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Message: <blockquote data-quote="KarinsDad" data-source="post: 6600616" data-attributes="member: 2011">First off, we were comparing Healing Word with Cure Wounds earlier, not with Aid. You kind of shifted the goal post by now comparing Aid with Healing Word.Second, one has to compare a Healing Word bumped to second level with an Aid spell due to the second level spell slot requirement.And yes, +5 hit points to three PCs (if 3 PCs are within range) is typically better than +8 (or +10) hit points to one PC. But if someone is going to cast Aid, then doing it at the beginning of the adventuring day often makes more sense. It then costs zero actions to cast it in combat and all of your ally targets do not have to be within 30 feet.And your comment that a caster can only cast a cantrip with Healing Word doesn't make sense. With Aid, a caster cannot cast anything else either and is limited even more (no attack action, no cantrip spell). Plus, we are talking Aid and Healing Word here. The two classes that have both of these are Cleric and Paladin. At least in our game, both the Cleric and the Paladin use melee attacks.So an attack action plus 8+ heal of Healing Word > no attack action plus 15 heal of Aid in most circumstances (the main exception is if multiple PCs are unconscious). In fact for the Cleric, a cantrip plus Healing Word > Aid in many circumstances.Now granted, at higher level slots, Aid starts pulling ahead. Even in a third level slot, Aid does 30 total to Healing Word's 11 or so. But as a general rule of thumb, it's still often better to cast it at the beginning of the adventuring day (i.e. if the PCs suspect that they are going to get into fights, just before going into the dungeon, or into the sewers, or goes to confront the Duke, or whatever, not immediately when the party wakes up).The pros and cons of doing that are: Pros, no need to cast in combat, no chance of only 1 or 2 PCs being within 30 feet, PCs are Aided even if the Cleric goes unconscious, the extra Aid points might prevent a PC from going unconscious from a given attack or dying from a huge damaging attack; Cons, might not have the PCs who need it the most, if a PC gets hit with a huge damaging attack, the extra Aid points were not necessarily helpful at all.However, Aid > Cure Wounds as well once one bumps it to level 3 (+10 to 3 PCs vs. ~+17 to 1 PC). Unless we are talking a single PC getting injured, Aid tends to work better than the Cure Wounds or Healing Words spells at higher level and is a bit irrelevant to the Healing Word vs. Cure Wounds discussion.</blockquote>

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