New player archivist: buffer & healer

[RaijinKnight]

So I've got a friend on our table who's fairly new and wants to play an archivist. She wants to be a healer, and then I suggested adding buffing onto that.

I've looked at the archivists handbook, but I don't feel experienced enough to suggest a "daily loadout" for her to prepare, with one or two swing slots to change to fit the day. Does anyone have a standard layout of spells she can use? I'm not talking spells known, as I've seen those on the handbook. Just basic, good, spells she can prepare most days. (preferably nothing too complex or cheesy)

Relevant information. Party level 8, I'm playing a druid/planar shepherd, focusing on battlefield control spells. We have a damage dealing sorcerer, an archer ranger and a warblade weretiger. All books are allowed, but if our dm sees something is too OP she bans it (planar shepherd's plane was carefully chosen to allow me to play the class). In general we're a chilled group though, so keeping something very good in reserve and knowing when you really need it isn't too bad.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[Fynzmirs]

If she is new, I would consider Healing Lorecall. Maybe it's not a very good spell, but casting it before fight can change all your healing spells into a weak cleansing spells. Also may boost her healing a bit, if she has points to spare on ranks in Heal. Plus, it takes only a 1st level slot in ranger version...

But you know, healing in combat isn't that good. Many people completely dislike playing "healbots". And if she insists, fast healing is always an option. But I don't know many spells that grant Fast healing. Maybe Vigor?

[BowStreetRunner]

A healer should be prepared to deal not merely with hit point loss, but also all of those other annoying conditions. An archivist should be able to get Lesser Restoration as a 1st level spell (from Paladin) and Restoration as a 3rd level spell (from Healer). Break Enchantment can also be grabbed as a 3rd level spell (from Trapsmith). Panacea is a good multi-use healing spell for the 4th level slot.

The Touch of Healing feat can go a long way to making an Archivist's healing job easier during combat without draining all of his spells, while a custom unlimited-use item of Cure Minor Wounds is an inexpensive way to fully replenish a party's hit points between encounters - saving both spell slots and expendable items.

[RaijinKnight]

Thanks for the healing lore call suggestion, neither of us have noticed it somehow.

I've seen people saying playing a healer isn't that fun, that's why I suggested she added buffing. I'll make sure she adds restoration too, and especially break enchantment.

So thus far...

0.

1. Lesser restoration
Healing lorecall
Shield of faith

2.

3. Restoration
Darkfire (For when she wants to do some damage)

4. Break enchantment
Shield of faith mass

I've added Darkfire and shield of faith, are those good options? Also, is buffing enough for in combat? She will have a domain staff of healing, so she doesn't need to prepare healing spells. I'll swing the unlimited cure minor wounds item by our gm and hear if it's okay. Thanks!

[BlackOnyx]

I play a cloistered cleric in my current campaign with a similar bent (buffing, debuffing, and a bit of battlefield control).


I'm with you on the idea of creating a default loadout; maintaining a spreadsheet on my laptop has worked well for me. Every time our party wakes, I just make a copy of the tab and swap out any specific spells I feel I might have need for on that particular day.


That said, some basic cleric buffs/utilities that might be relevant to your inquiry:


Level 0
- Message (Useful for scouting/directing others in combat)
- Read Magic (Handy when you need it)
- Detect Magic (Always useful)


Level 1
- Resurgence (allow creature re-roll on failed save vs. ongoing effect)
- Comprehend Languages (Utility)
- Bless (+1 morale to all allies)
- Bane (-1 morale to all enemies)
- Blessed Aim (+2 ranged attacks to all allies, depends on your party comp)


Level 2
- Silence (Utility/control)
- Elation (+2str/dex, +5' movement, morale bonus to all allies)
- Avoid Planar Effects (relevant if parties do a lot of plane hopping, immediate action)


Level 3
- Resist Energy, Mass (can be typed to fire, cold, acid, or electricity, up to 30 resistance at level 11)
- Prayer (+1 allies, -1 enemies luck bonus, stacks with morale)
- Dispel Magic (always useful)
- Mass Aid (+1 morale bonus to allies, 1d8+CL temporary hp)


Level 4
- Delay Death (immediate action, keeps ally from dying from hp damage)
- Death Ward
- Recitation (+2 allies, -2 enemies luck bonus)
- Freedom of Movement (useful vs. big monsters w/ improved grab)

[BlackOnyx]

Also, considering that last bit you mentioned in the post above:



I've added Darkfire and shield of faith, are those good options?


The duration on Darkfire is nice. At higher levels it might not be particularly potent, but at this point in the game it keeps the caster relevant for more than one round. Should be fun for a new player looking to do some classic blasting.


