Arcane Healer?

[rmnimoc]

I'm going to come right out and say it, I hate playing clerics or favored souls. I enjoy playing arcane casters. The main reason for that difference is probably the fact that playing a cleric means you are just playing with borrowed power and casting as a favored soul is like begging a creepy stalker for help. I enjoy arcane casters because I'm not dependent on some other being for power. I can bend the very fabric reality to my whims and I don't have to ask someone else for permission to do it.

Back on track though...
I prefer playing arcane casters to divine ones and I was wondering if there was an arcane casting class that could heal. Anyone know of one?

(Not Bards, Ur-Priests, or Archivists please)

[weckar]

There's a Sorcerer ACF that can give him spells drom a Domain instead of his normal choices per day. Healing domain would make him all the healer he needs to be.

[eggynack]

Arcane disciple can cover some decent ground in this fashion. I gotta ask though, what's wrong with bards, ur-priests, and archivists? They're pretty sweet.

[weckar]

ur-priests and archivists aren't actually arcane, bards are bards.

[eggynack]

ur-priests and archivists aren't actually arcane, bards are bards.
Bards are sweet though, and archivists and ur-priests aren't as much about running on borrowed power as clerics are.

[OldTrees1]

Step 1: Select your favorite Arcane caster. (Important. If it is not your favorite then this will not work. :smalltongue:)
Step 2: Take the Arcane Disciple feat. Select Renewal as your domain of choice. (For Restoration)
Step 3: Take the Touch of Healing feat.
Enjoy your unlimited healing and ability to handle ability damage and negative levels too.

[rmnimoc]

Arcane disciple can cover some decent ground in this fashion. I gotta ask though, what's wrong with bards, ur-priests, and archivists? They're pretty sweet.

ur-priests and archivists aren't actually arcane, bards are bards.
Reasons against those and why I mentioned them:
1. I'm willing to bet that if I didn't mention them, someone else would have. I'm just saving them the trouble.
2. Ur-Priests steal magic from the gods. I could see someone seeing them fitting into the flavor of what I'm asking for, but it isn't what I want.
3. Archivists. Same as the Ur-Priest, only without being a PrC.
4. Bards are awesome. Bards are fun to play(YMMV). Bards are great at: Buffing, adding all sorts of dice to random tasks, making knowledge checks so random and obscure you'd think they were in a Dan Brown book or Batman as Adam West, being a badass, being an idiot, pretending to be a real caster lower level than they are. Seriously, Bards are cool. Awesome as they are though, bards are like singing rogues with mediocre (up to sixth level) spellcasting.


There's a Sorcerer ACF that can give him spells drom a Domain instead of his normal choices per day. Healing domain would make him all the healer he needs to be.

Arcane disciple can cover some decent ground in this fashion.

Step 1: Select your favorite Arcane caster. (Important. If it is not your favorite then this will not work. )
Step 2: Take the Arcane Disciple feat. Select Renewal as your domain of choice. (For Restoration)
Step 3: Take the Touch of Healing feat.
Enjoy your unlimited healing and ability to handle ability damage and negative levels too.
I'll look into those.

[weckar]

Well, off-topic but honestly: I've run into Paladin-level problems with Bards more than I have with Paladins. Playing with a teammate who talks around every combat isn't fun when combat is what you do.

[A_S]

Arcane Disciple is cool, but suffers pretty badly from the "one per day per spell level" restriction. It'll get the spells on your list for wand healing, and once per day you can bust out a Heal when somebody really needs one, but most of the time when people say they want to "play a healer," they mean more than that. *edit* The Sorcerer Domain Access ACF has this same restriction.

Another option is Prestige Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm) tacked onto one of the full-list casters (Beguiler, Warmage, Dread Necromancer). It adds all the core Bard spells (and possibly non-core ones, at DM's discretion) to your list, which means for full-list casters you just learn all of them. That gets you the Cure X Wounds line, though not Heal.

A third possibility is to use negative energy healing. This requires that your party either be undead or take the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat, so it's definitely not for everybody. If your party does fit the bill, though, it can make a properly built Dread Necromancer a very strong healer.

