Non-optimized cleric for NPC

[pbdr]

So, my group may suddenly be a player short in our campaign, bringing us to 3. I'm planning on keeping the character as an NPC for a couple sessions until the group is past the current planned encounters (a couple tough ones are in the works, and the missing body, would be, well, missed....)

We've been short a cleric type caster anyway, so I'm thinking if there is a decent way to NPC a non-optimized cleric for the campaign I might go that route.

Alternatives are of course not adding the NPC and that is how I'm leaning, but looking for opinions/options. I definitely want a "back-up" player if I NPC something. Is this ever a good idea?

[ArcturusV]

It's... well... not a "Bad" idea necessarily.

But it robs the characters of a good opportunity, if you catch my drift. Having to play around a lack of whatever they actually have isn't necessarily a crippling flaw. It just means things are harder. They have to rely on a different set of actions than they normally would.

If they're short a cleric that means they're down easy healing, buffing effects, divination effects, turning, etc. None of this is really critically important. A lack of healing means they have to be more cautious. They can't just count on a guy touching them after battle to top them off.

So players have to get more tactical. There's a bigger stress on stealth and scouting (Hello Rogue who is suddenly more relevant!), a lack of divination means that you have to find out stuff the old fashioned way. Talking to people (Hello Face character, now also more relevant!) or research (Hey guy with lots of Knowledge Ranks!). Or finding an NPC to help you figure out answers (Quest hooks!). A lack of Turning means that undead are suddenly a bigger threat, your players might have to form ties with a local temple for holy water (Plot hooks and Recurring NPCs!).

And so on.

So by not carrying your team by just giving them stuff, they have to learn to cope. Which can be very, very interesting.

[Azernak0]

If are are interested in Homebrew, I have been using a system of Healing Surges (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=245767) for sometime now. We've playtested it for about 2 years and it seems to work pretty decently.

In a nutshell:
Remove other Healing from the game.
Heals 1/4 of your HP every time you take a Surge Action.
Classes get a certain number of Healing Surge per day based on their archetype and either full or half their constitution modifier.
Move Action Surge costs 1 point.
Immediate Action Surge costs 2.
Every time a character uses a Surge Action in a combat, the cost goes up by 1.

Makes for intense moments in combats and means that Healing is the player's responsibility. Basically means that the players don't need a Healbot.

[SimonMoon6]

When you have wands of CLW, who needs clerics? :)