How would you build this? Healing Gish

[jaappleton]

Starting at level 11.

You must be able to heal. Like, decently heal. Not "I took Magic Initiate: Healing Word and can help once per day". You're not a dedicated healer, but you can certainly contribute.

Multiple weapon attacks.

Prefer not to be Charisma heavy, but if the build kicks a copious amount of booty, it is what it is.

All UA (EXCEPT Tranquility Monk and Lore Wizard) and books are available, though no Flying races.

Start with a Very Rare item, a Rare item, and one Uncommon item.

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I know its easy to say "Easy, Valor Bard", but this community is far more creative than that... Looking at you, Citan. :smalltongue:

EDIT: I'm sorry, I forgot to mention this... Healing Spirit has been banned from the table, unfortunately.

[Foxhound438]

maybe ranger/cleric for healing spirit with bonus healing? I'd probably go life cleric 6 for spirit guardians, so then you can be kind of modal on your concentration, and also get mass healing word, then 5 in ranger for healing spirit and extra attack. Cleric gives you heavy armor, so I feel that a strength based melee ranger might be the way to go, provided you also have the 13 dex to MC in/out of ranger. Probably choose hunter or gloom stalker for ranger archetype to avoid being too heavy on bonus actions.

[MaxWilson]

I mean, even a pure Beastmaster Ranger is now a good healer thanks to Healing Spirit. You could pick a Moon Druid, or some flavor of Ranger, or a Paladin, or some combination of one of the following and anything else, and come out with a good healer.

It would be more challenging at level 4-6, but by level 11 it's easy to ensure access to healing magics without giving up anything significant.

[jaappleton]

I'm terribly sorry, I forgot to mention it: No Healing Spirit.

DM has banned that one. That is one of the few things not allowed at the table, and I can't say I blame him for it. That spell is pretty BS.

[Specter]

Ranger 5/Life Cleric 6. Goodberry all day, all night.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I mean... Paladin certainly does the trick. But if you'd prefer to avoid that, the Ranger/Life Cleric combo Specter mention is pretty sweet-- don't forget they last 24 hours, so you can burn all your leftover slots at the end of the day stocking up on berries.

[TheFryingPen]

It's charisma based, but stone sorcerer and celestial warlock could probably mix well.
Second stat would be con (for more HP and armor), strength as the attack stat can be provided by a belt of giant strength (very rare item). So you only really need 2 stats.

Celestial warlock gives you a lot of bonus action healing and if you use pact of the blade you get extra attack via that. But you could also use green flame blade most of the time (nice scaling damage), it also benefits from celestial's radiant soul feature once you get it.
Stone sorcerer gives you the weapon proficiencies, you also get unarmored AC from con and access to smites (the fire one again benefitting from radiant soul). Stone Aegis won't prevent that much damage but it's a good use for your reaction.
Also, you get the handy synergy of metamagic + warlock short rest slots.

I'd go with Stone Sorcerer 6, Celestial Warlock 5 (boon and invocations to your liking) since the sorcerer's level 6 feature looks more interesting, then continue with warlock (more bonus action healing dice).
Take Sorcerer as your starting class if you want to use concentration spells (better con save).
For the items I only took a quick look, belt of giant strength is worth it for sure (25 strength at its higher "very rare"-level). Bracers of defense might be a good option since you're technically unarmored and you don't have that much AC, even with stone sorcerer's feature. For the uncommon one maybe use a simple cloak of protection, more ac, better saves, nothing not to like there. Winged boots would be nice too but I guess since the DM doesn't want flying races the boot's won't be appreciated.

[Aett_Thorn]

Some other thoughts, even if they might go against a desire or two from your OP:

1) Arcana Cleric. Take a SCAG cantrip or two. Doesn't get Extra Attack, but can still dish out some decent melee damage.

2) Celestial Bladelock. Sure, it's got the problems of the normal, non-Hexblade Warlock, and is Charisma-based, but could still be fun.

3) A Paladin who actually uses his spell slots for spells, and not Smites (unless he really needs to).

4) Some sort of Paladin/Druid Combo. Get Aura of Vitality, and be a bear that heals.

