Tips on playing a Life Cleric.

[xroads]

I’m currently playing a Life Cleric (Cleric 2 / Fighter 1) and run into an issue where I find myself having to blow through all my heal spells in the first encounter on a regular basis. I very much feel like Durkon & Malak (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0735.html) do.

My typical strategy is too wait til characters are at 1/2 health, before healing them.

I’ve thought of waiting longer. But even with the current strategy, players still drop before my turn comes around again.
I don’t mind being a living band-aid. But I would like to not have to dole out all my spells in a single combat.

Anyone have any thoughts on what I can do to fix this?

[Findulidas]

Healbots arent effective in this version. Its better to only do emergency heals or the stronger heals outside of combat. Overall its more effective to just block a creature from doing damage like a wizard in battle. Dedicated healers in combat just dont work like they do in games here.

[Naanomi]

Be higher than a second level caster? I love the healer archetype, but it isn't terrible efficient in the last few editions... trying to do it in second level casting is tough (what was that level of fighter for?)

[jaappleton]

It's a far superior strategy to prevent damage from being done at all instead of healing after the fact.

That's a strategy you need to adopt.

[theMycon]

Ideally, by finding a way to discourage the most dangerous monster from zeroing in on the squishy. Such as killing it, blinding it, or putting higher AC characters between them.

If you're still at low levels, people going
unconscious is normal. Saving heals for Out Of Combat or Emergency (they're down) is fine. Other players might get grumpy, but it's a better strategy than losing all your spell slots.

If you're at mid levels and they still regularly go from half health to out in less than a round... Your group has issues beyond the healer. I can't tell if it's a DM problem or a PC problem, but spending a session noticing how they're going down and talking to the DM (and any specific player[s] you'd bring up) can only help.

[rollingForInit]

Since you're a Life Cleric, you get some of the best healing spells auto-prepared. That means you've got more room to prepare other types of spells. Like offensive spells, utility spells or spells that will support your team. Kill enemies, and/or enable your allies to kill the enemies. That's the best strategy. And save healing for when someone goes down, or it's really important that a specific character doesn't miss their turn because of unconsciousness.

[Temperjoke]

Healers in 5e D&D aren't like healers in video games, which is a big mentality difference. As a healer, your job is to prevent your fellow characters from permanently dying. Sometimes that means that you let them get dropped down to 0 HP and have to start rolling death saves before using a healing spell on them. Just remember, the only way to stop your allies from taking damage is to ensure all the enemies are dead.

Efficiency is also important. You could use all your spell slots healing your allies, only for it all to be wasted because there are still enemies doing damage to them.

[CrackedChair]

Somebody told me that healing word is a lot more useful than cure wounds due to the fact that it does not require you touching somebody, plus it's a bonus action, and targeting somebody at 0 hp picks them up anyways. You might want to consider preparing that.

[xroads]

Be higher than a second level caster? I love the healer archetype, but it isn't terrible efficient in the last few editions... trying to do it in second level casting is tough (what was that level of fighter for?)

Originally, the level of fighter was so that I could have the archery fighting style and access to a better range of finesse weapons. My original thought was to be a primary cleric who could help a little from the sidelines with archery. At the time our group was all melee combatants.

However, we now have someone whose character is a primary archer now (thief assassin). And I find myself tanking more often than not (I have the highest AC and my DPS is poor, so I dodge a lot). I'm probably going to change my fighting styles (defense or protection).

***

Thanks for the input everyone. Sounds like the general consensus is let the players drop and concentrate on trying to prevent damage as opposed to repair it.

[xroads]

Somebody told me that healing word is a lot more useful than cure wounds due to the fact that it does not require you touching somebody, plus it's a bonus action, and targeting somebody at 0 hp picks them up anyways. You might want to consider preparing that.

Heh. I live by the Healing Word. Or I should say my fellow players live by it as I tend to have to deal it out to them on a regular basis. :smallbiggrin:

[jaappleton]

Somebody told me that healing word is a lot more useful than cure wounds due to the fact that it does not require you touching somebody, plus it's a bonus action, and targeting somebody at 0 hp picks them up anyways. You might want to consider preparing that.

