Items for the whole party

[Kazyan]

Our party just sold some loot and got 1500 gp each except for one of us--6000 total. The healbot Favored Soul wants everyone to pitch in for a Wand of Status to make healbotting more efficient, but I'm wondering if the Playground knows of some other items that can benefit the whole party and would be a better buy to improve survivability.

The party consists of an Archivist, Favored Soul/Ordained Champion, Binder, Ranger, and Half-Fey Scout. We are only very mildly optimized.

Maybe a spotting item for the Scout? We don't need a Wand of CLW as handy as it would be; two healbots take care of that.

We just sailed into a city where the Magic Mart sells items up to CL 6, so no higher than that for now.

[Keld Denar]

1500g is enough for everyone in the party to get 2 Healing Belts (MIC) each. That should be all of the healing you'll need for the next 6 levels or so. Out of combat, you use them 1 charge at a time and each belt can heal 6d6 damage per day.

That, or get 6 Healing Belts and 2x Wands of Lesser Vigor. Use the wands last to heal any major wounds. Each wand can heal up to 550 HP. That, on top of all of the belts should keep you at full HP any time you aren't actively fighting something.

[Kazyan]

Thanks, but we have two healbots. We're good on healing. Really. Although one Healing Belt for self-sufficiency might be nice, on the personal side of loot expenditure.

[Near]

I think the suggestion is that by getting the healing items, the healbots can do other things in combat (like contribute with buffs or damage) rather than being just healbots.

[ericgrau]

Shield other is great for healers for damage prevention. Even though the healer is damaged, if he's not on the front lines he can usually manage until the fight is over. It's better to pick it up as a spell known though, for range and duration. That way they can keep it up 24 hours and do something else once the fight begins.

Status won't provide any information to help with hp healing. It only tells the cleric which condition to remove. Which as a favored soul he may not even be able to do. You should first get the healbots a couple dozen scrolls of remove this and remove that. Not to learn, but to burn directly from the scrolls. You only need 1 or 2 of each for emergencies.

For wands there's lesser vigor or cure light wounds. Spamming a wand of augury is a lot of fun too, to keep the party out of trouble.

For general party survivability druid spells are great. You could get the archivist some druid scrolls to copy into his spellbook. Like sleet storm, stoneskin (plus around 2,000 gp in diamond dust), or other battlefield control options. In a large area you sleet storm half the foes and engage the other half while the first half muddles their way out of the storm. Party then takes much less damage.


I think the suggestion is that by getting the healing items, the healbots can do other things in combat (like contribute with buffs or damage) rather than being just healbots.
I know the optimizer theory, but when their damage or the buff recipients' damage is only mildly optimized, healbotting is a decent option. Might as well let it be, or suggest good "other things" besides buffs or damage. Or else ways to boost buffs/damage. But w/o DMM persist which might be too crazy for them, I dunno if there's anything that special for buffs/damage.

[Kazyan]

I think the suggestion is that by getting the healing items, the healbots can do other things in combat (like contribute with buffs or damage) rather than being just healbots.

The Favored Soul's entire build is based around being able to healbot at 100+ ft, and buffing when that's not necessary. The Archivist priorities are the same, but switched in order--he likes Elation, Bull's Strength, and Doom'ing the enemies.

ericgrau: Healbotting does indeed keep us alive. In our first combat, we got separated, and it was just my Binder and the Favored Soul for a while, the former bound to Focaler because she had to cross a river earlier. I would have been so dead without a stream of healing.

I'll consider buying the Archivist some spells to get on his good side. He looooves his spells, especially the obscure ones. Sleet Storm would really help.

Would a Wand of Grease, for when I'm bound to Karsus, be worthwhile? We're level 7-ish right now.