PDA

View Full Version : D&D 3.x Class Base Class: Doctor (an Arcane Healer)



jqavins
2017-02-20, 04:00 PM
I think I've posted about this some years ago, but I can't find it. And I'm getting back to the subject, so I'd like all y'all's thoughts (again.)

I'm thinking of a healer class that uses science (or what passes for it) and arcane magic instead of divine magic. I'm calling it the Doctor. I'm tailoring it to a particular setting, but it could be used elsewhere with little modification so I'm not posting in World Building.

The spell list would include familiar Cleric heal/cure/restore spells, some of them at a spell level lower. It would also include some familiar Sor/Wiz spells, primarily those of the protective/defensive and "helping" kinds, some at a spell level higher. These are so that the Doctor can A) function in dangerous situations and B) provide some measure of assistance to a party outside of what is strictly medical. By helping spells I mean things like Create Food and Water, Secure Shelter, Mending, etc.

Class skills would include survival, heal, knowledge (various applicable), profession (doctor), Autopsy (a new one, obviously), Concentration, Herbalism (a new one or some existing non-SRD), a number of other new ones like Surgery and I'm open to suggestions.

Commonly chosen feats would include Brew Potion, Dodge, Self-Sufficient, Skill Focus, some metamagic, and I'm open to suggestions.

There are three setting specific things I have in mind.
A) Reducing the healing spells available to clerics somewhat. Eliminating the free exchange of prepared slots to wound cures on the fly; doctors get that instead.
2) Magical poisons which resist neutralization by the familiar spell; only doctors have the higher level Neutralize Magical Poison.
III) Magical diseases which resist curing by the familiar spell; only doctors have the higher level Cure Magical Disease.

I have an incomplete spell list but I don't have access to it here at work, so I'll post it later.

Sound cool? Sound stupid? Suggestions? Lemme have it.

nonsi
2017-02-22, 05:04 AM
Sound cool?


As an idea - sure. I don't remember ever seeing an arcane healer. It's almost a taboo in D&D.





Sound stupid?


Absolutely not.





Suggestions?


Put your ideas into an actual class. Even if the implementation is not that great, it'll be something to discuss, enrich, trim, modify etc.

Jormengand
2017-02-22, 06:21 AM
As an idea - sure. I don't remember ever seeing an arcane healer. It's almost a taboo in D&D.

I think this is a point to consider - arcane casters aren't really supposed to have better healing than the bard's mediocre hp restoration, because it's sort of a divine thing in the basic way it's conceptualised. I think that if you were to do that, you'd want a better reason than because you just want an arcane healer and that's the beginning and end of it all.

nonsi
2017-02-22, 08:26 AM
I think this is a point to consider - arcane casters aren't really supposed to have better healing than the bard's mediocre hp restoration, because it's sort of a divine thing in the basic way it's conceptualised. I think that if you were to do that, you'd want a better reason than because you just want an arcane healer and that's the beginning and end of it all.

OTOH, you could pull it off quite nicely with Arcane Disciple.
If you trade combat optimization for spell versatility, you could get away with quite a few Cleric spells via domains . . . all the way to 9th SL (up to 12 domains if you go for broke as a human).

Bohandas
2017-02-24, 08:43 AM
As an idea - sure. I don't remember ever seeing an arcane healer. It's almost a taboo in D&D.


What about the bard?

Deepbluediver
2017-02-24, 01:17 PM
I think this is a point to consider - arcane casters aren't really supposed to have better healing than the bard's mediocre hp restoration, because it's sort of a divine thing in the basic way it's conceptualised. I think that if you were to do that, you'd want a better reason than because you just want an arcane healer and that's the beginning and end of it all.
Personally I don't like the idea that every Cleric is (or at least has the capability of being) a healbot. There are plenty of deities out there that I'm sure would want very little to do with healing. Part of the issue with the healer in 3.5 was that there was very little it could do that a Cleric couldn't, but lots that a Cleric could deal that a healer couldn't.

I think a good overall change would be to make it harder for every Cleric to be a healbot all the time, and just make the Healer an arcane-caster. Afterall- think about how much IRL doctors can charge. If you had a setting where most of the divine healing sources only healed their own group of faithful, I could definitely see an opportunity to sell medical services.


Edit: As for the fluff, simply explain it that Positive and Negative energy are more difficult to manipulate than other kinds of energy (fire, ice, etc) and magic. Divine casters get a little help from their deity, but arcane casters, if they want to be able to use Healing spells and they like, they need to be more specialized. That's why the Healer (arcane version) has less diversity in their spell selection the Wizard.

jqavins
2017-02-26, 01:35 PM
Sorry, I've been absent from my own thread. Life and stuff.


Personally I don't like the idea that every Cleric is (or at least has the capability of being) a healbot...

I think a good overall change would be to make it harder for every Cleric to be a healbot all the time, and just make the Healer an arcane-caster...
This was largely the idea. I'd mentioned at the beginning some setting=specific aspects, including nerfing clerics as healers a bit. That's not only because clerics shouldn't all be super healers, but because clerics should be more than just healbots, and having a doctor in the party makes that more likely to come out.

Anyway, here's the spell list, whic is so far all I have written down about the class apart from the discussion here. (I thought I had more, but I can't find it. Maybe it's on my desktop, which is temporrily out of action.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Mc5xrSkO3vUjBxWUdlNGFCVUU/view?usp=drivesdk

Deepbluediver
2017-02-26, 02:45 PM
Anyway, here's the spell list, whic is so far all I have written down about the class apart from the discussion here. (I thought I had more, but I can't find it. Maybe it's on my desktop, which is temporrily out of action.)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6Mc5xrSkO3vUjBxWUdlNGFCVUU/view?usp=drivesdk
Consider adding the "Vigor" spells from Complete Divine (including Lesser and Greater versions). They grant fast-healing, so they sorta fulfill the same purpose as Cure X Wounds, but I think they should be included for the sake of completeness.