Monstrous Healers

[I'm A Banana]

You know what, I'm surprised I didn't notice it before, but I'm noticing it now...

There's an astonishing lack of monsters and NPC's with good healing and buffing abilities.

Almost disproportionately, no PC party is complete without their cleric.

So here's something I don't get. There's a lot of talk about how monster HP is a problem (especially with things like drow that get a CON penaly, or things like fey, with low HD). Why not solve this problem with the monster equivalent of a "cleric"?

I mean, monsters already fill most of the roles we find in a PC party. There's melee masters, ranged attackers, status-inflicters....where's our buff monsters? Where's the ones that increas OTHER monsters' effectiveness? Where's the monsters with raise dead or cure wounds or stoneskin?

And perhaps a better question, even though there definately are a few, why haven't we seen more of these? There's obviously a problem with some monsters not having survivability...why don't these monsters have or frequently ally with creatures that have the ability to extend their existence? If drow have low HP, why aren't the drow clerics healing and buffing AC and granting DR and using aid and energy resistance to increase their effectiveness?

Maybe I'm way off base....anyway, discuss. Why aren't there very many healing/buffing/defense-focused monsters out there? And what can we do with the ones that are?

 

[Agent Oracle]

The problem is that healing monsters can drasticly alter the percievable CR of an encounter.

Seriously, try adding a single level of cleric to an orc, and using it as the group healer in a CR 5 encounter. and instead of removing downed orcs, keep track of their negatives, and have the cleric orc run around reviving her downed brothers and sisters.

That's using it as a healer, not for the offensive clerical spells, and have wounded orcs fall back specificly to get healed.

Also, few monsters have any intent of being defensive, and little concern over recuperative abilities.

Though, if it helps, There's a variant Lich that works on divine magic...

Also, for drow clerics worship Lloth, Evil deity, so they can't just drop spells to do healing.

 

[Voadam]

Classed monsters fill this niche for the most part.

Some base monsters have significant SLAs that can also buff and heal, many outsiders have a bunch of SLAs in particular.

Other monsters self heal with fast healing or regeneration.

 

[The_Gneech]

There's also the factor of, it's annoying for players when monsters heal. Feels like the DM/game going "Neener, neener!" at 'em.

Still, an orc warband probably should have a cleric or two in there somewhere!

-The Gneech

 

[Shade]

There are also the combos that indirectly play the role of healers:

shocker lizards and flesh golem
fire elemantals and iron golem
deathbringer (MM2) and other undead

Or environment/creature combos that heal 'em:

negative energy areas and undead
mephits in areas that trigger their fast healing
iron golems in volcanoes

 

[Arnwyn]

If drow have low HP, why aren't the drow clerics healing and buffing AC and granting DR and using aid and energy resistance to increase their effectiveness?

Uh... don't they?

 

[smootrk]

I don't think that I ever create an encounter of a substantial group of humanoids without a member of their 'clergy' to motivate them. Even if simply using Adepts to simulate the 'tribal shaman', the change in player tactics is quite telling.

If you really want to shake things up with encounters of creatures, hit your players with a 'high priest' level monstrosity with his/her entire retinue of subordinate clergy, temple guards or monsterous guardians, and the faithful (including a variety of other classes). Clerical power coupled with the variations due to domains can create a wide variety of options.

 

[I'm A Banana]

The problem is that healing monsters can drasticly alter the percievable CR of an encounter.

So the statement that a cleric of level X is equal to a CR of X isn't true, then? (as much as CRs can be true and not just estimations anyway)

Also, for drow clerics worship Lloth, Evil deity, so they can't just drop spells to do healing.

True, but if I was an evil cleric and I saw how many healing spells were on my spell list, and knew how vulnerable my -2 CON troops are, I think I'd be rather tactically moronic to not pick them up, knowing how many of my compatriots have these abilities...heck, there's feats that allow evil people to eventually channel positive energy, so it's not an unknown quantity.

Classed monsters fill this niche for the most part.

4 monster manuals, 3 Tome of Horrors, a Denizens of Avadnu....how many cleric-classed (or, heck, even bard-classed or druid-classed!) monsters are there?

Some base monsters have significant SLAs that can also buff and heal, many outsiders have a bunch of SLAs in particular.

Other monsters self heal with fast healing or regeneration.

True, and this addresses a lot of the "low monster hp" problem (as does inherent DR)....

Is this just a quirk of the game, though? To replace a cleric with fast healing, regeneration, SLA's and DR?

Uh... don't they?

Quite possibly. I just recall some words about how low-hp monsters were something of a pain to work with, due to the fact that they couldn't survive PC's long enough to present much of a challenge. When the monsters are built with many of the same base mechanics as PC's, I started wondering how PC's meet this challenge, and noticing a pretty big lack of published monsters that do what PC partiess do -- heal.

 

[Voadam]

4 monster manuals, 3 Tome of Horrors, a Denizens of Avadnu....how many cleric-classed (or, heck, even bard-classed or druid-classed!) monsters are there?

Mummy lord!

 

[Vorput]

This whole thread raises a very good point...

Maybe monsters with healing abilities just aren't monstrous enough...

"In the middle of your fight with the fiendish minotaur, a giant shape bursts through the wall next to you, fragments of stone rain down, and from the rubble steps a hulking sickly green reptile, which stands on two legs and wields a glowing piece of metal in one hand... as it towers over you, sneering in contempt- it looks over at the minotaur and.... casts cure moderate wounds."


Vorp