5) VHuman Thief Rogue with the Healer Feat. Bonus Action heal with some medicine kits.

[Brawnspear]

Not a gish necessarily, but you could get a good amount of pick me up and buffer off of a single classed Purple Dragon Knight. Lots of short rest mostly resourceless healing. With 2 of your 3 feats, pick up healer for 1d4+15 per person per short rest at the cost of a heal kit charge and Inspiring leader for 11+cha temp hp to most likely everyone in your party once per short rest. Add that to healing 3 other people for your character level (11) when you second wind.

On top of that you get 3 attacks to beat people up with.

[MaxWilson]

I'm terribly sorry, I forgot to mention it: No Healing Spirit.

DM has banned that one. That is one of the few things not allowed at the table, and I can't say I blame him for it. That spell is pretty BS.

Ah. Good call on his part. That narrows it down by a lot. Paladins and Moon Druids and Bards are still your best option, relying on Aura of Vitality instead of Healing Spirit in the case of the Paladins and Bards, and in the Moon Druid's case just using regular old Goodberry/Cure Wounds/Healing Word as appropriate. (Probably more Goodberry than anything else because you can pre-cast it long before going into wildshape.)

Or you just could take a plain old Fighter with the Healer feat, I suppose. By "best option" I mean "highest-healing," but that may or may not be what you ultimately want to settle on.

[Mortis_Elrod]

So when i first read this post i instantly thought to give you a Divine Soul/Celestial Blade Sorlock. But i understand that you want some non Charisma focus going on. So today i will challenge myself for you.

My next thought was something I already pitched to you but i see that flying races are not allowed so no Winged Dragon of Ra.

I think wisdom is the obvious answer if Charisma is discouraged but then i read your post again and I realized that All ua was allowed save for the Lore Wizard and Tranquility monk.

Thus i give you the Master Tactician, Magician of War, the Intellectual Healer.

Bladesinger 6- This means we we get some wizardness and extra attack. Sadly no healing here so we'll need to look elsewhere. The AC boost and movement speed is welcomed for any gish but more so for a healing one who shouldnt be wasting his heals on others. Spells here are for battlefield control and damage(if needed), or for other wizardy uses. You are still a wizard so don't forget that.


Mystic Immortal 5- This gives you much needed HP, but more importantly this is where the healing is coming from. Your disciplines should be Psionic Restoration, Mastery of Force, Bestial Form, Mantle of Joy, Mantle of Command.

Psionic Restoration doesn't need much to be said its your heals and its pretty good at what it does.

Mastery of Force is mainly here for the AC. 14 + dex is amazing for its cost and considering you can add your Int when bladesinging its even better, espescially when adding Bestial Form. The other parts of the discipline offer some decent uses if you don't have an equivalent spell prepared. Also Force Choke is awesome.

Bestial Form is gives you alot little bonuses that can come in handy, along with stacking AC.

Mantle of Joy- Healing is great but whats even better is Temp HP before healing happens. Maybe you can't heal or everyone is max HP, temp hp is great for everyone including minions and the range and the number of targets is really worth it considering the action costs.

Mantle of Command- this is where you'll make your mark on the battleground. This is some Warlord level tactics combined with MoJ and some Control spells you will be able to outmaneuver any enemy that stands in your parties way. Your Talents, Background, Cantrips and skills are up to you. Make sure not to overlap too much though.

Race needs to be an Elf for bladesinger, and High Elf fits the obvious bill of Int/Dex requirement while also giving some cool weapons we can use.

So High Elf Bladesinger 6/Immortal Mystic 5. For Equipment I'm suggesting a Rapier of Wounding(rare), Robe of Stars(very rare), and Winged Boots. This selection gives you a magic sword that will at the very least negate healing, +1 to all saves, lots of Magic Missles for free, Astral Plane use, and flying.



If going to level 20 i suggest picking either Wizard 14 or Mystic 14 to aim for and go for that first. Either choice is great in its own way.

