Paladin as the Healer

[blackjack50]

I am just wondering. How well does the paladin fill that role to y’all with play experience?

[stoutstien]

Depends on the rest of the party makeup and play style.

They are good at certain condition removal and have a very effective and efficient pool of healing with lay on hands but it's not action economy friendly. They also can be built to provide lots of mitigation and avoidance with auras and spells so if a player goes all in as a support pally (IMO the best way to play them) they can be a fantastic healer by proxy.
It takes some planning to make sure you can balance spell slots on the half caster frame to keep them running all day but they are a blast to play this way.

[CheddarChampion]

You don't need a healer like in World of Warcraft.

As far as answering the question goes, healing isn't one of the paladin's strengths. The best healing you can do in combat is one big heal (Lay on Hands) per long rest.
You have a more limited amount of spell slots than a full caster. Each of your healing spells costs a higher portion of your resources and will be less effective than a bard's/cleric's/druid's spells.

At levels 2-4 you have Cure Wounds: 1d8+Cha healing as your action, and you have to be within 5 feet of your target. If you're in combat this uses your full turn.

At level 5 you also get Aid: 5 HP to 3 different creatures. Good if you have 2 or more downed allies, kinda underwhelming otherwise. How much is 5 HP worth at level 5 and higher?
You also get Prayer of Healing: a good amount of healing for its spell slot level, but if you have 10 minutes you might have enough time for a short rest. Creatures using their own HD to heal is better.

At level 9 you get Aura of Vitality: lots of HP overall. However this uses your action and bonus action on turn one, your concentration, and your bonus actions thereafter. In combat this might last 3-4 turns before your concentration is broken. Out of combat this is quite good: 10d6 (35) HP for a 3rd level slot over the course of a minute.
You also get Revivify, this is really good when you need it. You really want to avoid situations where you need it though.

At level 13 you get higher level spell slots but no new healing spells. Your only spells that scale with spell slots are Cure Wounds and Aid... 4d8+Cha healing or 15 HP to 3 different creatures. Aid is decent here but your 4th level spell slots are better spent on other spells.

At level 17 you get Raise Dead: same deal as Revivify.
You also get Summon Celestial, which can heal once. But 2d8+5 healing for a 5th level spell slot isn't worth keeping in mind.
Overall a Paladin is better off at trying to use defensive spells/abilities to mitigate damage and smiting things that pose a threat. That will carry your party to victory much better than using your turns to give underwhelming healing.

[OldTrees1]

I ran an Ancients Paladin as the party's Healer.

In the Princes of the Apocalypse module I ran a 2:1 Paladin:Warlock multiclass from Tier 1 to Tier 3. Here is what I learned:

1) Inspiring Leader is AMAZING. Lay on Hands can save people from dying. Between those details, hit dice, and spell slots I found I had more than enough hp healing as a Paladin. Since we ran long days, I would use Aid as a replacement Mass Healing Word rather than as another layer of Inspiring Leader. Be warned, you don't get bonus action healing until Aura of Vitality, so when things get deadly you might not have actions to spare.

2) Paladin, especially multiclass Paladin, can cure many aliments, but maybe not as early as you need it. We ran into a curse that disabled one PC and had to trek back to town to remove the curse because my Paladin did not know remove curse yet. I feared Greater Restoration would have similar issues in Tier 3 but Aura of Protection prevented it from being an issue.

In conclusion: Paladin almost works as a healer, but it is a bit slow to learn how to cure conditions. That might be good enough for your group (my group survived).

[Kane0]

Paladin isn't the best Healer, but it is A healer. Lay on Hands doesn't use spell slots and you can specify how much to heal but does take your action and isn't a huge pool to work with. You do get access to healing spells but are a half caster so it's a slow progression and fewer slots to work with even before you start burning them on smites. Oaths of Crown, Redemption and Glory give you some things that help out as well.

You can take races and feats that also contribute to healing or providing Temporary HP which also makes a significant difference but those aren't to do with being a Paladin specifically.

