Is Mending Affinity good?

[Sirion8288]

Hey all,

I have a lv 11 blood hunter lycan and currently have the ability "Lycan Regeneration. At the start of each of your turns, before you roll for bloodlust, you regain hit points equal to 1 + your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1) if you have at least 1 hit point and no more than half of your hit points left."

For lv 12, I'm thinking about getting the feat Mending Affinity mainly for the following: "Whenever you regain hit points as a result of a spell, potion, or class ability, you regain additional hit points equal to your proficiency modifier."

This will bring my Con modifier to a +3; therefore, I will gain 8 hit points for free every turn (no action or bonus action required). Seems like a good idea for this battle royal series we are doing (doing a battle royal at every lvl and next one will be lv 12). Currently facing a monk, rogue, druid, and bard. I am wondering if Mending Affinity is worth it or if 8 hit points not that big of a thing for a battle royal series?

Thoughts?

[Mith]

My gut instinct is that it may not be, although 8 HP regen is nothing to sneeze at. If it was every round, I think that might be different, as it keeps your HP above the halfway threshold.

Then again, it is resource free (no actions spent either) healing, so I can see that just being useful in general. What is the average damage being done in a turn? ~30-40 HP? If Rage allows you to shrug off a lot of that damage, you are recovering about half of that the following turn.

I think it is an interesting choice to see how it plays out.

[MaxWilson]

This will bring my Con modifier to a +3; therefore, I will gain 8 hit points for free every turn (no action or bonus action required). Seems like a good idea for this battle royal series we are doing (doing a battle royal at every lvl and next one will be lv 12). Currently facing a monk, rogue, druid, and bard. I am wondering if Mending Affinity is worth it or if 8 hit points not that big of a thing for a battle royal series?

It sounds like you have only one fight per level ("battle royale"), is that right?

I was going to say "not worth it" but with that in mind, yeah, maybe it would be worth it. If you start getting low on HP you can Dodge while you regenerate, and the Mending Affinity HP might be enough to make the difference there (offsetting any lucky hits while using up the monk's ki). (Note: I'm not saying Dodge is necessarily a good idea. It depends on the monk's damage and strategy and your own offensive options.)

However, there are other feats I would take first. (Lucky comes to mind as a way to boost initiative, negate crits and help your Stunning Strike saves, as well as your saves against druid and bard spells.)

[Sirion8288]

It sounds like you have only one fight per level ("battle royale"), is that right?

I was going to say "not worth it" but with that in mind, yeah, maybe it would be worth it. If you start getting low on HP you can Dodge while you regenerate, and the Mending Affinity HP might be enough to make the difference there (offsetting any lucky hits while using up the monk's ki). (Note: I'm not saying Dodge is necessarily a good idea. It depends on the monk's damage and strategy and your own offensive options.)

However, there are other feats I would take first. (Lucky comes to mind as a way to boost initiative, negate crits and help your Stunning Strike saves, as well as your saves against druid and bard spells.)

Yup yup, single battle, then level up, then another battle, and repeat until lv20. I picked up the resilience feat and now have proficiency for CON saves; I no longer have to worry about the Monk's stunning strikes. I thought about getting the Lucky feat as well, cuz I have been failing all those damn Wis/Cha saving throws against those damn spells. I also thought about maybe the Tough feat, really get my life total up, though I will probably pick that up at lv19. Ya, Luck feat or Mending Affinity.

[MaxWilson]

Yup yup, single battle, then level up, then another battle, and repeat until lv20. I picked up the resilience feat and now have proficiency for CON saves; I no longer have to worry about the Monk's stunning strikes. I thought about getting the Lucky feat as well, cuz I have been failing all those damn Wis/Cha saving throws against those damn spells. I also thought about maybe the Tough feat, really get my life total up, though I will probably pick that up at lv19. Ya, Luck feat or Mending Affinity.

