Healing without a healer

[Story]

I've seen many comments such as this guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?55951-A-Player-s-Guide-to-Healing-%28And-why-you-will-be-Just-Fine-without-a-Cleric-to-heal%29) claiming that you can get by fine without a healer in the party. Which is true if you're only concerned about hp damage. But how do you heal status conditions and ability damage without a Cleric/Druid/etc? UMDing Cleric scrolls? That seems expensive and kind of defeats the point.

[OldTrees1]

Arcane Disciple Renewal adds lesser restoration and greater restoration 1/day to an arcanist.

[Agincourt]

Scrolls are pretty cheap actually. When I play a Cleric, I usually have some on hand because there are so many status conditions that it just is not feasible to always have the right spell memorized. When a party member gets hit by say Blindness/Deafness, the chances of my character having memorized Remove Blindness/Deafness are fairly remote.

The options then are to wait until the next morning or to use a scroll. Most of the time, just using a scroll is the wiser option. UMD is indeed a feasible option.

It really depends on the status condition, though. A Rod of Bodily Restoration and an Orb of Mental Renewal (MIC) can help heal ability score damage. Removing the "Dead" condition is going to cost a pretty penny anyway; there is little point in worrying about the few extra gold from buying a Raise Dead scroll versus casting it. Bards, Paladins, and Rangers have Neutralize Poison on their spells lists.

What specifically did you encounter that you needed to overcome?

[Story]

I wasn't asking about any specific situation, it's just a general question I had.

[Hiro Quester]

If you have anyone with heal spells on their spell list, the Spontaneous healer feat (CD, p. 84) requires the ability to cast one "cure" spell and 4 ranks in knowledge religion) can enable any such player to spontaneously convert spells to "cure" spells of the same level.

With this feat, a bard, druid, plain, ranger, can be the group healer, without having to learn or prepare heal spells. This helps for emergency lifesaving in-combat heals in which using a wand might be dangerous.

Bard, especially has enough skills, and has access to UMD, and should be taking ranks in UMD for other reasons, to be able to use cure wands and remove disease scrolls, etc. And they don't even have to learn more than one of the cure spells, just have them on the spell list. Cure light wounds, or even Cure Minor wounds (which divine bard gets), is enough.

I'm playing a druid right now with that feat, since the player who was going to play cleric backed out of the game after everyone had prepared their characters. DM let me just make knowledge (religion) an in-class skill.

[DarkEternal]

That....that sounds like a pretty horrible feat if you can do it the amount of times equal to your wisdom modifier a day for anyone but a druid...and even on him, that feat would be really down the ladder of what I can take instead(like that reserve feat which pretty much makes sure you can heal everyone to half their hp whenever you want as long as you have a certain level slot filled with a heal spell)

[Venger]

I've seen many comments such as this guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?55951-A-Player-s-Guide-to-Healing-%28And-why-you-will-be-Just-Fine-without-a-Cleric-to-heal%29) claiming that you can get by fine without a healer in the party. Which is true if you're only concerned about hp damage. But how do you heal status conditions and ability damage without a Cleric/Druid/etc? UMDing Cleric scrolls? That seems expensive and kind of defeats the point.

caduces bracers will do a fair amount of heavy lifting for you if you can qualify for their use. lifebond vestments are handy too, either as an incarnate proper or as a dip.

[Story]

If you have anyone with heal spells on their spell list, the Spontaneous healer feat (CD, p. 84) requires the ability to cast one "cure" spell and 4 ranks in knowledge religion) can enable any such player to spontaneously convert spells to "cure" spells of the same level.




Are there any Cure spells that heal stuff other than HP damage? Seems completely useless when hp damage is so trivial to heal.

Now if it gave access to stuff like Lesser Restoration, Remove Blindness/Deafness, and Heal, it would actually be useful.

Edit: Come to think of it, Remove Curse and Break Enchantment should be on the list of essential healing spells too. Though at least those are Sorc/Wizard and Bard as well.

[Karl Aegis]

In low-op games you have dragon shamans that can do this kind of thing.

In mid-op games you will probably have access to the spells, anyways.

In high-op games this really doesn't matter at all.

[Ettina]

That....that sounds like a pretty horrible feat if you can do it the amount of times equal to your wisdom modifier a day for anyone but a druid...and even on him, that feat would be really down the ladder of what I can take instead(like that reserve feat which pretty much makes sure you can heal everyone to half their hp whenever you want as long as you have a certain level slot filled with a heal spell)

An evil cleric would like it, too. They convert spells to inflict, not cure, and getting to cure and inflict is nice.

[Hiro Quester]

An evil cleric would like it, too. They convert spells to inflict, not cure, and getting to cure and inflict is nice.

Requires nonevil alignment, though.

Edit: the touch of Healing feat is a good one, too. But it requires you to have a conjuration (healing) spell available to cast, and heals 3 HP per level of that spell, up to half the target's total HP.

So it's more useful for those (e.g. druid) whose highest healing spell might be a higher level spell. You can emergency heal a friend to half their HP in a standard action, without burning a spell. But it only healing 15 HP per standard action if that's a fifth level spell, 12 HP per standard action if it's a fourth level spell.

[Darrin]

One of the Touchstone sites (Sandstorm), I think it was Shrine at Kahar, offers a selection of SLAs that can cure ability/condition stuff.

[Darkweave31]

Wand of panacea.