[ColonelHero]

I've always wanted to try a Paladin as a main healer. It seems like Lay on Hands is perfect for yo-yo healing as you only need to use one point to get someone back up. The fact that it is an action has always dissuaded me.

[OldTrees1]

I've always wanted to try a Paladin as a main healer. It seems like Lay on Hands is perfect for yo-yo healing as you only need to use one point to get someone back up. The fact that it is an action has always dissuaded me.

In my case my Paladin was an Auradin. Their role in the party was to give inspiring speeches and to stand in the right places. Since I did not presume my actions would be attacks, it did not bother me that Lay on Hands / Cure Wounds were actions. What did bother me was I could only revive 1 person per turn. Aid works to revive multiple people but only works once. Aura of Vitality is worth mentioning for the bonus action healing, but it costs a 3rd level slot (which could be saved for revivify).

So it depends on the expectations you place on your actions.

[HolyAvenger7]

It also has great synergy with Divine Soul Sorcerer, so a multiclass can assist with healing spells and spell slots. Sorcadin is arguably the most formidable GISH out there. As far as LoH, unless someone goes down in combat you're not worried about the action economy. The multiclass allows bonus action heals if you are in combat.

[smrvl]

As others have said, great emergency healer, but hard to sustain as a long-time primary healer. That said, 5E doesn't need a strict healer role in the same way. In the game I'm running, healing has been split between a paladin, a divine soul sorcerer, and a celestial patron warlock, and for the LIFE of me I can't kill those players, no matter how much I try!!

[5eNeedsDarksun]

I often see Lay on Hands referred to as not great in the action economy. We've found it's one of the few healing resources that gets used in combat because of the amount of healing that can be done for a single action. Our paladins have often fought until they are in trouble, then bam: 50 extra hp at 10th level.

[OldTrees1]

I often see Lay on Hands referred to as not great in the action economy. We've found it's one of the few healing resources that gets used in combat because of the amount of healing that can be done for a single action. Our paladins have often fought until they are in trouble, then bam: 50 extra hp at 10th level.

This depends on if the Paladin is healing multiple times in combat, or if they treat Lay on Hands as a 1/day Heal spell. I found myself using Lay on Hands as Revive for 1 in combat, Heal back to full out of combat, single big heal in combat per day.

Sort of like I partitioned my Lay on Hands out to 10hp for revive, 10hp for topping people off after healing spells, the rest as a single emergency heal.

So while Lay On Hands can take a lot of actions, I never felt it was inefficient. At the worst I was trading 1 of my Actions (I am a Paladin, my presence is more important than my actions) in exchange for giving another character another turn.

[Nidgit]

This is similar to how I use Lay On Hands. 6-11 HP saved for emergency revives and poison cures and the rest as one big chunk of in-combat healing. A Paladin is extremely efficient at picking someone off the ground since combat is over, but to make the most of Lay On Hands you want to use the bulk of it in one go.

To reiterate what everyone else is saying, a Paladin doesn't want to be the primary healer and until Level 9 lacks ranged healing. However, they can nicely complement basically any other class with healing besides a Ranger.

[JonBeowulf]

I think the paladin has other things that better contribute to success. My paladin adhered to the tenants of "dead things take no actions". I guess you could call that preventative healing.

Using LoH to remove a condition or get someone up (if really necessary) was sufficient. I cast a cure spell exactly once... because the optimizer at the table looked at me like a disappointed father. "You could have done double that number in damage!"

[OldTrees1]

Some Paladins do want to be the party's primary healer. I suggest Ancients Paladin to allow the party to be in fireball formation.

They can take Inspiring Leader, reserve their spell slots for protective magic / remedies, and be willing to lay on hands in combat.

They will want to understand that Lesser Restoration, Remove Curse, Revivify, Death Ward, and Greater Restoration (not even on your list!?!!?) will be delayed. This can be a deal breaker. Or it could be fine. My party survived when Lux (Paladin 2X /Warlock X) was the sole healer. We only had 1-2 cases where I did not know the right remedy spell.