Even with +7 to Con saves, you've got just under 50/50 chance of failing against a level 12 monk's DC 17ish Stunning Strike, and he gets up to 4 attempts per turn. Even Lucky won't negate that completely, but Resilient by itself definitely is not enough. I don't know Blood Hunters at all though so maybe you have something that will help you there, like a fantastic AC + shield spells, or an extra bonus to saving throws. Otherwise I'd recommend Lucky. (And don't forget to use Lucky's initiative boost!)

[Dork_Forge]

Personally I'd skip it in favour of Tough, you'd gain 24 hp instead of just 8, enough hp to probably soak up an entire round before considering healing. Lycan Regeneration sounds great, but it only kicks in when you're under half health and even boosted it won't be enough to withstand round after round of attacks (especially with a Rogue in the mix presumably doing at least 7d6+5 per turn if they don't really try to boost their DPR).

If you're in a position where your regeneration has kicked in and you're not 1 v 1 on the road to taking down your last opponent then you're in trouble, you're a martial your HP are arguably your best defense.

Edit: Actually you've been fighting this for a while I assume, what's your win/loss look like and how are the others built and fighting?

Sounds like a super fun game too btw!

[Sirion8288]

Personally I'd skip it in favour of Tough, you'd gain 24 hp instead of just 8, enough hp to probably soak up an entire round before considering healing. Lycan Regeneration sounds great, but it only kicks in when you're under half health and even boosted it won't be enough to withstand round after round of attacks (especially with a Rogue in the mix presumably doing at least 7d6+5 per turn if they don't really try to boost their DPR).

If you're in a position where your regeneration has kicked in and you're not 1 v 1 on the road to taking down your last opponent then you're in trouble, you're a martial your HP are arguably your best defense.

Edit: Actually you've been fighting this for a while I assume, what's your win/loss look like and how are the others built and fighting?

Sounds like a super fun game too btw!

That is a concern about Mending Affinity, it wont provide much healing, all the while the other players are throwing out these huge spells and big attacks (everything resets for each Battle Royal), so I'm getting hit hard while my dude is a bit more of a consistent DPSer (no major abilities to blow through). However, if I beat the person I am in contention with, I have a solid 2-3 rounds before I get to the other combatants. That is potentially 16-24 health I just regained *shrug*

Also, Lucky is banned by the DM, just realized that. Figured that would be too OP, having three free rerolls every battle that resets.

[Dork_Forge]

That is a concern about Mending Affinity, it wont provide much healing, all the while the other players are throwing out these huge spells and big attacks (everything resets for each Battle Royal), so I'm getting hit hard while my dude is a bit more of a consistent DPSer (no major abilities to blow through). However, if I beat the person I am in contention with, I have a solid 2-3 rounds before I get to the other combatants. That is potentially 16-24 health I just regained *shrug*

Also, Lucky is banned by the DM, just realized that. Figured that would be too OP, having three free rerolls every battle that resets.

Wait, so it's not a Royale then? You fight 1v1 with someone then get a small break of a few rounds?

And what Maledicts did you take etc?

I still rate Tough highly just for being able to withstand the nova of the otherguy, in PvP there's two types of builds, the slow and steady and the Nova the mediocre. If as a slow and steady type you can weather the nova then it's basically in the bag.

[Sirion8288]

Wait, so it's not a Royale then? You fight 1v1 with someone then get a small break of a few rounds?

And what Maledicts did you take etc?

I still rate Tough highly just for being able to withstand the nova of the otherguy, in PvP there's two types of builds, the slow and steady and the Nova the mediocre. If as a slow and steady type you can weather the nova then it's basically in the bag.

It is a battle royal, just the maps are huge. Usually a couple people square off, and then the winner runs towards the other winner/couple still battling.

I took the following: Blood Curse of Bloated Agony, Blood Curse of the Eyeless, Blood Curse of Binding.

Interesting point, with Blood Curse of Bloated Agony, the person has dis on STR and DEX ability checks. Maybe I should go the Grappler feat and get that advantage on all attacks? That could be interesting.

[Dork_Forge]

It is a battle royal, just the maps are huge. Usually a couple people square off, and then the winner runs towards the other winner/couple still battling.

I took the following: Blood Curse of Bloated Agony, Blood Curse of the Eyeless, Blood Curse of Binding.

