Lots of Healing...

[Kaisoku]

With the Amulet of Positive Channeling (+2d6, like 4 levels higher in healing), and spreading damage with Shield Other spells/effects (like ring of friend shield), you can get much more use out of Channeling in combat.

Spread the damage, and the channel energy can really kick in during combat. Takes a lot of effort though, and most don't like spending that much time/resource on countering damage.

 

[Asmo]

Selective Channeling is strong, but you need a cleric that´s willing to invest heavyly in Charisma.
The cleric in the group im gming has Cha 12, and I can´t se her increase Cha just to get Selective Channeling and exclude one non party member.

Asmo

 

[tylermalan]

I'm really surprised there isn't more hoo-hah about this. Going from 3.5 where you can heal a couple of times a day on single targets to the same thing PLUS a minimum of 3 times per day mass healing seems monstrous to me. Did Paizo just really take it to heart when people talked about only being able to handle one or two encounters per day before having to rest?

 

[IronWolf]

Selective Channeling is strong, but you need a cleric that´s willing to invest heavyly in Charisma.

Yeah - that's the downside to Selective Channeling. Though some clerics that have an avid interest in fighting undead might boost Charisma a bit more to boost their save against the channel energy as well.

 

[IronWolf]

I'm really surprised there isn't more hoo-hah about this. Going from 3.5 where you can heal a couple of times a day on single targets to the same thing PLUS a minimum of 3 times per day mass healing seems monstrous to me. Did Paizo just really take it to heart when people talked about only being able to handle one or two encounters per day before having to rest?

In 3.5 parties just bought wands of cure light wounds for after combat healing. So our parties in 3.5 really weren't limited to one or two encounters per day as we healed up between combat with wands and kept our spells for combat.

Channel Energy gives you a few free heals at the savings of using a charge from the wand. But the end effect is pretty much the same - just less expensive in Pathfinder than in 3.5 on occasion.

So - yes, there is more healing in Pathfinder available to a cleric. But this is not what I would consider a "problem" as asked in the original post.

 

[EUBanana]

We got an oracle in our party who uses selective channelling and has a massive charisma score. Who uses lifelink and heals herself, not sure how viable that would be in later levels but its certainly good at level 8.

At lower levels she only healed herself, not other people, now she's having to actually heal others occasionally too. Seems to be a really powerful healing class though. That is, however, pretty much all she does.

 

[Tovec]

In 3.5 parties just bought wands of cure light wounds for after combat healing. So our parties in 3.5 really weren't limited to one or two encounters per day as we healed up between combat with wands and kept our spells for combat.

Channel Energy gives you a few free heals at the savings of using a charge from the wand. But the end effect is pretty much the same - just less expensive in Pathfinder than in 3.5 on occasion.

You can do that in PF too, so just imagine the healing possibilities. Not necessarily less expensive, just more healing.

So - yes, there is more healing in Pathfinder available to a cleric. But this is not what I would consider a "problem" as asked in the original post.

It is only a problem during a combat when the evil guys are unable to kill the good guys because of selective healing bursts. Or in the 30 seconds a party has between waves when they all get healed to max from healing bursts instead of having to bust out the cure light wands and heal everyone.

Oh, I agree that channeling positive energy is useful. But I certainly don't consider it overpowering. There are tradeoffs for several of the situations you note above. Either using feats or not using feats to improve channeling or getting heavy armor back have impact. Using spells to make up for lack of feats are spells you cannot use for something else.

Me? I never like to heal the enemy. A creature with 1 hit point is every bit as dangerous as one with full hit points. Certainly subjective on this opinion though. Some may be more comfortable healing the enemy than I am.

Eh, if one is comfortable enough to blow their channels after battle for mass healing, then I probably would have had time to blow my remaining spells for healing spells. Or what we tend to do - heal up with wands.

Never said it was overpowered, it is something that I find more powerful than I was used to in DMing a 3.5 game. I am hoping that by changing my future games to point buy to eliminate the issue I was having without having to change anything.

Also, that trade-off that you refer to, what happens in PF when you don't need to spend money on wands to cure (and get a better deal from healing burst anyway) and ALSO get more money? You end up with much more money in the long run than a 3.5 character.


On a semi-unrelated note: I remember vividly in 3.5 and earlier games where you weren't constantly at full health and it was a driving factor about when to retreat. My party already experienced this problem of not pulling back when they should have because they had full HP. They figured it out eventually but not before incurring heavier losses. Being able to heal as a burst takes away some of the fantasy for me. Working hard to be able to throw your touch spell-cure spells 30 feet was a real achievement before, now just make sure your bust includes friendlies and dis-includes hostiles and no problem.

Again, I have no problem with the rule as it is. I have had problems with the mechanic in practice and I seek to remedy that in future games.

 

[IronWolf]

You can do that in PF too, so just imagine the healing possibilities. Not necessarily less expensive, just more healing.

Oh, definitely. The group I GM for uses wands frequently and my cleric in a PbP here uses a wand for between combat healing on many occasion.

It is only a problem during a combat when the evil guys are unable to kill the good guys because of selective healing bursts. Or in the 30 seconds a party has between waves when they all get healed to max from healing bursts instead of having to bust out the cure light wands and heal everyone.

There is still a limited number of times the group can channel between encounters to get back to health. As the levels progress the channel rolls don't really keep up with the hit point totals of the melee types. At 10th level the cleric will be rolling 5d6 (avg roll of 17.5), but the hit points will be in the ballpark of 70-ish hit points.

Never said it was overpowered, it is something that I find more powerful than I was used to in DMing a 3.5 game. I am hoping that by changing my future games to point buy to eliminate the issue I was having without having to change anything.

Ah - we use point buy now. Used 20 point for our current campaign.

Also, that trade-off that you refer to, what happens in PF when you don't need to spend money on wands to cure (and get a better deal from healing burst anyway) and ALSO get more money? You end up with much more money in the long run than a 3.5 character.

In all Pathfinder games I have GM'ed or played in there has still always been a wand around. So from what I have seen money is still being spent on cure wands even with channeling available. This is subjective of course since I am limited to games I have played or GM'ed. Maybe other groups really are forgoing the wands leading to more gold for something else of use.

On a semi-unrelated note: I remember vividly in 3.5 and earlier games where you weren't constantly at full health and it was a driving factor about when to retreat. My party already experienced this problem of not pulling back when they should have because they had full HP. They figured it out eventually but not before incurring heavier losses. Being able to heal as a burst takes away some of the fantasy for me. Working hard to be able to throw your touch spell-cure spells 30 feet was a real achievement before, now just make sure your bust includes friendlies and dis-includes hostiles and no problem.

I think this still exists even with Pathfinder. Channel adds some healing, but it is still far from a limitless pool of healing. In a low level PFS game I am running the NPC cleric had to be very careful with her healing to keep some available along the way.

 

[Asmo]

Being able to heal as a burst takes away some of the fantasy for me.[/B]

Mass Heal must be pretty similar?

Asmo

 

[Tovec]

Mass Heal must be pretty similar?

Asmo

Indeed, luckily we are pretty high level by then (level 17) there are much more insane things happening.

Where, as Ironwolf points out, the burst is best at lower levels (less than 17 at least). A realm which should be shrouded in more mystery and awe.