The line of thought is that you can be just as effective in combat with 1HP as you can with full HP.

[Alejandro]

I am the primary healer for my party, and I am Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard 5. The advice here is spot on: Don't heal people just because they are hurt. Heal people when they actually drop, or if you can swing the timing, right before they would drop and are going to be damaged again. You want as much of your turns spent actively harming and blocking the enemy, so they can't hurt you, rather than trying to be the last one standing, out healing their damage. You generally cannot do that.

The only healing spell I use with any regularity is Healing Word, to bring up a downed companion. Bard spells and powers, by the way, go great with Cleric/healing. If you have the Charisma, maybe look into it :)

[Galadhrim]

Part of the problem is that the fighter level really restricts your spell slots, especially at level 3. If you were straight cleric you would have twice as many spell slots currently. If your dm lets you redo fighting style perhaps he would let you just go straight cleric instead. I feel your pain as far as cleric and slots since you don't have any short rest recharge like druid or wizard.

[jaappleton]

Agreed. If you can retrain out of Fighter and be pure Cleric, you'd be better off.

[Sir cryosin]

At your next ASI pick the feat healer and then stock up on med kits. You'll thank me later. Most people wright that feat off but it's a good send if your playing a healer.

[agnos]

Think about it this way. Your "job" as party healer is to keep the gas tank off empty; your job is not to keep the gas tank full. If someone at 3 hp takes a hit for 2d8+4, they end up at the same place as someone at 13 hp who takes 2d8+4. Quite often, the damage opponents do outscales the healing you can offer. Utilize other players HP as a resource. Good AC is often strong at preventating of damage at low to mid levels; Shield of Faith on your 20 AC tank can mean never needing to heal him. Bane is usually +1 to +4 AC for your team while also making it easier to affect them with spells. A well timed Sanctuary can force enemies to attack the hard to hit Tank (or HP Resilient Barb tank). Blindness can often make most enemies attack with disadvantage. Most Healing spells are one-shots; whereas debuffs can affect multiple targets to prevent damage from multiple attacks. Even if debuffs just prevent 1 attack, the damage prevented is often at least equal to what you could've healed with that same spell slot. Last, never forget that the most effective debuffs is dead; Fairie Fire, Guided Bolt, Bless, and the like can help kill enemies before they get to do damage.

Being a healer in 5e is much like being a Park Ranger. It's much easier (and more effective) to take steps to prevent forest fires than it is to try and fight them. Focus on preventing fires while squelching the most important burns.

[Squeeq]

Low levels are hard for healers when you just don't have that much healing to go around. Your heals do have a lot more mileage though, because of your life cleric bonuses, and will eventually be able to heal you. Because you can use heavy armor and a shield, you should have very good AC so you can stick yourself at frontlines to help with damage mitigation. Use your channel divinity too - it picks up KO'd characters, and can really turn a fight around.

[Sariel Vailo]

Make them fill out a sheet irl for healing.with a liat of next of kin any pacts with extra planar entities.any allergies.and thats for midcombat healing.

[Naanomi]

At higher levels, remember life clerics heal themselves when they heal others... so getting hit yourself once in a while instead of your buddies is a good thing

[Demonslayer666]

In previous editions, you wanted your entire party as far away from -10 as possible, because that's when you died. That's why healing mid-combat was very important. You had to stay as far away from that number as possible to avoid death.

That's no longer true in this edition. Once you hit 0, you don't continue to go negative to reach death. You only die when you fail that third death save (or from massive damage, but that's unlikely).

When a party member drops, all you have to do is a 1 HP heal, and it will bring them back into the fight, 3 death saves away from dying.

[Spiritchaser]

The only healing spell I use with any regularity is Healing Word, to bring up a downed companion. Bard spells and powers, by the way, go great with Cleric/healing. If you have the Charisma, maybe look into it :)

Not aura of vitality?