[MagneticKitty]

Forge cleric 8 / fighter 12 (your choice on subclass)
Forge cleric gives you:
+2 a.c.
+1d8 fire damage per round
Healing spells
Fighter gives you extra attacks.

Although no second attack, I'd go forge cleric 17 because immune to fire and resistance to mundane damage.. Then pick fighter 3 for dual weilding. Yes it's a strength dual weilder in heavy armor. Problem?
Add in dual wielding feat for like long swords. Then 4d8 a turn damage with melee. If you pick brute fighter that's 4d8 + 2d4 which is not bad. You can use spell slots to smite (concentration smite spells not paladin smite) as well. Add in magic initiate for green fire blade and that adds like 3d8. So that's 7d8 + 2d4 a round without using resources. At lv 20

[MaxWilson]

Forge cleric 8 / fighter 12 (your choice on subclass)
Forge cleric gives you:
+2 a.c.


Can you explain the +2 AC? Is this Shield of Faith?

[MagneticKitty]

Forge cleric can bless their armor to +1 at level 1. They get +1 a.c. and resistance to fire if wearing heavy armor at lv 6
If your table allows ua for warforged that's +3. If you take defense and a shield instead of dual wielding that's +6
Then you cast shield of faith for a total of +8.
:)

[MaxWilson]

Forge cleric can bless their armor to +1 at level 1. They get +1 a.c. and resistance to fire if wearing heavy armor at lv 6
If your table allows ua for warforged that's +3. If you take defense and a shield instead of dual wielding that's +6
Then you cast shield of faith for a total of +8.
:)

I'm AFB: is that +1 to AC at 6th level a UA thing, or is it also in the Xanathar's version? It would be interesting if they kept that bonus in Xanathar's. It's not outrageously strong but it's definitely nice.

[CircuitEngie]

At 11:

Mountain Dwarf
Start Fighter (Your Choice) 6, Cleric (War) 5.
3 ASIs (pick 3: STR +2 (18), STR +2 (20), Resilient WIS, Healer Feat)
Level 1 Array (27 pt buy):
Str 16
Dex 10
Con 16
Int 10
Wis 15
Cha 8

VR item: Dwarven Thrower
R item: Necklace of Prayer beads (you want favor and curing beads)
U item: Cloak of Protection or Winged boots.

Fighter 6 gives 2 attacks, with war cleric giving an extra bonus action attack a few times per day. The dwarven thrower gives you a strength based attack that hits for 2d8+STR+3 at range (1d8+STR+5 in melee) and makes up for the slower running speed. At Cleric 5, you have access to revivify if something goes horribly wrong. The prayer beads can give you access to Greater Restoration, which you wouldn't have with a multiclass.

Healer feat goes a long way to cleaning up lingering injuries between fights, and resilient WIS will keep you out of nasty debilitating effects while rounding out your WIS for +3. I'd probably wait on capping strength for the next ASI, favoring extra healing and saves until you have a feel for how much you need for your party.

Going forward you could stretch for a 12F/8C build. Gaining a third attack and an extra d8/turn. Or you could go 6F/14C or 8F/12C and get access to Heal and Hero's Feast.

[MagneticKitty]

I'm AFB: is that +1 to AC at 6th level a UA thing, or is it also in the Xanathar's version? It would be interesting if they kept that bonus in Xanathar's. It's not outrageously strong but it's definitely nice.

Pretty sure it's in xanathars

[jaappleton]

So many combinations of this seem to involve Fighter / Cleric.

A classic combo. One I favor quite a bit.

Curious, is there a build to be a gish, two attacks (or more), while maintaining full Caster status? I’d only be able to upcast into those higher level slots, of course, but it’s still interesting to think about.

[Kane0]

Celestial Bladelock. Action to gish out the pain, bonus action healing. Ready made, no fuss, multiclass to taste.

[Specter]

So many combinations of this seem to involve Fighter / Cleric.

A classic combo. One I favor quite a bit.

Curious, is there a build to be a gish, two attacks (or more), while maintaining full Caster status? I’d only be able to upcast into those higher level slots, of course, but it’s still interesting to think about.

