Elder-Basilisk
First Post
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Lesser Vigor is not clearly and obviously better than cure light wounds.
As a spell, preparing a vigor spell puts good clerics in the shoes of evil clerics. They have to choose to prepare it ahead of time which results in a significant decrease in their flexibility--especially since the vigor line of spells are totally insufficient for combat healing. If you need a healing spell in D&D past third level, odds are good you need to get more than two hit points THIS ROUND. So, not only does the vigor spell require that it be prepped thus reducing the cleric's non-healing versatility, it also competes with other spells for being burned for a cure spell during combat.
Vigor spells also don't benefit from Augment Healing (IMO) since they don't actually cure damage but rather grant an ability for a short time.
In wand form, Lesser Vigor is clearly better than cure light wounds for non-time sensitive after combat healing. The party gets ambushed in the middle of a long trip, they defeat the ambushers and don't have anything to do immediately except continue the trip. In that event, Lesser Vigor is clearly better. OTOH, if the party kicks in the door to the temple with Bless, Shield, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Shield of Faith and Protection From Evil running, faces a massive fight with an army of gnolls and undead and then proceeds to heal before moving into the next room or facing the reinforcements, a wand of cure light wounds is far better. At level 4 or so, the party is likely to have to cure a couple members of 20-25 hit points of damage. They can wait 2.5 minutes and use 5 charges from their wand of lesser vigor (in which case, they've probably only got 6 rounds or so left on their buff spells) or they can wait about 1 minute and use 8-9 charges off the wand of CLW. In the latter case, they are probably healed by the time reinforcements arrive and can go through one or two more battles before their buffs wear off. In the former case, their buffs will only be helpful if the enemy reinforcements jump them, and in that case, they probably won't be fully healed yet.
In any event, the curing power of the wand of Lesser Vigor is at best twice that of the wand of CLW. Since they are wands, the only difference other than the time it takes to heal and who can use them (paladins, bards, and rangers can't use wands of lesser vigor, nor can Holy Liberators, Pious Templars, etc--another significant factor) is the amount of money it costs to get healed. Assuming that the party doesn't do ALL of their healing via wands but only uses wands to heal when they are out of spells or reasonably expect to need their spells in a future encounter, my experience indicates that a party might go through one wand of CLW between 4th and 6th level. It might go through one per level between level 7 and level 8 and maybe two per level until level 12. So, assuming that the party uses twice as many CLW wands as lesser vigor wands, the switch saves them...[drumroll please] at most 1125gp each over the span of 8 levels. That's significant to be sure but it's hardly likely to break the game. At worst, you're likely talking a first level pearl of power for each spellcaster and a potion of fly and lesser restoration for the non-spellcasters. Noticable? Yes. Worth doing? Yes. Worth a DM worrying about? Heck no.
As a spell, preparing a vigor spell puts good clerics in the shoes of evil clerics. They have to choose to prepare it ahead of time which results in a significant decrease in their flexibility--especially since the vigor line of spells are totally insufficient for combat healing. If you need a healing spell in D&D past third level, odds are good you need to get more than two hit points THIS ROUND. So, not only does the vigor spell require that it be prepped thus reducing the cleric's non-healing versatility, it also competes with other spells for being burned for a cure spell during combat.
Vigor spells also don't benefit from Augment Healing (IMO) since they don't actually cure damage but rather grant an ability for a short time.
In wand form, Lesser Vigor is clearly better than cure light wounds for non-time sensitive after combat healing. The party gets ambushed in the middle of a long trip, they defeat the ambushers and don't have anything to do immediately except continue the trip. In that event, Lesser Vigor is clearly better. OTOH, if the party kicks in the door to the temple with Bless, Shield, Enlarge Person, Expeditious Retreat, Shield of Faith and Protection From Evil running, faces a massive fight with an army of gnolls and undead and then proceeds to heal before moving into the next room or facing the reinforcements, a wand of cure light wounds is far better. At level 4 or so, the party is likely to have to cure a couple members of 20-25 hit points of damage. They can wait 2.5 minutes and use 5 charges from their wand of lesser vigor (in which case, they've probably only got 6 rounds or so left on their buff spells) or they can wait about 1 minute and use 8-9 charges off the wand of CLW. In the latter case, they are probably healed by the time reinforcements arrive and can go through one or two more battles before their buffs wear off. In the former case, their buffs will only be helpful if the enemy reinforcements jump them, and in that case, they probably won't be fully healed yet.
In any event, the curing power of the wand of Lesser Vigor is at best twice that of the wand of CLW. Since they are wands, the only difference other than the time it takes to heal and who can use them (paladins, bards, and rangers can't use wands of lesser vigor, nor can Holy Liberators, Pious Templars, etc--another significant factor) is the amount of money it costs to get healed. Assuming that the party doesn't do ALL of their healing via wands but only uses wands to heal when they are out of spells or reasonably expect to need their spells in a future encounter, my experience indicates that a party might go through one wand of CLW between 4th and 6th level. It might go through one per level between level 7 and level 8 and maybe two per level until level 12. So, assuming that the party uses twice as many CLW wands as lesser vigor wands, the switch saves them...[drumroll please] at most 1125gp each over the span of 8 levels. That's significant to be sure but it's hardly likely to break the game. At worst, you're likely talking a first level pearl of power for each spellcaster and a potion of fly and lesser restoration for the non-spellcasters. Noticable? Yes. Worth doing? Yes. Worth a DM worrying about? Heck no.
Old Gumphrey said:
