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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6351803" data-attributes="member: 2011">I didn't say it was suboptimal. I said it was suboptimal choice in many circumstances. There are occasions where it makes sense to do so. But, they are fewer and further between than in 4E.Actually, 5E healing is stronger than it was in 1E through 3.5. 4E is the outlier.It was only a no brainer for players who did not put thought into their actions. Even in 4E, I often did not heal a fellow PC until that PC was either in single digit hit points (less often) or down (more often). It just ended up doing more overall healing and improving action economy in many cases.This is not always the case, but it is often the case in 4E. It's more so in 5E. The games are too dissimilar to compare. 4E was a game where half or more of the party went bloodied within the first few rounds of a challenging encounter, but then as they started dropping more foes, action economy shifted to their advantage. The PC healer only had to keep the PCs alive until the momentum of the encounter changed.5E is a game where most of the NPCs are 1 to 3 shot paper tigers. It's often like fighting minions or "tough minions" (i.e. 2 shot minions). The entire encounter can be over much faster because foes drop much faster. Hence, attacking is often a superior tactic to either defense or healing than it was in 4E.Two different game designs result in different optimal tactics. Anyone who uses 4E healing tactics in 5E is probably going to be in for a bit of a shock when the party is out of healing in the third encounter.Actually, it pretty much is. The number of situations where healing an injured PC is the most optimal choice should be somewhat limited in 5E. In fact, the number of situations where healing an unconscious PC is the most optimal choice will be a bit less in 5E than earlier versions due to how squishy (i.e. easy to hit and take out) the bad guys are.Yup. Course, it tends to be a bit of a no brainer to not heal in 5E in many situations. Who cares if the wizard just went down when there are only two similar level foes remaining? Getting the wizard up means that he can attack on the next turn and the net gain was the same number of attacks when the foes will probably be down in a single round or two. Healing the unconscious wizard also might mean that a smart NPC comes over and melee attacks the prone wizard with advantage. If the wizard was important enough to heal, then the prone wizard is important enough to attack. Pros and Cons to all choices.There are always exceptions to any rule of thumb.Sure, you can use Healing Word at level one to heal a PC up 5 hit points. And, that might be enough to keep that PC up (or get the PC up). But at the end of the encounter, it just means that the extra few points of healing from that same spell slot with a Cure Wounds in it is now no longer a party resource.Granted, healing has always been the one aspect of the game where the PCs have a significant advantage over NPCs, it's just that doing so in combat is back to the 3E days of healing (i.e. throw the biggest heal you have in an emergency situation, or don't bother until after combat).</blockquote>

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