-----

Here's a build I've had sitting around for a while, based on Beguiler>Prestige Bard, using War Weaver to heal multiple allies at once and apply as many rider effects as possible while healing them:

Human

Stats (32 point buy):
Str: 9
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 17
Wis: 16
Cha: 8

1 - Beguiler 1 - Versatile Spellcaster, Apprentice (entertainer)
2 - Human Paragon 1
3 - Human Paragon 2 - Arcane Disciple (healing), Combat Casting
4 - Beguiler 2 - Int 18
5 - Human Paragon 3
6 - Prestige Bard 1 - Enlarge Spell
7 - War Weaver 1
8 - War Weaver 2 - Int 19
9 - Cloistered Cleric 1 - Imbued Healing, (Domains: Healing, Luck, Knowledge)
10 - War Weaver 3
11 - War Weaver 4
12 - War Weaver 5 - Dodge, Wis 17
13 - Combat Medic 1
14 - Combat Medic 2
15 - Combat Medic 3 - Heighten Spell
16 - Combat Medic 4 - Wis 18
17 - Combat Medic 5
18 - Beguiler 3 - Rapid Metamagic
19 - Fatespinner 1
20 - Fatespinner 2 - Wis 19

The goals for this build were:
Be an extremely effective in-combat healer; good enough that healing doesn't feel like a waste of an action like it often does in D&D.
Provide as much additonal benefit as possible when healing, in the form of rider effects.
Be able to do something useful besides healing, but not something so useful that healing feels like a waste of time.
The build's schtick is to cast Cure X Wounds spells (gained via Prestige Bard), but...
Starting at level 7, each casting can affect a number of allies equal to your Int mod.
Starting at level 9, each ally you heal gains temporary HP equal to their HD.
Starting at level 12, these allies need not be in touch range.
From levels 13-17, you gain additional rider effects that are applied to each ally you heal, the best being the effect of the Aid spell at level 17.
Additional features:
9th level Beguiler spells via Practiced Spellcaster (plus extra spells from the Bard list).
When you really need massive single-target healing, and Cure Critical Wounds just won't do it, can cast Heal 4/day via Arcane Disciple, using Heighten Spell to circumvent the spell level restriction.
Has the class skills and skill points to be a fully functional skillmonkey/trap expert/scout if needed.

[rmnimoc]

Arcane Disciple is cool, but suffers pretty badly from the "one per day per spell level" restriction. It'll get the spells on your list for wand healing, and once per day you can bust out a Heal when somebody really needs one, but most of the time when people say they want to "play a healer," they mean more than that. *edit* The Sorcerer Domain Access ACF has this same restriction.

Another option is Prestige Bard (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/prestigiousCharacterClasses.htm) tacked onto one of the full-list casters (Beguiler, Warmage, Dread Necromancer). It adds all the core Bard spells (and possibly non-core ones, at DM's discretion) to your list, which means for full-list casters you just learn all of them. That gets you the Cure X Wounds line, though not Heal.

A third possibility is to use negative energy healing. This requires that your party either be undead or take the Tomb-Tainted Soul feat, so it's definitely not for everybody. If your party does fit the bill, though, it can make a properly built Dread Necromancer a very strong healer.

-----

Here's a build I've had sitting around for a while, based on Beguiler>Prestige Bard, using War Weaver to heal multiple allies at once and apply as many rider effects as possible while healing them:

Human

Stats (32 point buy):
Str: 9
Dex: 10
Con: 14
Int: 17
Wis: 16
Cha: 8

1 - Beguiler 1 - Versatile Spellcaster, Apprentice (entertainer)
2 - Human Paragon 1
3 - Human Paragon 2 - Arcane Disciple (healing), Combat Casting
4 - Beguiler 2 - Int 18
5 - Human Paragon 3
6 - Prestige Bard 1 - Enlarge Spell
7 - War Weaver 1
8 - War Weaver 2 - Int 19
9 - Cloistered Cleric 1 - Imbued Healing, (Domains: Healing, Luck, Knowledge)
10 - War Weaver 3
11 - War Weaver 4
12 - War Weaver 5 - Dodge, Wis 17
13 - Combat Medic 1
14 - Combat Medic 2
15 - Combat Medic 3 - Heighten Spell
16 - Combat Medic 4 - Wis 18
17 - Combat Medic 5
18 - Beguiler 3 - Rapid Metamagic
19 - Fatespinner 1
20 - Fatespinner 2 - Wis 19

The goals for this build were:
Be an extremely effective in-combat healer; good enough that healing doesn't feel like a waste of an action like it often does in D&D.
Provide as much additonal benefit as possible when healing, in the form of rider effects.
Be able to do something useful besides healing, but not something so useful that healing feels like a waste of time.
The build's schtick is to cast Cure X Wounds spells (gained via Prestige Bard), but...
Starting at level 7, each casting can affect a number of allies equal to your Int mod.
Starting at level 9, each ally you heal gains temporary HP equal to their HD.
Starting at level 12, these allies need not be in touch range.
From levels 13-17, you gain additional rider effects that are applied to each ally you heal, the best being the effect of the Aid spell at level 17.
Additional features:
9th level Beguiler spells via Practiced Spellcaster (plus extra spells from the Bard list).
When you really need massive single-target healing, and Cure Critical Wounds just won't do it, can cast Heal 4/day via Arcane Disciple, using Heighten Spell to circumvent the spell level restriction.
Has the class skills and skill points to be a fully functional skillmonkey/trap expert/scout if needed.

