combat medic. is it a good prestige class?

[sideswipe]

hello playground,
i have been flicking through the books and i came back across combat medic (heroes of battle).
i personally think it looks like a good prestige class for a cleric. it fully progresses your casting, you gain a couple of nice class features that are combat related and the ability to add another small spell effect on top of your healing spells (sanctuary looked like a nice add on).

as well as this you gain the ability to spontaneously convert lvl 6 spells slots and higher for the spell heal. normal clerics cannot get that, as it explicitly states only spells with cure in the name. this alone made the class stand out to me.

i know in very high OP healing is very sub par. but in low and mid OP it is still a very good route to take. especially the spell Heal.

am i missing something? or does it not get enough love as a class?

[Techwarrior]

The thing is, if you really want spontaneous access to the Heal spell, you don't want a 5 level PrC for it. Even discounting the crappy prerequisites, you can get spontaneous Heal by using the Spontaneous Domain ACF on the Healing Domain. You trade the granted power (meh) and the ability to spontaneously cast Cure X to able to spontaneously cast your Healing Domain spells, which is most of the Cure X spells, Regenerate, Heal, and Mass Heal.

The other granted abilities of the class are relatively boring and meh, and not even worth the 2 feats, and 8 ranks of Heal to get in.

Where this class shines is on classes that get access to Cure Light Wounds, but are not Clerics.

[sideswipe]

Where this class shines is on classes that get access to Cure Light Wounds, but are not Clerics.

for example bard? as it does not say divine only?

[Karnith]

I don't see anything too great about the class on its own, but it does sort of ease qualification for the always absurd Spelldancer PrC (since they share some pre-reqs and CM grants you an additional pre-req feat), so I guess that's something it has going for it.

[Pluto!]

Divine Oracle does Evasion better, and the Combat Casting prerequisite means that it doesn't actually save a feat slot for things that require Mobility, so I'm not really seeing it with a place in CharGen theorycraft.

That said, it's not really weaker than straight Cleric (the prerequisites are at least shared with some useful feats, and it at least has class features), so it's still 100% playable. It just doesn't offer much of anything for MinMaxing.

[sideswipe]

Divine Oracle does Evasion better, and the Combat Casting prerequisite means that it doesn't actually save a feat slot for things that require Mobility, so I'm not really seeing it with a place in CharGen theorycraft.

That said, it's not really weaker than straight Cleric (the prerequisites are at least shared with some useful feats, and it at least has class features), so it's still 100% playable. It just doesn't offer much of anything for MinMaxing.

this is what i was expecting the responses to be like.
"its not bad, infact it has some nice bonuses. but there are better Optimising options".

i understand there are classes that blow this out the water but compared to just cleric you would be trading a few levels of turning undead for evasion and a few other nice tricks. i think its worth it unless you are specialising in undead.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

Compare Combat Medic to another healing-centric class, the Radiant Servant of Pelor.

Prerequisites
RSoP: A feat you were probably going to take anyway, a domain you probably weren't, and a few skill points.
CM: Two feats you probably weren't going to take, and more skill points.
Point to RSoP.

Healing
RSoP: Empowers/Maximizes healing spells. Depending on your reading of empower, can make cures actually significant in combat.
CM: Makes it easier to cast... cures... in combat. Makes them significant by adding a kicker!
Under a conservative reading of empower, point to CM.

Other Benefits
RSoP: You rock undead in various ways, and you get a bonus domain! Also you buff party will saves, your light spells are better, and you're immune to disease.
CM: Evasion, and... defensive casting bonuses, which become irrelevant around level 7. And mobility?
Point to RSoP.

Verdict: If you really, really want to be an in-combat healer... take RSoP. If that, and you don't want to worship a sun god... Combat Medic won't gimp you.

[Khedrac]

If you have a player playing a healing cleric/whatever who is getting a bit bored, it can actually be great fun for them to go into.

Why? - because of the level 1 Healing Kicker ability - Sanctuary.

Yes Sanctuary is not normally a great spell, but that's partially because the DC is 11 + wisdom modifier - this kicker is 15 + CM level + wisdom modifier - which means it will get failed a lot more.
Against multiple opponents just dropping a Insignia of Healing or a Mas Cure Light with this kicker can totally mess up their attacks as half of them find they cannot hit the first character they target (and often the second). Yes timing matters - if you can cast it after the party has acted and before the enemy it helps, but it can really frustrate opponents.

[sideswipe]

Other Benefits
RSoP: You rock undead in various ways, and you get a bonus domain! Also you buff party will saves, your light spells are better, and you're immune to disease.
CM: Evasion, and... defensive casting bonuses, which become irrelevant around level 7. And mobility?

you forgot spontaneous heal spell.

[GoodbyeSoberDay]

you forgot spontaneous heal spell.Okay, they get the benefit of a so-so feat as well.