...unless you're already under the effect of Aid.
Hey! You beat me to it (even at 5th level, our PCs cast two Aid spells at the start of every adventuring day).
...unless you're already under the effect of Aid.
The real question, though, is why the dragon gets another turn. It can't drop anyone in the first turn when it shows up or you're setting up, it might drop someone in the second if it gets one, it's dead before it gets a 3rd.
Definitely seems to, yep.I think the cure wounds versus healing word comes down to play-style.
On this, I'm more sympathetic to [MENTION=5834]Celtavian[/MENTION]. Or rather, whatever the details about typical GMs targetting this or that, I think he's right to think that his group is not entirely typical in its tactical/mechanical acumen.How do you know that in standard games, DMs do not play the enemy targeting healers and arcane casters once they are known? Where do you get your data on this from? Based on what I have read here on the forums over the years, that's not a reasonable assumption.
Except it doesn't stack, has half the range, requires an action, uses up higher level spell slots, and isn't available to as many classes. But yes, aid + cure wounds is a much more sensible package than just cure wounds.
_You_ just covered how your cleric stays back around a corner to avoid having his concentration broken! Nevermind that _anyone_ grouping up is just going to get tagged by AE and lose their concentration. That last battle included a dragon with 60-ft cones that it used on both of its turns, melee guys who literally dropped onto us from nowhere, as well as attacking from a more expected/scouted flank, along with a necklace of missiles hurling NPC (so, a fireball every turn). The entire ground was difficult terrain so only the two flyers I was maintaining and the melee who had boots to ignore the difficult terrain weren't impeded.
At lower level, we still had dragons, flameskulls, and lightning-breathing drakes, so things really haven't changed much from that angle on the AE front. On the supporting melee front, corridor chokepoints don't tend to work; goblins, toads, spiders, fliers, lots of things just traipse on through to the backline, nevermind that any engagement in such a setup will almost always call for reinforcements from another angle if they're available.
It's also often important to maintain multiple tactical points, for example holding off reinforcements at one point, rescuing an injured NPC at another, and dealing with the primary target at a 3rd. If the cleric is doing any of those, their ability to move to someone doing another is compromised, as well it should. This is sufficiently true that in some cases the fighter might be more than a full move away from the cleric, nevermind in a situation that might provoke attacks to get to.
Like I said, pretty different game from yours.
So use cure wounds instead. Odds are high that the character still drops in the same number of hits, because the difference cured is small. Further, you're now more grouped up for the dragon's wing buffets and breath weapon, which mean that your healing gap is even worse.
The real question, though, is why the dragon gets another turn. It can't drop anyone in the first turn when it shows up or you're setting up, it might drop someone in the second if it gets one, it's dead before it gets a 3rd.
And the better option than both of those is for the enemies to never get another turn, instead. But, sometimes you got to heal, it does happen.
Yep, we were definitely worried when he dropped both our tank and our "healer" (the imp) in the same round, but thankfully he had used all 3 upgraded wing buffets (now that I look at it, he was doing more than the standard damage since it's impossible to roll 19 on 2d6+6 and he did 50-something over the 3 times he did it, doing it as a single action not a double action, _and_ not allowing a save to negate the damage like usual. wow). He was also trying to stay flying out of range of melee attacks while using his breath weapon every round, which is solid given how much damage we do with melee.
So, yeah, he was trying to present a real upscaled challenge, not just playing tag.
Doubtful. 2 more hit points at low level (or even 4 in a second level slot) typically makes little difference in a fight, especially at the cost of movement and an action. You seem to be seriously overestimating the value of Cure Wounds.
How do you know that in standard games, DMs do not play the enemy targeting healers and arcane casters once they are known? Where do you get your data on this from? Based on what I have read here on the forums over the years, that's not a reasonable assumption
In our game, we have 5 PCs out of 6 that can cast spells and 4 of those 6 PCs can heal. We now have a 7th player who currently is running an NPC, but will soon run his own PC. He decided upon a Druid. So how exactly does the DM target the healers and arcane casters when 6 out of 7 PCs match one or both of those descriptions? Maybe it's because the players in my game made it difficult for NPCs to determine who the healer or the arcane spell caster is. Since my players rarely cast healing spells in combat in 5E, it's tough for the NPCs to know who the healer might be.
Or maybe it's because as DM, I try to not let metagame information influence my NPC decision making.
Hey! You beat me to it (even at 5th level, our PCs cast two Aid spells at the start of every adventuring day).
Your party is larger than usual and four PCs capable of healing? Are we talking paladins and rangers or clerics, druids, and bards? And you're adding a 7th player? That throws CR off by an immense amount. We generally have one healer. Please don't discuss non-standard parties. We play with five, one more than recommended.