That is almost exactly what I was looking for. Thank you. I get all those nice spells & get to be a real caster.

[Callin]

If able the Generic Spellcaster is what you are looking for

[Grod_The_Giant]

I think you're going to have to find a way to get actual domain access. Hmmm... if you're OK with dropping a few caster levels, you could go Sovereign Speaker. You can technically qualify without divine casting, although you can't benefit from the spellcasting advancement, but each level nets you a domain. Better yet, it explicitly works for casters without domain slots. Take a level or two and grab Healing and Renewal and you should be fine. Apart from the lost CL's, but maybe you can talk your DM into letting it advance your arcane casting.

Prestige Bard or Paladin may or may not work, as they specify unique spells.

The Healer, while a crap class, doesn't actually depend on gods for his spells, if I remember correctly. Cast sanctified spells and dip into Sandshaper to get spells that don't relate to healing, and you should work out OK. (You can also make it back into Sovereign Speaker, if you want)

If you're OK with homebrew, I've got you covered (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=317823).

Or you could go Bard/Sublime Chord and stop being a 2/3 caster when it starts to get annoying.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder's Witch and (to a lesser extent) Alchemist are arcanists that can heal. Or more accurately, they're not divine.

If you don't mind psionics, the Vitalist and PF Egoist make good healers as well. The 3.5 Egoist and Ardent are less adept at this but they can work in a pinch using the right ACFs.

[Nihilarian]

The Combat Medic PrC let's you lose a 6th level prepared spell or spell slot to cast heal, even if it's not on your spell list. You need CLW to get in but it's not restricted to divine casters.

[Story]

An Anima Mage binding Beur can heal HP damage. Still can't heal ability damage though.

Also, there's the classic Rainbow Warsnake if you don't mind waiting until level 16 to actually get your healing spells.

The real question though is why you want to heal? It's usually much more easily covered by items and summons.


Polymorph is technically a healing spell, though it's a really inefficient one. You'd probably want to combo it with Bitterleaf Ointment if you're using it to heal.

[Arc_knight25]

I know its not all that useful, but Warmage into Rainbow Servant gets you all Cleric spells on your spell list at Rainbow Servant lvl 10. So it will come online around lvl 16 or so. Like I said not the greatest.

Also Warmage into Prestige Bard will get the Bard spells onto your spell list. It turns on around lvl 7-8

[Sian]

make the other people in your party into constructs and get the repair line in Spell Compendium (only up to Serious damage through)

[OldTrees1]

Arcane Disciple is cool, but suffers pretty badly from the "one per day per spell level" restriction. It'll get the spells on your list for wand healing, and once per day you can bust out a Heal when somebody really needs one, but most of the time when people say they want to "play a healer," they mean more than that. *edit* The Sorcerer Domain Access ACF has this same restriction.


You are forgetting the Touch of Healing reserve feat. Seriously, a dedicated healer should not devote more than 1 spell slot per day to healing since the Touch of Healing feat is unlimited healing.

[SinsI]

I prefer playing arcane casters to divine ones and I was wondering if there was an arcane casting class that could heal. Anyone know of one?
Wish and Limited Wish can heal.

[Mongrel]

Just to throw it out there, if your main beef with divine magic is flavor (that you are stealing or borrowing another being's power), there is an alternate flavor given for a cleric: you can worship an ideal rather than a god. Not entirely sure where your power comes from if you do this, but your character certainly isn't begging another entity for it, not is it implied that they are stealing it. Fairly certain this is officially sanctioned; I read it in a supplement book somewhere down the line.

[SiuiS]

Play a sorcerer.

Sorcerer has text in its spell aquisition rules for handling getting spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list or spells they are familiar with. A sorcerer familiar with healing magics can learn them.

[nedz]

The Combat Medic PrC let's you lose a 6th level prepared spell or spell slot to cast heal, even if it's not on your spell list. You need CLW to get in but it's not restricted to divine casters.

this, use Arcane Disciple (Healing) to qualify.

[Grod_The_Giant]

You are forgetting the Touch of Healing reserve feat. Seriously, a dedicated healer should not devote more than 1 spell slot per day to healing since the Touch of Healing feat is unlimited healing.
Only up to half health, though.