Valor Bard/Life Cleric, or Celestial Bladelock/Life Cleric. Still, I'd favor Ranger, because of the WIS synergy and also because they get more damage bonuses (fighting style, level 3 feature, etc.). From my experience, gishes who have no damage-boosting features don't even bother attacking at high levels.

[Speely]

Another option, but Cha-based and a result of me musing on my phone while out to dinner. This is NOT a researched bit of advice, but more of a play-along option.

Start with Hexblade bladelock 7, Divine Soul Sorcerer 4. Go glaive. Wear half-plate because screw stealth. You fight things, and you can't heal cowardice. Lowish AC (17,) but once you get PAM, your damage gets great (screw 2 attacks, 3 is delicious.)

Extremely SAD and packs a lot of gishy punch. Hexblade easily handles your damage close and at range (Agonizing Blast, Thirsting Blade, whatever.) Taking Grasp of Hadar and/or Repelling Blast as invocations give you some battlefield control with excellent action economy, which can make your job as a gish healer easier in many situations. Hexblade Curse means that big bads will hate you, especially once you hit Warlock 12.

Divine Soul gets you cleric spells that can be metamagic-ed and a nice 2d4 bonus to an attack or save that recharges when your Hexblade stuff does. Decent healing to start, and you can burn sorcery points on extra heals if you need to.

Then go Warlock until 12 for Lifedrinker, then take DS Sorc to 8, giving you all your ASIs, many of which can be feats because you are very SAD. Your healing isn't epic, but it's good for a gish, and you can add Spiritual Weapon into your arsenal for when you are hanging back and Eldritch Blasting. Also, sorcery points facilitate versatility, which is good for a gish healer.

Play a half-elf because Elven Accuracy down the road will be awesome, and all their other bonuses are useful.

This is a lower AC build than some, so that's a drawback, but you have an extremely potent Eldritch Blast to fall back on in sticky situations, and since you are starting with some magic items, maybe your DM will allow some magical half-plate. You don't need a magic weapon (Improved Pact Weapon) after all. I feel like a gish healer has to sacrifice something, and AC seems likely for that. If you pick up Sentinel with PAM, however, you can prevent a lot of potential damage.

Blur, Shield, and Armor of Agathys will help, too. Your damage is good enough to just ignore Eldritch Smite and thus not worry about it at mid levels. Once you get 3 Warlock slots per short rest, you can save once back for crits/supernovas if you feel the need. Also, once you get Shadow of Moil, you are hard to hit and a crit fisher.

This is a build that does great sustained damage in melee, very good sustained damage at range, has control options, and can heal decently. This might be a bit less healing than you are looking for, though. I leaned a bit more on the gish aspect and keeping it SAD (so the feats could arrive earlier.)

[mephnick]

I'm terribly sorry, I forgot to mention it: No Healing Spirit.

DM has banned that one. That is one of the few things not allowed at the table, and I can't say I blame him for it. That spell is pretty BS.

You know there are people that defend this spell? Neither did I at first, but they're out there.

[Aett_Thorn]

You know there are people that defend this spell? Neither did I at first, but they're out there.

It’s really only a problem out of combat. In-combat, the spell works just fine. I’ve houseruled it so that it ends when combat does.

[ciarannihill]

I mean the super obvious build is just a straight War Domain Cleric, right?


If you want something a little more elaborate and potentially powerful, Charisma might be unavoidable:

Oath of the Crown Paladin 5/Divine Soul (Good Affinity) Sorcerer 5/Hexblade Warlock 1 (for SADness). Gives you access to Cleric spells and melee combat both based on Charisma, heavy armor, 3rd level slots form Sorcerer and Extra attack from Paladin. Oath of the Crown has a Channel Divinity that gives a small heal with a large AoE, but basically any Oath works just fine for this. You get Lay on Hands as well, obviously, and 2 ASIs for use how you wish.

You also get a great deal of spells/slots to allow for plenty of utility outside of combat as well.

