The party's cleric *won't* heal your character?!

[genshou]

The point is that the PCs are a team. If your team cannot be effective without an in-battle healer, the Cleric is just being a jerk. But there are ways to work effectively as a team with a meatshield/buffer Cleric.

All you have to do is work together long enough to understand how to be a team. Adventurers spend enough time together that they don't have any excuses for not working together.

One final thought: Co-adventurers are like roommates. If you don't like them, you get new ones.

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I want to play a martial cleric in your game. I make a cleric that acts mostly like a fighter, kicking ass, and also blasts the enemy with his spells. He uses spells for that, and not healing. So you boot that character. Okay, now I make a fighter instead and kick ass just as with the cleric. That should be ok, right, I'm just playing a fighter?

You're still out of healing spells. How's that make sense?

It might be just me, but I think you missed the point of my post 100%, or maybe 110%

Remind me why the party would take a fighter when they need a cleric?

 

[EyeontheMountain]

I have nothing against non-traditional roles for classes - I am currently playing a bard who acts like a cleric in an Eberron campaign. But the "I'll play what I want and the party will take it and smile" attitude is a problem for me.

Amen. Exactly my point from my post. I really try to empower the PCs when seeking new players. They areh ones who are looking after all, not the DM behind the screen.

And if the player is going to be obstinate, find another player. Perhaps I should note I play PBEMs so finding a new player is much easier, and the need to put up with a troublesome player much less. In a face-to-face game I would be much slower (if I did it at all) to show someone the door.


Numion, I am afraid you would not last long in one of my PBEMS

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

In 3e healing should not be a problem.

Dip a single level of Cleric, Druid, Bard, Paladin, or Ranger, or be a Rogue with lots of UMD and you can use Wands of CLW to heal up the party.

It is perfectly plausible to play a party that never heals during combat, or every PC carries a couple emergence potions of Cure Moderate and that is it. This can be inconvenient. It may be suboptimal. But lack of in combat healing can be made up for by a tenacious & deadly offense. Once you hit ~5th level you can afford to burn the cash on the wands.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Remind me why the party would take a fighter when they need a cleric?

What happens in the situation where nobody wants to play the cleric?

Start of a new campaign, three players call 'dibs' on tank, arcane caster, and rogue. Fourth player, that little bit slow off the mark, complains that he had to play the cleric in the last party, and he wants to play an archer, or a monk, or a psychic warrior.

Is someone forced into the cleric role?

-Hyp.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Right. Because all non-healing clerics adventure with jerks. This is a strawman.

Actually I am sure that such Clerics do adventure with jerks...because those made of the stuff of would be great heroes will not suffer their company.

I can understand that a Cleric may rightly refuse to play party medic during combat because his character focus lies elsewhere. But if he is going to not heal outside of combat for roleplaying reason, it better be for reasons that do not appear trivial to the rest of the party if that Cleric wants to ever sleep at night and see the morning...

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

Start of a new campaign, three players call 'dibs' on tank, arcane caster, and rogue. Fourth player, that little bit slow off the mark, complains that he had to play the cleric in the last party, and he wants to play an archer, or a monk, or a psychic warrior.

Is someone forced into the cleric role?

That might well be realistic.

Is it too much to ask someone to take a level of, say, Ranger in order to use a Wand of CLW?

 

[EyeontheMountain]

What happens in the situation where nobody wants to play the cleric?

Start of a new campaign, three players call 'dibs' on tank, arcane caster, and rogue. Fourth player, that little bit slow off the mark, complains that he had to play the cleric in the last party, and he wants to play an archer, or a monk, or a psychic warrior.

Is someone forced into the cleric role?

-Hyp.

Reread my caveat about playing PBEMS. For a PBEM, just keep looking for a player until you find someone willing to play one. There lots out there. For face-to-face I would be more flexible, perhaps handing out CLW wands frequently. Or NPCing a healing potion.

But that doesn't really cover the core point to me, that the waythe D&D rules work, you WILL get hit, you WILL take damage and you WILL need healing.

AC does not keep up with BAB, except under extreme circumstances, spells generally do half or full, not full or none and natural healing rates are a joke. So some method of healing is necessary, and the most efective, cost eficient method is a cleric in the party. I don't see anything lower than that bottom line.

You can play around with other options, but they are sub-optimal.

 

[Greg K]

What happens in the situation where nobody wants to play the cleric?

Start of a new campaign, three players call 'dibs' on tank, arcane caster, and rogue. Fourth player, that little bit slow off the mark, complains that he had to play the cleric in the last party, and he wants to play an archer, or a monk, or a psychic warrior.

Is someone forced into the cleric role?

-Hyp.

Not unless, the DM forces someone into the role. When I DM, I don't force anyone into the role. My suggestions:

1. Give the party an opportunity to hire a cleric or to have a cleric join the party
2. Tailor your adventures around the party make-up
3. Have temples with healing available

 

[Greylock]

Parties can be just fine without a Cleric. Been in three campaigns in the last almost four years. Two of them had no Cleric (one had a Druid who didn't memorise Healing spells until the day after a battle). The other two games are still running. In one, I play the Cleric, and I play it as I stated earlier in this thread. The last, and newest game? We are getting by just fine with a Rogue, two Wizards, a Sorceror, two Rangers and a Barbarian.

Question for those in this thread who are trying to dictate how a Cleric should be played:

Do you like it when the other players demand that you play your character a certain way? THEIR way?