Healing Options for a Monk?

[Palanan]

Are there any options that allow a monk to be an effective healer? I’m aware of the Healing Hand archetype, but that seems a little limited, and I’d like to know if there are other archetypes which lean into the healing a little more.

I’m open to all official Paizo content, and I’d like to keep this in Pathfinder for now. Is there anything that would support the concept of a monk focused on healing?

[Rynjin]

Disciple of Wholeness (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/monk/archetypes/paizo-monk-archetypes/disciple-of-wholeness) isn't too bad.

Also, the combination of Healer's Hands (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/conduit-feats/healers-hands-conduit/) and Incredible Healer (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/feats/general-feats/incredible-healer/) can turn anyone with a solid Heal check and max ranks in Kn. Planes into a powerhouse healer.

[Heavenblade]

Are you looking for an HP healer specifically? Quiggong (for sure Im misspelling it now) monks can take placebo effect and lesser restoration as ki powers to take care of lots of status effects

[Rynjin]

Are you looking for an HP healer specifically? Quiggong (for sure Im misspelling it now) monks can take placebo effect and lesser restoration as ki powers to take care of lots of status effects

Qinggong is a good option, but it's also essentially the base Monk; due to the way Qinggong works it's compatible with every single other archetype (except Martial Artist, which lacks a Ki Pool) and can be taken at any level after character creation (little known rule: you don't need to pick an archetype at level 1; you don't take it until the level when it would replace an ability you normally get).

[animewatcha]

One thing I always wondered. What is to stop a Disciple of Wholeness from spending ki points on himself to grant immunity to poison/disease and bypassing the undamaged requirement?

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Rynjin
Disciple of Wholeness isn't too bad.

That does look like an interesting option, though still a little on the mild side.

The feats look good, although I don’t have a sense of how situational they might be. Also not sure if those two feats would work directly with Disciple of Wholeness, since they seem to be keyed to skills rather than ki.


Originally Posted by Heavenblade
Are you looking for an HP healer specifically? Quiggong (for sure Im misspelling it now) monks can take placebo effect and lesser restoration as ki powers to take care of lots of status effects

Quinggong does seem best suited for removing status effects. Does it have any direct healing options that I managed to overlook?

[Rynjin]

That does look like an interesting option, though still a little on the mild side.

The feats look good, although I don’t have a sense of how situational they might be. Also not sure if those two feats would work directly with Disciple of Wholeness, since they seem to be keyed to skills rather than ki.

The good thing about the Feats is they work regardless of archetype. Or class, for that matter; Commoner works as well as others. The only requirement is a high Heal skill and ranks equal to your level in Kn. Planes.

So level/day times, you get what is essentially a full heal. At level 9 or 10 I had a character that could consistently slam out around 90 HP worth of healing per charge.

[animewatcha]

Since it would be within the topic aspects of this thread, what is your build for this character that could do that much healing per charge?

[Rynjin]

Abe no Toshiro, Animist Shaman. (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1783390)

Minimum roll 30, exceeds DC by 10. Produces 30 (Heal result)+10 (Kn. Planes ranks)+7 (Wis stat for exceeding DC by 5) = 47 minimum. Been a while since I played this character. One guy in the party had something that bass boosted incoming healing I think, which affected my perception of the healing amount, but still, minimum 47 damage is good.

[upho]

Abe no Toshiro, Animist Shaman. (https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheet.html#id=1783390)

Minimum roll 30, exceeds DC by 10. Produces 30 (Heal result)+10 (Kn. Planes ranks)+7 (Wis stat for exceeding DC by 5) = 47 minimum.I believe this is incorrect. With Incredible Healer, you heal (my emphasis):

"hit points equal to either the result of your Heal check or the normal amount, whichever is higher"

The normal amount you heal is [1 hp/creature level, +Wis mod if DC exceeded by 5+]. So in this case, you'd end up with a minimum of 40 hp healed, not 47. Incredible Healer does stack with Healing Hands though, since Healing Hands only adds to whatever formula is used to calculate the amount otherwise healed.

And regardless, by 10th level with a +7 Wis mod, Signature Skill (Heal) is going to be superior to Incredible Healer, as it changes the normal amount you heal to [4 hp/creature level, +Wis mod if DC exceeded by 5+]. So even without Healing Hands and even if your minimum check only supersedes the DC 20 by 5+, the minimum you'll heal with Signature Skill is greater than with Incredible Healer (which doesn't stack with Signature Skill):

40 (4 hp/creature level), +7 (Wis mod for exceeding DC by 5) = 47 minimum.

And with Healing Hands, 10 ranks in Know (planes) and a 30+ check result:

40 (4 hp/creature level), +7 (Wis mod for exceeding DC by 5), +10 (Know (planes) ranks) = 57 minimum.

IOW, for Incredible Healer to be superior to Signature Skill (Heal) at 10th level, your Heal check needs to be greater than [40 + Wis mod]. And this is on top of Signature Skill also allowing the "treat deadly wounds" action to heal ability damage with only 5 ranks in Heal.

...

@ Palanan: Signature Skill (Heal) is typically far superior to Incredible Healer by 10th level, especially if you have a decent Wis mod. Incredible Healer can however be worth it during earlier levels.

Note that you'll of course want Healing Hands and plenty of ranks in Know (planes) regardless, even if you don't pump your Heal skill high enough to always get a minimum 30 check result, since the main benefit of the feat is allowing you to treat deadly wounds on the same creature more than once per day (and as a full-round action without penalties from not having a healer's kit).

The combo of Signature Skill, Healing Hands and max ranks in Heal and Know (planes) allows for hp healing far superior to that of any monk class/archetype features AFAIK.