HotFL2 ??

[Lord Ernie]

The problem with having leaders who are incapable of restoring HP is that they are at an inherent disadvantage towards those who can do so: reviving downed party members. The ability to use healing word or another healing power on a party member below 0 HP has allowed my cleric to save the day more than once - in fact, I remember reviving 3 out of 6 party members with one well-timed Healer's Mercy.

This means that if you make such a class, they need another way to keep their party members on their feet, or minimal healing capabilities usable on downed party-members, for example:

Get back on your feet!
Commander Class Feature
Minor Action
Close Burst 5
Target: One dying ally in burst
Effect: The target regains 1 HP, and gains temporary HP equal to their bloodied value.

Note that distributing temporary HP instead of healing has yet another drawback: they don't stack. Where someone able to heal HP would be able to heal the revived ally further, the Commander would have to wait till the ally runs out of THP (a very risky thing to do if his ally were low on actual HP), or risk wasting the surplus of THP. Stacking the THP, on the other hand, opens up a whole different can of worms - remember the old Battlerager?

In short, while a non-healing leader is an interesting ideas, I feel it has a lot of design pitfalls for what is, IMO, relatively little gain.

 

[keterys]

Oh, dunno... you could do some funny stuff:

Steadfast Command
Aura 5 (10 at 11th, 15 at 21st)
Allies in the aura gain a bonus to their healing surge value equal to your Charisma modifier (5 + Charisma at 11th, 10 + Charisma at 21st).
At the end of each of your turns, as a free action you may grant all allies in your aura temporary hit points equal to your Charisma (5 + Charisma at 11th, 10 + Charisma at 21st).
Allies who start their turn in the aura while dying may make a death save at the start of their turn instead of the end, with your Charisma modifier as a bonus to the save.

Toss on an immediate interrupt 'Warning Shout' to reduce the damage of something by a solid chunk, and you'd have a _very_ different mechanic and feel.

 

[nookiemonster]

But I also want to see a new subclass, call it the Peacepriest *snark*. Uses holy symbols, robes instead of heavy armor, Wis bonus to AC instead of Dex/Int, strong focus on healing and control rather than damage. Of course, this subclass would share domains with the Warpriest.

Isn't that just the Laser Cleric from PHB? If you changed the Laser Cleric's at-wills to have an effect regardless of hit or miss, like the Warpriest, it would feel very much like this with an essential-ly feel.

 

[DracoSuave]

Yeah, I always thought the Warlord should do temporary hit points as well. It would have made them more different than a cleric lite. (In the healing department)

Inspiring Warlords don't?

Huh.

 

[mkill]

Isn't that just the Laser Cleric from PHB? If you changed the Laser Cleric's at-wills to have an effect regardless of hit or miss, like the Warpriest, it would feel very much like this with an essential-ly feel.

Well, yes, it would be the equivalent to the so-called laser cleric, and also the Invoker. However, since Essentials classes get more class features, it possible to build a greater mechanical difference between the ranged and melee cleric builds.

One thing is that I never liked how even clerics of deities like Ilmater or Selune are expected to wear heavy armor. It fits the archetype better if they wear robes. That's why I want to give them the ability to use Wisdom for AC, as a form of spiritual protection.

It would also be cool to have a build that's Int secondary, so we can have a Cleric that's halfway competent at the Religion skill.

 

[keterys]

If you want to make them Int secondary...

Don't give them WIS to AC