NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6821066" data-attributes="member: 37579">Absolutely. But are you better served using that 1st level slot to heal that 1d4+4 or is it more effective blasting the enemy, ending the combat, and stabilizing your friend via Medicine? Will the fight still be ongoing in 3 rounds?In some situations, yes, healing is good. Getting that rogue positioned beside the BBEG and ready for a sneak attack is probably a more effective use of a 1st level cleric or bard spell than another spell, especially if they're already concentrating on something. Provided the rogue acts before the BBEG and all its potential minions, and can hit with their attack. If the villains go first or the rogue misses then it's very easy to knock someone with 6 hitpoints back on their ass and negate all use of the spell. You might as well have spent your action and spell slot casting grease against a beholder. And that's the big catch. In 1e and 2e, healers (read: clerics) were essential for downtime reduction. At 5th level, it took the fighter a month of rest to get back to full. The cleric could knock that down to a couple days. In 3e it could take that same fighter 10 days to heal. But the cleric could bring them back after 2. And some healing after combat is handy to make up for some bad rolls and get ready for the next fight. In 5e you heal overnight, so that use of the cleric is gone. And you can spend hit dice, allowing you to top up between fights. So that use is also reduced. It's a pretty effective system where you don't really need a cleric or healer. In combat healing is nice, but it's not a primary role. It's a secondary role at best. Healing has become the equivalent of getting past a locked door. It's super handy to have a rogue or the wizard prepare knock. And it sucks when you come across a locked door and can't get passed, and it can really bring the adventure to a halt. But you really don't want to design a character solely around being a "lock picker". And being a "door cracker" is a pretty weak class feature to make essential to a class.</blockquote>

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