Interesting point, with Blood Curse of Bloated Agony, the person has dis on STR and DEX ability checks. Maybe I should go the Grappler feat and get that advantage on all attacks? That could be interesting.

Ohh gotcha, personally I wouldn't bother with grappling unless you're fighting a hit and run character (at which point you can just grapple like normal wihtout the feat), you'd be better off just attacking. Every hit makes the fight shorter and forces concentration saves never mind the psychological effects of the enemy losing hp in pvp where they have no back up.

[Sirion8288]

Ohh gotcha, personally I wouldn't bother with grappling unless you're fighting a hit and run character (at which point you can just grapple like normal wihtout the feat), you'd be better off just attacking. Every hit makes the fight shorter and forces concentration saves never mind the psychological effects of the enemy losing hp in pvp where they have no back up.

Well, that brings me back to maybe picking up Mending Affinity. It will bump up my CON modifier (add some extra health), give me some free healing every turn if I am below half health (though, lot of times people one shot at that point), and help with those saving throws against the Monk's stunning strikes. Tough would add a lot of health though...but that's it.

[Dork_Forge]

Well, that brings me back to maybe picking up Mending Affinity. It will bump up my CON modifier (add some extra health), give me some free healing every turn if I am below half health (though, lot of times people one shot at that point), and help with those saving throws against the Monk's stunning strikes. Tough would add a lot of health though...but that's it.

I see it breaking down this way:

If you're worried about stunning strike (I wouldn't be that worried about it if this typically goes down 1v1, the Monk can't put out enough damage on subsequent attacks to capitalise on it) you'd be better off taking Res:Con.

If you're worried about staying power over the long term, Mending Affinity is probably a decent choice.

If you're worried about big hits then Tough is the winner, it's also worth noting that it would increase what your half hp would be, meaning you would benefit Lycan Regen from a numerically higher threshold (you'd be able to soak bigger hits and it regen would trigger 6hp earlier and have a wider range for it to be active within, getting more out of the ability in a different way).

[Sirion8288]

I see it breaking down this way:

If you're worried about stunning strike (I wouldn't be that worried about it if this typically goes down 1v1, the Monk can't put out enough damage on subsequent attacks to capitalise on it) you'd be better off taking Res:Con.

If you're worried about staying power over the long term, Mending Affinity is probably a decent choice.

If you're worried about big hits then Tough is the winner, it's also worth noting that it would increase what your half hp would be, meaning you would benefit Lycan Regen from a numerically higher threshold (you'd be able to soak bigger hits and it regen would trigger 6hp earlier and have a wider range for it to be active within, getting more out of the ability in a different way).

Well, if I am going to be worried, it's against the casters. Got a regular Bard player, and a Druid and Sorcerer sometimes for these battle royals. The casters usually win. I can't do anything against someone who casts greater invisibility, runs around invisible, and casts these ultra powerful spells. They usually win :P

[Sirion8288]

Edit: Actually you've been fighting this for a while I assume, what's your win/loss look like and how are the others built and fighting?

Sounds like a super fun game too btw!

Was doing very well in the early levels, but then the spell casters came online. Can't do anything against someone who sits invisible while the others kill themselves...let alone when they cast greater invisibility and now runs around invisible and casts use balls of fire. :P

[Dork_Forge]

Was doing very well in the early levels, but then the spell casters came online. Can't do anything against someone who sits invisible while the others kill themselves...let alone when they cast greater invisibility and now runs around invisible and casts use balls of fire. :P

How you describes that worries me, there's nothing stopping you killing an invisible caster, they need to be both invisible and successfully hide to not be known by you. So you'd just be attacking at disadvantage, which if fine since you're mostly looking to force saves and pressure them.

[Sirion8288]

How you describes that worries me, there's nothing stopping you killing an invisible caster, they need to be both invisible and successfully hide to not be known by you. So you'd just be attacking at disadvantage, which if fine since you're mostly looking to force saves and pressure them.

Yup yup. Sometimes I am able to hit and get em to lose concentration, other times nope.