a mechanic I'm using for one of my projects-- weaker healing magic combined with actually-useful Treat Injury skill.

 

[Nadaka]

That's what I'd recommend. Has the added bonus, that if you spread the damage conversion around, it'll double the effects of the Healing spells when you get around to casting them.

It's a mechanic I'm using for one of my projects-- weaker healing magic combined with actually-useful Treat Injury skill.

yes, If you go with this, I could definately see this feat working with 2nd level spell slot requirement. Plus you only have to rest 1 hour for the subdual to go away.