Life/bard is crazy good at that

[Naanomi]

Not aura of vitality?

Life/bard is crazy good at that
Yeah if you are really invested in being a 'healer' it is hard to beat Life Cleric/Lore Bard picking up healing spells with most of your Bonus Spells

[Byke]

Cast Bless....every fight....the faster monster die the less healing required and as someone already said only cast heals when they go down. Someone is just as effective at 1hp or at full hp.

To stop this ping-pong effect at our table we have started implementing incremental levels of exhaustions. But this is a house rule.

[Theodoxus]

Once you get 2nd level spells, Warding Bond is amazing for a tanking life cleric. Shield of Faith is also a must have for mitigation. Higher AC = fewer hits = less healing.

I fully support anything and everything you can do to swap that fighter level for cleric. If it was at 1st level, and you're getting Con proficiency from it, I can see some desire to keep it - but grab Resilient Con at 4th if it's that critical to your build.

Full casters, with a VERY small handful of exceptions, need every level they can get. There's some saving grace in MCing with another caster, as the spell levels stack (with the exception of Warlock), but in general, even that isn't particularly good - and Life clerics in particular are very self-sufficient. Sure, your at will damage is pretty meh - but that's not your role anyway.

Hope this helps a bit...

[Herobizkit]

Are your players fighting as a team or as a "we all do what we want, let the dice fall where they may"?

What are your players doing that's getting themselves killed so fast? Are they all "run forward, hit til dead" types?

Is the DM using smarter (or potentially unfair/unbalanced) tactics? For example, enemies who use cover/concealment, who attack from range/with spells, or focus-fire on each PC until they all drop is something you need to nip in the bud fast... or learn from their example. ^_^

[Citan]

Originally, the level of fighter was so that I could have the archery fighting style and access to a better range of finesse weapons. My original thought was to be a primary cleric who could help a little from the sidelines with archery. At the time our group was all melee combatants.

However, we now have someone whose character is a primary archer now (thief assassin). And I find myself tanking more often than not (I have the highest AC and my DPS is poor, so I dodge a lot). I'm probably going to change my fighting styles (defense or protection).

***

Thanks for the input everyone. Sounds like the general consensus is let the players drop and concentrate on trying to prevent damage as opposed to repair it.
You could ask your DM if he would allow you to swap Archery for Protection. After all, you dropped the whole "be a good archer" for the sake of the party. Of course, if he'd allow it, it would be during a downtime.

Also, as a Cleric, don't forget Sanctuary: either for yourself (then use Help action, or Dodge for extra tankiness) or others (one friend down, far away from any help, or one friend you know will be the target for several attacks until his turn comes: even if he breaks the spell after, you still helped him avoid a few attacks, unless really good luck on DM side).

Beyond that, what others said: if your party is low level, having people down regularly is normal. Otherwise, it's either a party problem (you are all careless, borderline stupid) or a DM problem (mistakes in CR calcul or outright ignoring them, making too many encounters or too hard ones), or a mix. ;)

[Zene]

Here's my strat as a life cleric:


Death Ward myself and one other character - probably a tank, but whoever it is, make sure they have a way to bring me up if I drop (healing potion is fine)
Prevention is prioritized over healing
Pick up anyone who drops immediately
If multiple characters drop, use channel divinity to bring them up
For most melee, don't bother healing them until they drop. Bear totem barbarians or very high AC tanks are the exception, as you actually can usually keep up with healing on them. For those very high AC tanks, consider Warding Bond as well if you don't think you'll be taking a ton of damage yourself.
Also try to keep up any ranged characters that are probably concentrating on something important.
Worry about all other healing (i.e. topping off) outside of combat.


Edit: Note, this strat would be VERY different if I were playing a Life Cleric / Lore Bard healbot build.

