D&D (2024) Should healing word require hit dice?
Neonchameleon
Legend
And for all it's Spirit Guardians that does more damage it's Spiritual Weapon that's the part that actively blows the curve. Spirit Guardians takes two entire rounds to match the damage of a fireball spell and you have to pass all your concentration checks in that time. It's possibly slightly overtuned, especially with the defend action, but if so it needs just light tweaking. Spiritual weapon is a freebie that stacks with almost everything; it's just most noticeable with Spirit Guardians because that's the top of the cleric damage scale. (I do think that it's a nerf slightly too far and that Spiritual Weapon should auto-pass concentration checks even if it blocks other concentration spells).
Clint_L
Hero
Well, that strikes me as a design problem. We seem to have an all or nothing situation. A spell that consequential should not be available at level 1 as a ranged bonus action.
Okay, what if healing word was nerfed to just one point of healing, no bonuses possible for any reason. Just one single point, but still enough to get you back in the fight. Would that be enough of a nerf or is it still S tier?
I don't think it would make a difference, because if a monster can hit, it's probably going to do more damage than Healing Word heals now, and knock the player back down again.
My Opinion: Healing Word isn't the problem; it's the fact that the game is built on assumptions that make it the only good option to use.
I bet you could triple the healing of Cure Wounds and it wouldn't really matter much in combat. Unfortunately, the game isn't built around "hit points per combat", it's built around "hit points per day", which is the real culprit here.
In addition to your maximum hit point total, about half your Hit Dice can be basically added to your total (all of your Hit Dice in the playtest!). Then every bit of healing you receive is basically more staying power added to your character. But the cost of this healing is all over the place; maybe it's 2 sp 5 cp for 1d6+4+your total Hit Dice from a guy with the Healer Feat per short rest. Maybe it's 50 gp for 7 hit points per healing potion. Maybe it's a bonus to Hit Dice spent from Song of Rest. Maybe it's temps handed out by a Twilight Cleric. Or maybe you got a Fighter, and every short rest gives him a d10+Con mod hit points out of thin air.
Who knows? It varies wildly from group to group. But because the game goes "well, really, you have all this healing that doesn't come from spells, spell slot healing can't be good". And if spell slot healing isn't good, who is going to use it, if they have more effective spells to cast?
Neonchameleon
Legend
MarkB
Legend
How is this a fix, though? Even now, it doesn't heal enough damage to protect a target against being dropped again by even a single hit from most enemies, and this change would leave it still able to do the one thing that people tend to find objectionable about it - pulling someone who's unconscious back into the fight. In fact, this change pretty much guarantees that it will only ever be used for that purpose.
Neonchameleon
Legend
That it can do more than its one big thing is part of the problem. At present it's a bonus action spell that cures only 2hp less than Cure Wounds (at level 1) while being (a) a bonus action and (b) ranged. Healing Words is a great combat spell and a more than good enough out of combat first level healing spell.
If Healing Word were to just have the one job it would still be a worthwhile spell. And yes a single hit will drop the character, but that hit needs to be made and would put the character on two failed death saves. Or, if either the timing or the dice are right it means they are right back in the fight. The only hit point that matters is that last one
MarkB
Legend
Not quite. The only hit that matters is the last one. Whether you've been healed back up to 1 hit point or 5 makes no difference if the next hit deals 6 points of damage.
CreamCloud0
One day, I hope to actually play DnD.
how much better would healing word's balance be if it took a full action? or if it was kept the same but bumped up to a 2nd level spell?
i could imagine a nice balance between having three basic healing spells, greater cure wounds, swift cure wounds and healing word,
GCW being the current or maybe a slightly improved version of 5e's cure wounds,
SCW being a bonus action but having the recovery of healing word and being a touch spell,
HW having it's range but requiring a full action rather than a bonus one,
thus making you decide between which the three boons of potency, action economy or range you most wanted for your healing spell to have.
i could imagine a nice balance between having three basic healing spells, greater cure wounds, swift cure wounds and healing word,
GCW being the current or maybe a slightly improved version of 5e's cure wounds,
SCW being a bonus action but having the recovery of healing word and being a touch spell,
HW having it's range but requiring a full action rather than a bonus one,
thus making you decide between which the three boons of potency, action economy or range you most wanted for your healing spell to have.
Remathilis
Legend
I'll be fine with using a hit dice, if you make it a cantrip and not use spell slots anymore.
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