Healing creatures as a summoning option

[Dalebert]

I'm planning to add creatures to the Summon Monster list specifically for clerics that have healing abilities but aren't much use for combat (if at all).

The tricky part is making sure they aren't better at healing than the equivalent level of cleric healing spell for that spell level. It should always be more efficient to just cast a cure spell in terms of total hit points, obviously. The point of this would be the creature could do some healing of party members during combat on behalf of the caster so (s)he would be free to do other things.

So far I thought of a Celestial Dove that can cast Cure Minor Wounds 3/day at 1st level. This would mainly be useful for swooping in on a fallen party member and stabilizing them in the middle of a heated combat or to reach a party member that the cleric can't safely get to at that time. Perhaps at 2nd level, you could summon a creature with a 1/day Cure Light and maybe one or more Cure Minors as well.

I'm opening this thread up for suggestions for levels 1 through 9. The idea is to balance mobility and healing ability. For instance, a dove can obviously fly over enemies to reach a fallen tank.

[Dalebert]

If there are existing creatures that have healing abilities, they could be considered as well. Alternatively, new creatures could be speculated on. The point of this would be that these creatures are focused on healing allies by default and fighting enemies would be secondary or not a priority at all.

[Frathe]

A cuddly bear cub (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=270441).

[FreakyCheeseMan]

Actually...

So, my experience is pretty sparse, but from what I've heard, "Cure"s spells are woefully underpowered and ineffective on combat. Giving Clerics an out-and-out more powerful option for healing might not be a bad idea.

You might look at the "Healer" class, from... I want to say the Miniature's Handbook. They get a Unicorn as an animal companion; you might consider something similar, give Clerics access to a healing Familiar as an Alternate Class Feature.

One option you might consider is a creature through which clerics could cast healing spells, in the way that a wizard's familiar can be used to deliver touch spells. If nothing else, it might take some of the burden off of Clerics in terms of rushing to the wounded.

I would also call it fair to let a Cleric summon a creature or familiar that would be able to cast Cure spells as if they came from the Cleric- they'd still burn through the Cleric's Spells Per Day, but not use up their actions healing rather than more valuable activities (Like buffing, summoning or offensive spellcasting.)