Touch of Healing - How does it work?

[Hypersmurf]

We're level 12/13, so when our 181 HP tank gets to 21, this feat will be money saving as all hell

When your tank gets that low, your 13th level cleric casts Heal, right?

Heal will take him from 21 to 151 - only 30 hit points down. The reserve feat is saving you 30 hit points of healing - about a Cure Serious Wounds worth - because the cleric can cure him a bit 'for free' before casting Heal.

-Hyp.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

How I read it was that you could use the ability on any target with fewer than 1/2 their max hp and once the target reach 1/2 or more of their max hp it stopped working. This means that you will be able to use it to get the target to a fewer hp above their halfway point. It can also cause some interesting situations when the target has very low max and the caster has high level spells. For example, if a character was at 24 of 50 and a caster with access to 9th level spells were to use it on him. It would function since the target is below 1/2 max and would gain 27 hp. In this particular situation the target would end up being at full. Given this only really happens at the extreme cases and not a serious concern, since if you have a party member with 50 hp at level 17 you have more dire problems to worry about. Though I suppose a wizard with 10 con would have 55 hp at level 17 assume (1/2) +1 per level.

The way I read it (and how I plan to rule it as a player in my game is thinking of taking this feat) is that you can only heal people up to half HP's. So even if the spell gives them more hit points than half their total, the excess HP's are lost.

Example - The Fighter is at 39 out of 80 hit points. The Cleric has a 5th level Healing spell available. The Figher is healed up to 40 hit points, and not 54 hit points.

The other question I have with this feat is this:

Can a Cleric who is able to spontaneously convert prepared spells to cure spells able to use the Touch of Healing feat if he has spells prepared still available to cast, but none of them are Conjuration (Healing)? (i.e. he could convert one of his spells to Conjuration (Healing) if needed but doesn't have one prepared as such) I would say that he is able to use the feat, but I can see how some DM's might rule otherwise.

Olaf the Stout

 

[blargney the second]

And that's not overpowered?

Nope.

 

[Jack Simth]

The way I read it (and how I plan to rule it as a player in my game is thinking of taking this feat) is that you can only heal people up to half HP's. So even if the spell gives them more hit points than half their total, the excess HP's are lost.

Example - The Fighter is at 39 out of 80 hit points. The Cleric has a 5th level Healing spell available. The Figher is healed up to 40 hit points, and not 54 hit points.

The other question I have with this feat is this:

Can a Cleric who is able to spontaneously convert prepared spells to cure spells able to use the Touch of Healing feat if he has spells prepared still available to cast, but none of them are Conjuration (Healing)? (i.e. he could convert one of his spells to Conjuration (Healing) if needed but doesn't have one prepared as such) I would say that he is able to use the feat, but I can see how some DM's might rule otherwise.

Olaf the Stout

If you prepare spells, you need to have a matching spell actually prepared - it's in the Reserve Feat type description, not the description of the specific feat. If you don't prepare spells, you need to know one and have a free slot available of that level. At least, it's that way in the Complete Mage Reserve Feat type description (page 37). I'm not entirely sure how it works for a Sorcerer, Bard, or similar with Arcane Preparation, who does both.

A curious note is that this makes Heighten Spell potentially more useful for a prepared caster in regards to Reserve feats than it does to a spontaneous caster - with Invisible Needle, for instance, the Cleric-9 who doesn't have any 3rd, 4th, or 5th level Force spells (at least, not in the PHB spell list - I'm reasonably sure there's a 3rd, 4th, or 5th level Force spell out there for clerics somewhere....) can use a Heightened Spiritual Weapon to make a 3rd level Force Spell, where the Favored Soul-9 has to wait all the way until 12th level and take Blade Barrier as a spell known to do it with just the PHB spell list.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

We've been using Touch of Healing for several months now and it's been a very welcome addition to our game. Not broken at all.

What it's good for is saving healing resources. The great limiting factors are that, (a) it can't heal you above half; (b) it takes a standard action to use; and (c) it ties up a relatively high level spell.

In our game, the druid has been holding a 7th-lvl spell in reserve and healing 35 points (we house ruled it to 5 hp per level at the expense of only being able to use it on fellow PCs who are followers of the druid's faith) at a shot. It's proven invaluable. While it never proves decisive all on its own, it conserves healing resources for when they're really needed. The druid spends many rounds delaying to deliver a crucial healing boost when it's needed most.

I highly recommend the feat.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is stupid.
We had a dragon shaman in one game at, at the low-power levels, and half hit points going into an encounter was always 2 hits away from dead. Or one crit. It was like that from 1st to 5th, when the dragon shaman finally died.

 

[Nifft]

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is stupid.
We had a dragon shaman in one game at, at the low-power levels, and half hit points going into an encounter was always 2 hits away from dead. Or one crit. It was like that from 1st to 5th, when the dragon shaman finally died.

You tried to use a Dragon Shaman as your only source of healing?

-- N

 

[Jack Simth]

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is stupid.
We had a dragon shaman in one game at, at the low-power levels, and half hit points going into an encounter was always 2 hits away from dead. Or one crit. It was like that from 1st to 5th, when the dragon shaman finally died.

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is designed to supplement other types of healing - not to be your only source of it.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is designed to supplement other types of healing - not to be your only source of it.

I agree. The idea is to use the Dragon Shaman to heal everyone up to half and then use other forms of healing to get up to close to full HP's again.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Kmart Kommando]

The healing-up-to-half mechanic is designed to supplement other types of healing - not to be your only source of it.

We had a cleric too. But it was a large party and there wasn't enough spells to go around. At least, not for 4 encounters per day standard. Seems like anything over 2 encounters per day and someone bites it, sometimes even more than 1. And lowering the EL makes the bigger party walk all over everything. It's one of the reasons I run Iron Heroes instead. We have a smaller party for that game, though, and I'm still trying to dial in the EL.