Will the Cleric still be an absolute requirement for a party?

[Pygon]

I'm hoping that a lesser healer type can expend all their per-encounter and daily resources keeping people alive if need be. That way in the harder fights, they can turn their attention to the critical matters while the damage dealers do their thing.

Sounds a lot like an MMORPG, I know, but I think the concept works well for tabletop. I mean, if you're in a rough encounter, you'll need to heal a lot.

A full blown cleric might be able to focus less on healing because their abilities are more powerful, allowing them to occasionally assist in damage dealing.

I wonder if druids will be able to raise dead instead of Reincarnate. Who wants to risk becoming a bugbear, anyway? (actually, a bugbear gets some nice bonus stats. But still...)

 

[Rechan]

Why does someone have to play a cleric? Is it just for Restoration?

Heh. My party had no cleric. I think first session of the game, one of the PCs is stung by an imp, knocked down about 4 points of Dex, had to pay for 2 castings of Lesser Restoration. That would have been 60gp a pop, had the DM not hand waved the price due to some plot wiggling.

I'm sure the necessity of a cleric only increases with levels.

 

[DaveMage]

Rogue + high Charisma + maxed Use Magic Device + buying healing potions = no need for cleric.

(But they help. )

 

[CleverNickName]

As long as there is combat, there will be a need for a field medic/healer. Just like there will always be a need to pick locks and disable traps. I, for one, like the idea of having different roles in the party, and I like how each role is just as important as the others.

The classic party formula of 1 cleric, 1 rogue, 1 fighter, and 1 mage is fine by me. I would file this under "not broken, don't fix."

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

Of all the games Ive run in 3e and 3.5 I have only had 2 clerics ever. I dont think that any class is a must, thought it makes the job easier. Any party with enough creativity can do just about anything. Especially if there are no rules for it.

 

[Branduil]

As long as there is combat, there will be a need for a field medic/healer. Just like there will always be a need to pick locks and disable traps. I, for one, like the idea of having different roles in the party, and I like how each role is just as important as the others.

The classic party formula of 1 cleric, 1 rogue, 1 fighter, and 1 mage is fine by me. I would file this under "not broken, don't fix."

Why should the Cleric be the only class that can heal properly?

Fighters aren't the only class that can defend, Rogues aren't the only class that can sneak, and Wizards aren't the only class that can cast arcane spells.

 

[Rechan]

As long as there is combat, there will be a need for a field medic/healer. Just like there will always be a need to pick locks and disable traps. I, for one, like the idea of having different roles in the party, and I like how each role is just as important as the others.

Hold on now.

The Roles are established for combat. Do we know if the skills are spread around the same way?

I acknowledge that locks must be picked and traps must be disarmed, but since Rangers and Rogues are being lumped in the "Striker" role, does this mean that Rangers will also be able to disarm traps and open doors?

Also, due to the way that Traps are being handled (like monsters), this also might allow traps to be handled by the entire party. That swinging pendulum blade might be taken out by the fighter chopping it apart. The gas trap might be handled by the mage summoning a wind to blow the gas away, or creating a platform to cross the pit.

 

[CleverNickName]

Hold on now.

Sorry, let me explain...I was talking about party roles, not character classes. I like the idea of there being a designated "cleric" role, someone who is better at fixing damage than anyone else, whether it is called a cleric, medic, healer, priest, or doctor. I didn't mean to imply that there should always be a cleric class in a party.

Roles are good, no matter how many classes they find to fill them. That's all I'm sayin'.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

the druid kindof sucks at healing stat damage, but one they hit level 7, they are healing monsters. All they need to do is spontaneously cast summon natures ally 4, and summon a unicorn, who in turn can remove poison, and cast 3x1d8+5 and 1x2d8+5.

 

[Gloombunny]

the druid kindof sucks at healing stat damage, but one they hit level 7, they are healing monsters. All they need to do is spontaneously cast summon natures ally 4, and summon a unicorn, who in turn can remove poison, and cast 3x1d8+5 and 1x2d8+5.

For healing hitpoints out of combat, you can always just have the rogue UMD a wand of cure light wounds. That part isn't what clerics are uniquely competent at.