For reference you get:
2 Warlock Cantrips, 2 first level Warlock spells
Cure Wounds from Sorcerous Origin, 5 Sorcerer/Cleric cantrips, 6 Sorcerer/Cleric spells known
Between 5 and 7 Paladin spells prepared depending on Cha mod

As for spell slots, you get 1 First level slot from Warlock, and 4 first level, 4 second level, 3 third level and 1 fourth level slots from Paladin/Sorcerer multiclass.

Obviously you can adjust the build a bit to your needs, but it seems like a decent rate to have numerous healing spells and melee combat potential outside of Cleric based multiclasses.

[nickl_2000]

It’s really only a problem out of combat. In-combat, the spell works just fine. I’ve houseruled it so that it ends when combat does.

Our table allows normal function in combat. Out of combat it only heals 1d6 per round (still 10d6 healing for a second level spell is great).

[jaappleton]

Saw a couple suggestions for Celestial Warlock.

I played one before in a one-shot. Even as a straight celestial, at lv10, I had 11d6 healing dice.

The way I rolled, it worked out to be the equivalent of 3 Healing Words :smalltongue:

Kinda left a sour taste in my mouth. But that's life, those are the breaks. Sometimes you roll high, sometimes not.

I do like the thought of a Warlock / Divine Soul. If I go Hexblade Warlock, I'm SAD, I can use Half Plate, +2 Shield for my Rare, Rod of the Pact Keepter +1 for Uncommon and a Scimitar of Speed for a bonus action attack. With 14 Dex, that's 21 AC with three attacks. Not too shabby at all, and I get both Cleric and Sorc spells, so I can have Revivify, Healing Word, and Shield. I can even nova a bit with Eldritch Smite.

Forge Cleric / Fighter is an interesting one. Forge Cleric / Ranger is also interesting. Honestly, I think the base Ranger spells absolutely suck, I hate 'em. I think they do pretty piss-poor damage. But it'd help with spell slot progression more than Fighter. Forge 6 / Either Ranger or Fighter is fairly interesting. Not too big a fan of Forge's CD, but their other features are pretty great. Resistance to Fire and +2 AC is nothing to shake a stick at.

[Grod_The_Giant]

Curious, is there a build to be a gish, two attacks (or more), while maintaining full Caster status? I’d only be able to upcast into those higher level slots, of course, but it’s still interesting to think about.
I mean, Bladelocks/Bladesingers/Valor-or-Swords Bard all count. Technically Cha-based, but if you stick to buffs and healing spells you could certainly afford to drop Cha. Bladesingers can't heal, of course, but a Life Cleric dip can do a lot for that. Hmm... Bladesinger 6/Life Cleric 5?

[jaappleton]

I mean, Bladelocks/Bladesingers/Valor-or-Swords Bard all count. Technically Cha-based, but if you stick to buffs and healing spells you could certainly afford to drop Cha. Bladesingers can't heal, of course, but a Life Cleric 1 dip can do a lot for that.

Your mention of Wizards just reminded me that Life Theurge is allowed...

[Maxilian]

Saw a couple suggestions for Celestial Warlock.

I played one before in a one-shot. Even as a straight celestial, at lv10, I had 11d6 healing dice.

The way I rolled, it worked out to be the equivalent of 3 Healing Words :smalltongue:

Kinda left a sour taste in my mouth. But that's life, those are the breaks. Sometimes you roll high, sometimes not.


I agree that by itself is not the best healer, but if you combine it with Divine Sorcerer + Warding Bond + Gif of the Ever-living ones, you can be a great healer without even having to touch your party with your healing spells! (and can make the most of your "healing words"), if you happen to not be the main target of attacks, you can Twin Warding Bond so you make sure you have the back of more than one party member.

Note: But to be fair, if your team expect the Warlock to save them with healing, they deserve death

[nickl_2000]

Alright let me throw something else completely different out there.

High Elf Level 7 EK Fighter/ Level 4 Thief Rogue.