[KorvinStarmast]

Somebody told me that healing word is a lot more useful than cure wounds due to the fact that it does not require you touching somebody, plus it's a bonus action, and targeting somebody at 0 hp picks them up anyways. You might want to consider preparing that. Yeah, that's key. Also, Warding bond and make sure you have a heal pot or two for yourself. As long as you stay alive, their damage problems are reduced.

Here's my strat as a life cleric:


Death Ward myself and one other character - probably a tank, but whoever it is, make sure they have a way to bring me up if I drop (healing potion is fine)
Prevention is prioritized over healing
Pick up anyone who drops immediately
If multiple characters drop, use channel divinity to bring them up
For most melee, don't bother healing them until they drop. Bear totem barbarians or very high AC tanks are the exception, as you actually can usually keep up with healing on them. For those very high AC tanks, consider Warding Bond as well if you don't think you'll be taking a ton of damage yourself.
Also try to keep up any ranged characters that are probably concentrating on something important.
Worry about all other healing (i.e. topping off) outside of combat.


Edit: Note, this strat would be VERY different if I were playing a Life Cleric / Lore Bard healbot build.
Death Ward is a 4th level spell, and the person asking the question is Cleric 2 Fighter 1. :smallwink:

PS: your general idea is a sound one, based on my life cleric experiences.

[solidork]

Don't forget about your Channel Divinity; it will eventually heal for a pretty good amount, and it refreshes on a short rest.

[Theodoxus]

Well, if we're also helping on higher level play, from my experiences, the 6th level ability to gain a small self-heal on return for healing others is key to using Warding Bond effectively. Yes, throw it on top of the high AC fighter type (it's useless on a raging barbi, so I don't recommend it, unless said barbi is out of rages for the day and wants DR and a +1 AC boost...) then, when your Warded target gets hit, you're taking damage too. But, since you can pop them with a Healing Word, you're getting some HPs back at the same time. It probably won't negate the incoming damage, but certainly keep you up a bit longer than without it.

Also, Beacon of Hope is a godsend to high HP guys (hill dwarf fighter types, barbarians, folk with Tough, etc) prior to getting the Heal spell. I've never really seen it come up much in cleric guides, but since you get it 'for free', you might as well use it. And maximized healing is wonderful when trying to repair 60, 80, even 100 HPs after a fight and there's no time for a short rest to burn HD (or if you're out/low on HD because of some tough fights over the last few days...)

Even at level 3, I recommend starting to convert anything you have into diamonds. 1) They're a lot lighter than gold pieces and take up less room and 2) Better to have 300gp of diamonds when you obtain Revivify and not need them, than to not have them, and need them...

[Zene]

Yeah, that's key. Also, Warding bond and make sure you have a heal pot or two for yourself. As long as you stay alive, their damage problems are reduced.

Death Ward is a 4th level spell, and the person asking the question is Cleric 2 Fighter 1. :smallwink:



Haha true. I was thinking more general life cleric tips than specific advice for the OP's scenario.

[KorvinStarmast]

Haha true. I was thinking more general life cleric tips than specific advice for the OP's scenario. It's a neat spell.

[xroads]

Thanks for all of the tips! :smallbiggrin:


Also, as a Cleric, don't forget Sanctuary: either for yourself (then use Help action, or Dodge for extra tankiness) or others (one friend down, far away from any help, or one friend you know will be the target for several attacks until his turn comes: even if he breaks the spell after, you still helped him avoid a few attacks, unless really good luck on DM side).

Wouldn't the Help action cancel Sanctuary? I know it's technically not an Attack action, but if I use it to help my buddy attack, isn't basically the same thing?

On a side note, Sanctuary is one of my favorite spells. However I noticed that it can work a little to well sometimes. Particularly if bad guys get too frustrated and start aiming for other players.




For most melee, don't bother healing them until they drop. Bear totem barbarians or very high AC tanks are the exception, as you actually can usually keep up with healing on them. For those very high AC tanks, consider Warding Bond as well if you don't think you'll be taking a ton of damage yourself.




Yeah, I will admit I tend to prefer healing our barbarian simply because I know I'm going to get more mileage out of my healing magic with him.