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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 7017535" data-attributes="member: 996"><p>Sure, the traditional band-aid cleric wasn't fun, and the concept has some strikes against it for some folks, and it doesn't exactly have iconic character examples in genre the way the wizard has Gandalf. But that's exactly what 3e tried to address with spontaneous healing spells, and improved buffs (both party buffs and self-buffs), among other things. They threw a lot a the Cleric in 3.0 to try to make it more appealing to players, because it had always been kinda mandatory. </p><p></p><p>IMHO, through 3.0, it kinda worked, a little. A cleric could participate in melee more effectively, some of his 'buff' spells were well worth casting, and he could sneak in contributions other than healing since he didn't 'need' to memorize full slates of healing spells - he could prep a variety of spells that might be useful, and cast them if they came up, or spontaneously convert them to healing if they didn't. It still wasn't exactly the most popular class, but mechanically, it was less unappealing. </p><p></p><p>The problem was they'd thrown so much at the cleric to make it bearable while providing healing that, if you just dropped the ball on healing entirely, it could be decidedly overpowered. </p><p></p><p>3.5 made it worse. AFAIK, there was no rule change in 3.5 that made the WoCLW standard equipment, but it seemed to catch on at that point. Between-combat healing became trivial, freeing up clerics' spells, and, some fairly minor-seeming changes to buff spells (reducing durations, and adding caster-stat-buffing versions) tilted the balance toward clerics self-buffing. And that was it, CoDzilla became very much a thing.</p><p></p><p>4e finally attacked the 'cleric problem' from a different angle - well, several different angles. It completely re-jiggered between-combat healing so the Cleric (leaders in general) weren't required for it (didn't even need him to pull the trigger on the wand). It made in-combat healing more accessible both as Second Wind and as minor-action Healing Words and healing riders on other Cleric powers. It moved healing resources from primarily clerical spell slots (so clerics no longer 'needed' tons of slots that they could then misappropriate to mutate into CoDzilla) to individuals' Healing Surges. And, it offered <em>viable</em> cleric alternatives (other 'Leaders'), starting with the Warlord, and expanding to include Bards, Shamans, Ardents, Artificers, and Sentinel Druids.</p><p></p><p>The Cleric stopped being boring, and it stopped being mandatory. It still made vital contributions of the traditional sort, but it was able to make others, besides. It had become a meaningful & viable class option. </p><p>It was balanced.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 7017535, member: 996"] Sure, the traditional band-aid cleric wasn't fun, and the concept has some strikes against it for some folks, and it doesn't exactly have iconic character examples in genre the way the wizard has Gandalf. But that's exactly what 3e tried to address with spontaneous healing spells, and improved buffs (both party buffs and self-buffs), among other things. They threw a lot a the Cleric in 3.0 to try to make it more appealing to players, because it had always been kinda mandatory. IMHO, through 3.0, it kinda worked, a little. A cleric could participate in melee more effectively, some of his 'buff' spells were well worth casting, and he could sneak in contributions other than healing since he didn't 'need' to memorize full slates of healing spells - he could prep a variety of spells that might be useful, and cast them if they came up, or spontaneously convert them to healing if they didn't. It still wasn't exactly the most popular class, but mechanically, it was less unappealing. The problem was they'd thrown so much at the cleric to make it bearable while providing healing that, if you just dropped the ball on healing entirely, it could be decidedly overpowered. 3.5 made it worse. AFAIK, there was no rule change in 3.5 that made the WoCLW standard equipment, but it seemed to catch on at that point. Between-combat healing became trivial, freeing up clerics' spells, and, some fairly minor-seeming changes to buff spells (reducing durations, and adding caster-stat-buffing versions) tilted the balance toward clerics self-buffing. And that was it, CoDzilla became very much a thing. 4e finally attacked the 'cleric problem' from a different angle - well, several different angles. It completely re-jiggered between-combat healing so the Cleric (leaders in general) weren't required for it (didn't even need him to pull the trigger on the wand). It made in-combat healing more accessible both as Second Wind and as minor-action Healing Words and healing riders on other Cleric powers. It moved healing resources from primarily clerical spell slots (so clerics no longer 'needed' tons of slots that they could then misappropriate to mutate into CoDzilla) to individuals' Healing Surges. And, it offered [i]viable[/i] cleric alternatives (other 'Leaders'), starting with the Warlord, and expanding to include Bards, Shamans, Ardents, Artificers, and Sentinel Druids. The Cleric stopped being boring, and it stopped being mandatory. It still made vital contributions of the traditional sort, but it was able to make others, besides. It had become a meaningful & viable class option. It was balanced. [/QUOTE]
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