Why Does The Term "Healbot" Ride Alone?

[Kaodi]

Why is there a derisive name for a character whose main contribution is keeping the party alive but not for other characters with one dimensional characters? Okay, I suppose "meatshield" exists too but I get the sense that it does not quite have the same tone to it. Why is there no "killdrone" or "stealbot" though? Why he implied disdain of the one who keeps you from having to roll a new character?

 

[Doug McCrae]

It may indicate a general preference for more aggressive roles, such as dealing damage.

 

[Morrus]

Generally, becasue it's considered less fun healing your allies than killing your foes.

 

[Bawylie]

We use diplomancer for the talky guy, too.

 

[John Dallman]

I think it's because they're (mis-)perceived as uninteresting to play. If you start playing in a small group, nobody wants to play a cleric, and there's an NPC that does nothing except heal, it's easy to get the idea that this is all that clerics do. Which is quite wrong, but could be a hard stereotype to shift.

Some of my favourite D&D characters have been clerics who mostly do healing, or healers of other kinds. Those have been Rory McLean character classes, which sprang from the ancient "Cure-All" class that I think was in The Strategic Review in the 1970s.

A healer's role gets exciting when a fight is on the verge of being lost. Being close behind the front rank, patching them up mid-fight while staying out of combat yourself is a tricky tactical exercise, and really teaches you about the combat system.

 

[Doug McCrae]

The fireball happy wizard who blows up their own party and the light-fingered thief who steals from the other PCs are recurring playstyles but it's strange there are no pejorative terms for them. "Kender" is only used for, well, kender.

 

[Doug McCrae]

We use diplomancer for the talky guy, too.

That doesn't have negative connotations tho.

 

[KossoWan_Kenobi]

It got popularized in MMOs in the days when healing your party consisted of (using EverQuest here):

1. Sit (Meditate)
2. Stand
3. Cast Complete Heal on %target
4. GoTo 1

It drifted back to the RPGs that inspired them - I don't think the term applies as much in TTRPGs - maybe in the MMOs some.

 

[Bawylie]

That doesn't have negative connotations tho.

FWIW I don’t see “meatshield” as implied disdain. Well, no more so than “jarhead,” “grunt,” or “squid.”

 

[MarkB]

The fireball happy wizard who blows up their own party and the light-fingered thief who steals from the other PCs are recurring playstyles but it's strange there are no pejorative terms for them. "Kender" is only used for, well, kender.

Those aren't problem characters, though - they're problem players. And there are plenty of prejorative terms for them.