Str 8
Dex 15+2 (17)
Con 15
Int 15+1 (16)
Wis 8
Cha 8

Level 4 take the healer feat that can be used with Fast hands as a bonus action to give 1d6+4+level healing per short rest per person, and sweet yoyo healing.
Level 8 take ASI for +1 Dex and +1 Con
Level 10 take +2 Dex or Mobile/Defensive Duelist/Sentinel

Nets a Final
Str 8
Dex 18
Con 16
Int 16
Wis 8
Cha 8



You know 3 wizards cantrips, 4 first level spells, 2 second level spells, 2d6 sneak attack damage, and a fair amount of skills. You get either 2 attacks per round with a disengage/dash bonus action, or you use War Magic to cast a BB/GFB and make a weapon attack as a bonus action. 2 levels in War Wizard next may be nice to give you more rituals, more defensive capabilities, and possibly Mage Armor.

Magic Items:
Uncommon: Sentinel Shield so you see everything coming and move sooner in combat
Rare: Flame Tongue Rapier or Necklace of Prayer Beads for more healing and bless
Very Rare: Magic weapon if you didn't otherwise or

[xyianth]

For something completely different:

circle of spores druid 6/horizon walker ranger 3/artificer wizard 2

heal using druid spells
circle of spores druid turns your wild shape into a pseudo-rage like ability that doesn't interfere with casting (symbiotic entity)
halo of spores gives you a pseudo second attack using your reaction that auto hits and deals 6 damage (12 while using symbiotic entity)
horizon walker lets you convert the poison damage you deal into force damage
artificer wizard lets you create 3-4x potions of growth per day, each giving you 1d4 hours of the enlarge effect that does not use concentration
attack using booming blade for your main attack, which if you are using a shillelagh'd quarterstaff deals 4d8+1d6+1d4+wis damage
take find familiar with your wizard levels to grant yourself advantage on your main attack

As an added bonus, if you drop a creature with your halo of spores ability, they rise as a zombie under your control, and any attack against one of your zombies is effectively pre-emptive healing because it is damage your allies didn't take.

From here you can choose to advance as a druid or a ranger, depending on what you find more useful. Druid is probably the more powerful option, but it comes down to personal preference.

[ciarannihill]

An alternative to the Charisma builds, which are honestly almost certainly more powerful, here's a Wisdom based build:

Forge Domain Cleric 6 / Battle Master Fighter 5

Your melee combat is all about using Elemental Weapon to empower you attacks, while using your Bonus Actions to heal as needed. Sword and Board with Duelist fighting style, Heavy Armor and Soul of the Forge should allow for very high AC.

Best possible build is probably starting as a Variant Human with this Point Buy spread:
15 (16 Str) / 8 Dex / 15 Con / 8 Int / 15 (16) Wis / 8 Cha
Starting with the War Caster feat.


As for the Magic Items? You have a great deal of options:

Scimitar of Speed grants you an additional melee attack with Elemental Weapon each turn, which is potent if you want to be more of a force in melee
Mithral Armor makes Stealth no longer an issue with Heavy Armor
+X Armor or Shield just for survivability
Flametongue Weapon for more damage per hit
Basically any of the items that set your Strength or Constitution higher than normal (which I would use as an opportunity to revamp your Point Buy to dump the given stat hard for the sake or better other stats.
A bunch of other perfectly powerful/reasonable options

[Specter]

Forge Cleric / Fighter is an interesting one. Forge Cleric / Ranger is also interesting. Honestly, I think the base Ranger spells absolutely suck, I hate 'em. I think they do pretty piss-poor damage. But it'd help with spell slot progression more than Fighter. Forge 6 / Either Ranger or Fighter is fairly interesting. Not too big a fan of Forge's CD, but their other features are pretty great. Resistance to Fire and +2 AC is nothing to shake a stick at.

The way I see it, Ranger spells add a lot of strategic value to a Cleric. Youcan deal more damage on two attacks (Hunter's), restrain an enemy (Ensnaring), have a ranged 'smite' that can be upcast (Hail), be great at stealth (Pass Without Trace) and even enjoy some crowd control (Spike Growth). All of that while stillbeing a good warrior.

EDIT: Oh, and Goodberry. Goodberry today, Goodberry tomorrow, Goodberry forever.