Generally on a healer, you need the ability to use wands of Lesser Vigor or CLW, scrolls of Restoration and the like, and the ability to throw out a handful of top-level Cure or Heal spells for in-combat emergencies.

[Doc_Maynot]

Play a sorcerer.

Sorcerer has text in its spell aquisition rules for handling getting spells from the sorcerer/wizard spell list or spells they are familiar with. A sorcerer familiar with healing magics can learn them.

Also this: (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#sorcerersAndBards)

Adding Spells to a Sorcerer’s or Bard’s Repertoire
A sorcerer or bard gains spells each time he attains a new level in his class and never gains spells any other way. When your sorcerer or bard gains a new level, consult Table: The Bard or Table: Sorcerer Spells Known to learn how many spells from the appropriate spell list he now knows. With permission, sorcerers and bards can also select the spells they gain from new and unusual spells that they have gained some understanding of.

Also there is the Knight of the Weave PrC from Champions of Valor

[Vhaidara]

Talk your party into running all warforged. Mending and Repair spells all day. Also, only casters need to rest.

[SiuiS]

Also this: (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/arcaneSpells.htm#sorcerersAndBards)

Adding Spells to a Sorcerer’s or Bard’s Repertoire
A sorcerer or bard gains spells each time he attains a new level in his class and never gains spells any other way. When your sorcerer or bard gains a new level, consult Table: The Bard or Table: Sorcerer Spells Known to learn how many spells from the appropriate spell list he now knows. With permission, sorcerers and bards can also select the spells they gain from new and unusual spells that they have gained some understanding of.

Also there is the Knight of the Weave PrC from Champions of Valor

Huh. Bards too, eh? Neat. Silly SRD. I always went for PHB stuffs.

[OldTrees1]

Only up to half health, though.

Generally on a healer, you need the ability to use wands of Lesser Vigor or CLW, scrolls of Restoration and the like, and the ability to throw out a handful of top-level Cure or Heal spells for in-combat emergencies.

Arcane Disciple(Renewal) gets the Restoration
Touch of Healing only heals up to half health but often that is enough to replace the wands of Lesser Vigor.

I have not had in-combat emergencies so I cannot comment to that effect.

[Zaq]

Yeah, are you looking to be slinging around in-combat heals, or are you okay with just refreshing everyone out of combat? One of these is much, much easier to do than the other. Given that it takes a hell of a lot of juice to get in-combat heals to be worth the actions anyway, even for a Cleric or another "traditional" healer (you basically need the actual Heal spell), it might be easier to just work on topping off once the dust has settled.

So are you just trying to keep your party in tip-top shape at the start of each encounter, or are you specifically planning on wasting your turns and prolonging combats healing mid-battle?

[Tsuzurao]

Just to throw it out there, if your main beef with divine magic is flavor (that you are stealing or borrowing another being's power), there is an alternate flavor given for a cleric: you can worship an ideal rather than a god. Not entirely sure where your power comes from if you do this, but your character certainly isn't begging another entity for it, not is it implied that they are stealing it. Fairly certain this is officially sanctioned; I read it in a supplement book somewhere down the line.

There's also the route used among the Blood of Vol religion of Eberron, where the followers of the religion (divine casters included), rather than worship any deity, draw on the inner spark of divinity within their own selves. As one of their common mantras goes...

Look not to the skies, nor the depths below, nor even the distant past or future. Seek the divine within, for the blood is the life, and in its call can be heard the promise of eternal life. One has but to listen.

Even if you aren't playing in the Eberron setting, it wouldn't be too much of a reach to make such a concept the source of a particular divine caster's power.

[re_e]

I'm going to come right out and say it, I hate playing clerics or favored souls. I enjoy playing arcane casters. The main reason for that difference is probably the fact that playing a cleric means you are just playing with borrowed power and casting as a favored soul is like begging a creepy stalker for help. I enjoy arcane casters because I'm not dependent on some other being for power. I can bend the very fabric reality to my whims and I don't have to ask someone else for permission to do it.

Back on track though...
I prefer playing arcane casters to divine ones and I was wondering if there was an arcane casting class that could heal. Anyone know of one?

(Not Bards, Ur-Priests, or Archivists please)

Deities and Demigods says that is the skill, training, and dedication that make possible cast divine spells. Deities are optional.


Just to throw it out there, if your main beef with divine magic is flavor (that you are stealing or borrowing another being's power), there is an alternate flavor given for a cleric: you can worship an ideal rather than a god. Not entirely sure where your power comes from if you do this, but your character certainly isn't begging another entity for it, not is it implied that they are stealing it. Fairly certain this is officially sanctioned; I read it in a supplement book somewhere down the line.