Depending on what armor she has, Shield of Faith might be better replaced with Magic Vestment. It's a higher level spell (3rd), but the duration is in hours per level. Taking a turn in combat just to raise the AC of a single ranged caster can sometimes be a bit of a waste.


That said, Shield of Faith is low level and certainly useful if you can activate it before diving into combat. See what works best and go from there.


Also, Mass Shield of Faith is a 4th level cleric spell, but it has the benefit of affecting *everyone* in the party.



Also, is buffing enough for in combat?


In my experience, a dedicated buffer can do wonders with the right group. Negating damage/status effects and increasing ally to-hit can generally increase party effectiveness far more than just tossing in another damage dealer.


That said, different players have different tolerances for playing support. Some might feel left out if they see their martial or blaster friends taking all the glory. Prepping a summon spell or two (the Conjure Ice Beast X spells are surprisingly good at lower levels) can allow a buffer/healer the chance to make attack rolls like the party fighter (or warblade). A good option if you want to liven up your turns a bit.



She will have a domain staff of healing, so she doesn't need to prepare healing spells. I'll swing the unlimited cure minor wounds item by our gm and hear if it's okay. Thanks!


This is the way to go. Leaving the healing to magic items allows you to focus on the spells that keep the damage from happening in the first place.

[Fizban]

If you want to heal, you want Augment Healing. Archivists don't get domains so you're short the (even more significant) Imbued Healing [Healing], and can't use Divine Ward. Perhaps more importantly, Archivists lack the ability to spontaneously convert to cures, which means much less room to bring redundant or specialized buffs- the Spontaneous Healing feat gets you around that well enough (or the domain staff I suppose). With built in Scribe Scroll you can/should offload a lot of spells that don't care about caster level or saving throw onto scrolls in addition to the usual wands, which changes what you'd prepare quite a bit.

1st: Remove Fear, Shield of Faith, Conviction, and Command are all good and want plenty of CL/DC. I ban Conviction myself, but if it's allowed then Conviction x4 is stronk.

2nd: Close Wounds x2+ is about all I'd say 100%. Most of the 2nd level spells are very situational, you'd leave most of these open for daily customization. A Spiritual Weapon or two is nice for a little something to do. Augmented Estanna's Stew is healing you can divide around, or just some Cure Mods. Lesser Restoration if you expect to take the ability damage before being able to buff against it, but at this level you can buy the Orbs of Bodily/Mental renewal.

3rd: Insignia of Healing x1-2, Magic Circle, Mass Resist Energy, Stone Shape, Dispel Magic. Invest Moderate Protection if you want to get fancy.

4th: Mass Shield of Faith, Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Panacea, Delay Death

5th: Healing Circle, Spell Resistance, True Seeing, Invest Heavy Protection for fancy.

[Zaq]

Archivists can’t spontaneously convert to healing spells out of the gate, and a new player might have a tricky time guessing in advance how many actual Cure spells to prep. (Even a veteran might have difficulty with this, to be honest.)

If a significant amount of healing is expected/intended to come out of the Archivist’s slots instead of out of magic items, I agree with Fizban that it might be worthwhile to take Spontaneous Healer from CDiv. As others have mentioned, it’s generally wise for most HP recovery to be handled by items rather than by actual slots, but we work with what we’re given.

If for some reason the player is extraordinarily fond of actual Cure spells, Mastery of Day and Night (pretty sure that’s in PGtE?) is a strong feat for that play style, but you might not want to encourage that too much.

For the actual “standard load” to prep on most days, I would say shoot for a mix of all-day buffs and short-term problem solvers. The all-day buffs ensure that there’s always going to be a certain baseline of utility brought to the table, and the short-term stuff helps give the player something to do when their turn comes up.

[RaijinKnight]

Thanks for all the advice! I gave her the thread to read, and we compiled her a list of spells. What we found was that Recitation and Bane/Bless worked AMAZING with my battlefield control spells. There was only one incident outside of the boss fight where we got damage, and that was when I wasn't using a battlefield control spell. Entangle + Recitation works really really well. It allowed her to stay outside of melee range and use darkfire, while the other member who was present for the session (weretiger warblade) managed to ignore my entangle due to having a high DEX and the bonus from Recitation.

We'll see how she feels about playing a support roll, but for now we have a few great basics. She has Recitation as 3rd level through the domain, and then uses Darkfire (also third level), so we got her two Pearls of Power for the 3rd level.

The prepare list she used was something like this:
1.
Bless
Bane
Shield of Faith
Healing Lorecall

2.
Silence
Elation
Sound burst *2 (In hindsight she said she would rather prepare a second silence or elation)

3.
Darkfire
Darkfire
Recitation (would also prepare a second one here)
Prayer
Dispel Magic

4.
Delay Death
Death Ward
(Not sure about the rest).

Overall, it was a great session. Thanks for all the help!