[ciarannihill]

Magic Items -
Very Rare: Belt of Fire Giant's Strength
Rare: Flametongue Longsword
Uncommon: Cloak of Protection

Variant Human (Warcaster)
Point Buy:
8 (25) Str / 14 Dex / 15 (16) Con / 10 Int / 15 (16) Wis / 8 Cha

War Cleric 6 / Hunter Ranger 5

Duelist Fighting Style, Sword and Boarding, Plate Armor, Horde Breaker, 2 ASIs (Probably just +2 Wis for both)

When in melee with 2+ creatures you have +11 to hit for 1d8+2d6+9 per attack. Extra Attack, Hordebreaker and War Priest allow for 4 total attacks each turn if you want to use your bonus action -- if not, you can use that slot for Healing Word or other utility spells. When in melee you'll have 21 AC, and you can walk in with the woodchipper that is Spirit Guardians active.

Flametongue Longsword has the added benefit of mostly negating the Variant Human flaw of no Darkvision.

The magic items really allow the build to be more capable than it otherwise would be, though.

[Degwerks]

11 in Zeal Domain cleric with using a feat to get Booming Blade. Lots of healing and blasting

[Vogie]

I'd do a blend of Dream Druid and Ranger. Since UA is available, I'd suggest to use Revised Ranger for the stronger Favored Enemy option.

Any of the Ranger Archetypes would work, but I'd suggest Primeval Guardian - You'll have a strong transformation theme from both classes, extra attacks, amplified damage 1x/turn regardless of form as well as hunter's mark if you want to increase your damage.

If you want to go crazy, you could ask if you could assume a guardian form while wild shaped, which would be interesting. An Guardian Ape with a punching range of 10 feet and a pile of recurring THP would be hysterical. Note, You also can use your balm die healing while wild shaped, and to augment your myriad of Cure Wounds spell slots.

The core of what you want will come from Ranger 5 / Druid 2, but you'll probably want to choose PGR 8 / DD 3 if you want to be more focused on fighting (for the increased HP while in Guardian Form, and Fleet of Foot if using Revised ranger), or PGR 6 / DD 5 if you want more spell slots for healing.

Another option is to also mix a single level of Cleric in there to augment your healing Life cleric is the norm, as it makes your Cure Wounds more powerful, but I'd also ask you to consider Grave Cleric - the ranged, bonus action Spare the Dying, plus the Max-level Healing on those at 0 HP, will make sure you are cranking out serious healing even if your wisdom is low.

For that idea, you'd use PGR 7 / DD 3 / GC 1 (more gishy) or PGR 5 / DD 5 / GC 1 (more healing focused)

[Grod_The_Giant]

High Elf Level 7 EK Fighter/ Level 4 Thief Rogue.
Could use Purple Dragon Knight instead to trade power for more healing. Or swap High Elf for vHuman and trade a Rogue level for a Life Cleric 1 dip before continuing in Eldritch Knight for a bit more healing punch.

[Schopy]

Hi!

How about a Githzerai Ranger 5/War Cleric 4/Druid 2 with a +6 Wisdom Modifier (via Tome of Understanding (very rare item)) and using Shillelagh?

Extra Attack plus 6 times additional attack per long rest using your bonus action for the fighting part (1d8+8 dmg) and enough Spell Slots for the healing part.

The Medic feat can support your short rest healing.

Take the Staff of the Woodlands for your rare item as it is a +2 Quarterstaff with some additional support spells.

Depending on your DM regarding nonmetal heavy armor (or good medium armor) choose your armor accordingly (maybe as the uncommon item).

Choose Details (shield or no shield, etc.) to taste. ☺

[Citan]

Starting at level 11.

You must be able to heal. Like, decently heal. Not "I took Magic Initiate: Healing Word and can help once per day". You're not a dedicated healer, but you can certainly contribute.

Multiple weapon attacks.

Prefer not to be Charisma heavy, but if the build kicks a copious amount of booty, it is what it is.

All UA (EXCEPT Tranquility Monk and Lore Wizard) and books are available, though no Flying races.

Start with a Very Rare item, a Rare item, and one Uncommon item.