Generally, the power of a ideal/philosophy comes from the belief that mortals invest in it.

The better is make a cleric of a force. A cleric dedicated to the force of magic, he believe so much in magic that can cast spells. Or better, a cleric dedicated to the power of friendship (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThePowerOfFriendship)...

[nedz]

Arcane Disciple does require a patron deity though — so the domains you choose must be those offered by a single god.

[weckar]

It's almost a shame that Energy Substitution doesn't work with Positive Energy, although the flavor of the feat implies that it should....

[Grod_The_Giant]

Touch of Healing only heals up to half health but often that is enough to replace the wands of Lesser Vigor.
Not even slightly. Usually, you end the fight around half health, in my experience. (Buer, on the other hand, absolutely can replace your wand)

[OldTrees1]

Not even slightly. Usually, you end the fight around half health, in my experience. (Buer, on the other hand, absolutely can replace your wand)

If you started a combat with full health and end at slightly more than half health, there is no need to heal before the next fight.

Buer is a more potent (cures full health) and more expensive option (takes a larger fraction of your char creation resources).

[drack]

Step 3: Take the Touch of Healing feat.
Enjoy your unlimited healing and ability to handle ability damage and negative levels too.
This with healing sting (spell compendium), or the same spell with something like Arcane Toughness (http://dndtools.eu/feats/players-handbook-ii--80/arcane-toughness--105/), or divine companion variant in complete champion that trades out familiar for something that can turn your spells into... I forget if it's self heal only or if it can heal others. Anywho these are for sorc/wizard to keep it classic. :smallwink:

[A_S]

A little late to the party on this response, but...

You are forgetting the Touch of Healing reserve feat. Seriously, a dedicated healer should not devote more than 1 spell slot per day to healing since the Touch of Healing feat is unlimited healing.
I'm not forgetting it, I just don't think it's very good. Between its "up to half health" limit, its relatively low healing-per-action efficiency, and its inability to affect multiple targets or carry rider effects (because it's not a spell), Touch of Healing makes for terrible in-combat healing.

That leaves it for out-of-combat healing, but wands of CLW/Lesser Vigor/Faith Healing are so cheap that blowing an entire feat for infinite (but still limited to half health) out-of-combat healing seems to me like it's almost always going to be a terrible idea.

Plus, when people say they want to play a "healer" (or, as you put it, a dedicated healer), they usually mean in-combat healing. Which means they absolutely should blow multiple spell slots on healing spells, because spells are the only way to be at all action-efficient when healing (wands or Touch of Healing are resource-efficient, but very action-inefficient). If they wanted to play a guy who just happens to carry around a couple wands of Lesser Vigor, they'd say "I want to play a Bard/Sublime Chord-based gish, oh and BTW I'll also be healing for the party between fights" or something like that.

[OldTrees1]

Plus, when people say they want to play a "healer" (or, as you put it, a dedicated healer), they usually mean in-combat healing.

Ah. I am used to healers doing healing when it is efficient (aka out of combat).

[A_S]

Ah. I am used to healers doing healing when it is efficient (aka out of combat).
I mean, you'll get no argument out of me that healing out of combat and then spending your actions in combat making something dead is generally a better choice in 3.5 than in-combat healing is. I just wouldn't normally describe a build that does that as a healer.

[Maginomicon]

There's a Sorcerer ACF that can give him spells drom a Domain instead of his normal choices per day. Healing domain would make him all the healer he needs to be.

There's also a sorcerer feat that does that: Divine Sorcery (Dragon Magazine #343 page 88).

[OldTrees1]

I mean, you'll get no argument out of me that healing out of combat and then spending your actions in combat making something dead is generally a better choice in 3.5 than in-combat healing is. I just wouldn't normally describe a build that does that as a healer.

I guess I am using "healer" as I would use "biker" or "roleplayer" (one of the primary things the character does) rather than using it like I would use "Doctor" or "Physicist" (a singular thing that defines the character).



Is there a way to get Delay Death as an arcane spell multiple times per day?

[Ruethgar]

I would suggest the sorcerer as others have for the allowance of any familiar spell. It may be noted that technically domain sorcerers become divine and arcane casters at 5th level. It may also be mentioned that Eldritch Disciple can heal, though a little tricky to get into without a divine caster it is doable.

Edit: Oh! OldTress just reminded me. You could be a Ravenloft doctor or scientist using Create Device to heal people instead of spells.