-----

I know its easy to say "Easy, Valor Bard", but this community is far more creative than that... Looking at you, Citan. :smalltongue:

EDIT: I'm sorry, I forgot to mention this... Healing Spirit has been banned from the table, unfortunately.
Heya, how are you?
I discovered quite a bit after the fact that I was invoked to this thread. XD

"Unfortunately", as far as "realistic from level 1" builds go, I think most classics have already been given.
Anything that combines Extra Attack or similarly efficient weapon attack with decent pool of healing as bonus action is a solid "Healing Gish" basically.

For dual-class that aims at a level 11 build, few things can best an Eldricht Knigt 10 / Life Cleric 1 that would then build up to EK 12 / Cleric 4 then see what's next.

I would like though to introduce you to a concept I didn't see quoted yet IIRC: Moon (or Shepherd/Land) Druid 2 / Arcane Trickster Rogue 9.
This build already has solid arguments:
- Arcane Trickster brings all that's great in a common Rogue + extra tankiness and Wizard exclusive utility thanks to spells (Booming Blade, Shield, Mage Armor, Comprehend Languages, Find Familiar, Invisibility, Sleep).
- Moon Druid brings extra mobility (Longstrider/Jump), the obvious Healing Words, plus Speak With Animals (make your own spy/guide army) and Faerie Fire, and on next level you will obviously go Druid 3 for Pass Without Trace, Heat Metal, Enhance Ability, Hold Person, Spike Growth.
AND obviously you get Wild Shape, which you can use in many, many, many great ways...

- Spy: rat form + Expertise in Stealth + Pass Without Trace + Comprehend Languages = auto-win.
- Support: Riding Horse + Cunning Action means you can safely bring to safety anyone on your team.
- Magical Ambush: set your place (see spy above), once Hidden and ready dismiss Wild Shape and cast Heat Metal / Spike Growth / whatever.
- Physical Ambush: same with Sneak Attack on Booming Blade.
- Double heal: Healer feat as an action on someone and Healing Words on someone else.
- Gish trademarked: Sneak Attack + Healing Words.

Fun things (primarily with Moon Druid): tag-team with another martial that is either very resilient or very mobile, so you can use a tiny form to "bootstrap" his high AC/HP (get inside his clothes) or mobility (do something then wild shape to go on his shoulder/back and wild shape back on your next turn).
Or Hide, cast Heat Metal, next turn Wild Shape and cast Sanctuary and tease your enemy by jumping around him like "Hit me if you can" or Grappling him using a Large, muscular form to force him to try and attack you at disadvantage or completely waste his action.

Shepherd has some argument for a ranged character, to ensure you can land a Sneak Attack at range without any help (reaction "grant advantage", be an Elf with Elven Accuracy on top of that and you're golden), Land Druid has also good arguments if you go more than 3 levels in Druid (sure, you could get spells like Haste or Slow by continuing Rogue, but going the Druid way means much more variety and many more slots).

Nice split could be Rogue 11 / Druid 9 or Rogue 15 / Druid 5 (Slippery Mind) or even something different like Rogue 11 / Druid 7 / whatever (Fighter 2 for Action Surge, Life Cleric for better healing, Tempest Cleric with Mountain's Lightning Bolt, Monk 1 for Unarmored as Wild Shape etc).

This is a very flavorful and thematic gish, for best or worse. :)

As for crazy builds that you could allow to make only if you directly start as a level 11... I'll speak of if that is actually what you're looking for. :)

[Spiritchaser]

- Spy: rat form + Expertise in Stealth + Pass Without Trace

This one is definitely cool.

I have a player who does this (exchanging rat for environmentally appropriate rodent as needed) and is virtually never spotted. Since his first experiments we’ve come up with a running “squirrel >> bear” joke

[xroads]

You could play up the role of a drunk doctor (Drunken Monk 7 / Life Cleric 4).


Life cleric gives you access to plenty of healing options. And Disciple of Life helps you get more bang for your buck.
Stopping at 4th lets you gain ASI at regular intervals (important for monks).
Drunken Monk lets you dance back forth across the battlefield, alternating between attacking and healing.

Probably not the most op healing gish builds. But would be a lot of fun. :smallbiggrin: