Help Rebuilding Character to Avoid Retiring at lv6

[Bromley20]

In our most recent session, my healer lost spellcasting from using a disjunction scroll on an artifact and I'm trying to find a decent replacement class to take or retrain into. The campaign is set in Eberron but the DM is pretty lenient and allows all books (dragon mag is a case by case basis though). I was the party's meat shield, healer, buffer, and debuff remover. It obviously gets difficult to fill those roles when you are primarily a casting class who can no longer cast. Currently considering going into crusader so I still can provide some healing and be a meat shield with Devoted Spirit while buffing with White Raven. Any suggestions for classes and feats that could help me still fill some of those roles would be appreciated. I know I have at least one feat that I will need to retrain but I'm open to changing up more.


Current Character Info:
Race: Strongheart Halfling
Class: Healer 6
Alignment: NG

Str: 13
Dex: 15
Con: 19
Int: 16
Wis: 18
Cha: 16

Feats:
Strongheart bonus: Least Dragonmark of Healing (Lesser Restoration)
Flaw 1 Bonus: Nimbus of Light
Flaw 2 Bonus: Stigmata
1: Skill Focus (Heal) (Retrain to Intuitive Attack?)
Healer 2: Invigorating Spellcaster
3: Draconic Aura - Vigor
6: Leadership

Party Members:
Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Bard, Sorcerer, Fighter

[Beni-Kujaku]

In our most recent session, my healer lost spellcasting from using a disjunction scroll on an artifact and I'm trying to find a decent replacement class to take or retrain into. The campaign is set in Eberron but the DM is pretty lenient and allows all books (dragon mag is a case by case basis though). I was the party's meat shield, healer, buffer, and debuff remover. It obviously gets difficult to fill those roles when you are primarily a casting class who can no longer cast. Currently considering going into crusader so I still can provide some healing and be a meat shield with Devoted Spirit while buffing with White Raven. Any suggestions for classes and feats that could help me still fill some of those roles would be appreciated. I know I have at least one feat that I will need to retrain but I'm open to changing up more.


Current Character Info:
Race: Strongheart Halfling
Class: Healer 6
Alignment: NG

Str: 13
Dex: 15
Con: 19
Int: 16
Wis: 18
Cha: 16

Feats:
Strongheart bonus: Least Dragonmark of Healing (Lesser Restoration)
Flaw 1 Bonus: Nimbus of Light
Flaw 2 Bonus: Stigmata
1: Skill Focus (Heal) (Retrain to Intuitive Attack?)
Healer 2: Invigorating Spellcaster
3: Draconic Aura - Vigor
6: Leadership

Party Members:
Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Bard, Sorcerer, Fighter

Those are chonky stats you've got there, especially for a level 6. The rest of the group has the same?
I'm pretty sure you can't retrain Skill Focus(Heal) without losing access to Invigorating Spellcaster.
What cohort/followers do you have? They will probably be pretty important to your new build.
A paladin or a crusader would indeed help you fill some of these roles, by complementing the SLAs you still have from Healer. Are you banned from spellcasting forever? If not, then a simple cleric (not cloistered) is probably your best pick to be both a designated healer and a good tank.

[Bromley20]

Those are chonky stats you've got there, especially for a level 6. The rest of the group has the same?
I'm pretty sure you can't retrain Skill Focus(Heal) without losing access to Invigorating Spellcaster.
What cohort/followers do you have? They will probably be pretty important to your new build.
A paladin or a crusader would indeed help you fill some of these roles, by complementing the SLAs you still have from Healer. Are you banned from spellcasting forever? If not, then a simple cleric (not cloistered) is probably your best pick to be both a designated healer and a good tank.

I'm not sure on the exact stats for the rest of the party but I do know our fighter has a strength around 24, and all the casters have their respective casting stats at 18-20. I got very lucky when rolling stats so I am thankfully pretty free with class choices.

If I do retrain Skill Focus to something else, I would also change out my levels in healer to a different class so I would lose Invigorating Spellcaster anyway. I'm not super concerned about losing what is effectively a dead feat for now.

Currently, my followers are level 1-3 Healers that I was training to work at a charity hospital I plan on building eventually. My cohort is a level 4 Artificer to build a few magic items for the hospital and handle crafting for the party while we head out on jobs.

As for whether I am banned from casting forever, I still don't know for sure. Based on the wording in disjunction, it seems like I wouldn't be able to just jump into cleric and gain spells again since Wish can't even get you spellcasting again. I'm still working with the DM to see how to proceed on that issue but we have plenty of time to get it figured out. We have a month or so before our next session and probably closer to 2 months before we make it out of our current dungeon and I can start retraining everything. For now, I am just working under the assumption that I am permanently banned from gaining spellcasting in the future.

[Tiktakkat]

How about dragon shaman?
Pick up caduceus bracers to expand your touch of vitality, and use the auras for buffing.
Grab the shamanic invocation ACF and get a dragonfire adept invocation for another buff.
It is not full spellcasting, but it should cover everything you are doing now.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Assuming losing spellcasting doesn't also preclude psionic manifesting, how about going Ardent with the Life mantle? Just be sure to use Substitute Powers (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) to get a few more choices if a mantle skips one or more levels. I think this would actually be a perfect fit. Get the Life mantle for your previous profession, Destruction for how you came upon this path, and Magic mantle for both your previous profession and current events. Probably also take the Freedom or Guardian or Time mantle, or whatever else looks fitting and can give you some beneficial powers.

Get Psicrystal Affinity and pick up Share Pain and Vigor, whether via a mantle like Physical Power, or Substitute Powers, or by taking Expanded Knowledge. Give your psicrystal a Healing Belt from MIC, and it can use that on you during combat when needed. Keep it in a compartment on your person so opponents never have line of sight/effect to it and can't target it directly or hit it with area effects. Always keep Share Pain active on it, and keep in mind that its Hardness 8 applies to every instance of damage it takes from Share Pain. Use Vigor and share it with the psicrystal for a huge hp cushion.

I'd also go for Wild Cohort (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/re/20031118a) for a (Magebred?) Riding Dog with a trip attack, also add Warbeast to it if possible, and max out Ride. (Note that only Druids and Rangers are prohibited from gaining magebred animals as companions, you'll have levels in neither of those.) The Natural World mantle will give you wild empathy like a Druid or Ranger if you're into that.

[Telonius]

Okay, so DM seems lenient and willing to work with you. Here's the part of Disjunction that you need to look closely at:


Additionally, if an artifact is destroyed, you must make a DC 25 Will save or permanently lose all spellcasting abilities. (These abilities cannot be recovered by mortal magic, not even miracle or wish.)

So your healer (I'm assuming Cleric here) had to destroy an Artifact. Presumably, this was somehow in the service of your deity's interests.

This is not a penalty. This is a plot hook. So, no mortal magic can fix it? That means immortal magic might be able to. You've already near-certainly attracted the attention of "powerful beings" with an interest in the artifact, and you just made a pretty major sacrifice in the service of your god. So, see if you can call in some favors in-game. They might require a quest or two, but you're not necessarily de-magicked forever. Talk with the DM to see if you can work something out.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

So your healer (I'm assuming Cleric here)

Healer class in Miniatures Handbook. Took Skill Focus (Heal) at 1st, so when he would have gained that as a bonus feat at Healer 2, he was instead able to take Invigorating Spellcaster.

[Particle_Man]

Crusader is indeed a good bet (Heal people through hitting bad guys! And "thicket of blades" is a meat shield's best friend). If you want an "out there" idea, you could try Incarnate, since you are NG.

[Gruftzwerg]

Consider turning to the "dark side" ^^
Become evil since you lost your divine connection and enter Ur-Priest. Soon enough you will be back on full power and than have an even faster progression than normal. It would need some heavy retraining due to the requirements thou ..

[Bromley20]

You've already near-certainly attracted the attention of "powerful beings" with an interest in the artifact, and you just made a pretty major sacrifice in the service of your god. So, see if you can call in some favors in-game. They might require a quest or two, but you're not necessarily de-magicked forever. Talk with the DM to see if you can work something out.

I am currently working with my DM on that issue. I'm just looking for a backup solution just in case I am stuck without spellcasting permanently.


Assuming losing spellcasting doesn't also preclude psionic manifesting, how about going Ardent with the Life mantle? Just be sure to use Substitute Powers (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20070629a) to get a few more choices if a mantle skips one or more levels. I think this would actually be a perfect fit. Get the Life mantle for your previous profession, Destruction for how you came upon this path, and Magic mantle for both your previous profession and current events. Probably also take the Freedom or Guardian or Time mantle, or whatever else looks fitting and can give you some beneficial powers.


I didn't even think about going psionic but ardent may be a good option if psionics are still on the table. I'll have to look into that. The Wild Cohort idea seems like fun even if I go with a different class that gets ride and handle animal.

[noob]

I am currently working with my DM on that issue. I'm just looking for a backup solution just in case I am stuck without spellcasting permanently.



I didn't even think about going psionic but ardent may be a good option if psionics are still on the table. I'll have to look into that. The Wild Cohort idea seems like fun even if I go with a different class that gets ride and handle animal.

If you play an ardent avoid taking the magic mantle: its transparency clause could make you lose your now considered "spellcasting" manifesting.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you play an ardent avoid taking the magic mantle: its transparency clause could make you lose your now considered "spellcasting" manifesting.

Not necessarily. Powers = Spells with transparency, but psionic manifesting still isn't spellcasting. Transparency doesn't make psionic powers able to be counterspelled, for example, and while Dispel Psionics can be used on spells (and Dispel Magic on his powers), it still can't be used to counterspell as the power has no such function in its description.

[Efrate]

Obilarory mention of binder. If you are trading levels. Andras at effective binder level 7 (lvl 5 with improved binding) with a shield a mercy your artificer can create gives you infinite out of combat healing because you have infinite smites. Pair with another vestige for effective tanking or whatever.

Binder abilities are Supernatural or extraordinary generally. You can also get mileage out of karsus maybe, for magic item abuse possibly including spell completion, I believe its RAW that that ability is supernatural so no worries about loss of casting. Knight of the sacred seal is a nice melee prc, binding lends itself to pseudo gishing without the spells.

[Soranar]

Party Members:
Cloistered Cleric, Beguiler, Bard, Sorcerer, Fighter

Not sure why you'd need another healer with a bard and a cloistered cleric in the party already.


Still, a Paladin might be what you're looking for. Even if you lost spellcasting you can trade a paladin's spellcasting for bonus feats.

you can trade remove disease for remove curse

you heal with your lay on hands ability

you would fight mounted with a lance (your smite bonus damage gets multiplied by the lance and the mounted charge feats)

Other than that others have already mentioned crusader and/or binder.

Everything else uses spellcasting in some shape or form.

[Bromley20]

Not sure why you'd need another healer with a bard and a cloistered cleric in the party already.


Still, a Paladin might be what you're looking for. Even if you lost spellcasting you can trade a paladin's spellcasting for bonus feats.

Basically, continuing to be the healer fits my character's personality and motives on top of a few out of character agreements. Our bard and cleric only agreed to play those classes if they weren't forced to become the healer. They wanted to try new things with the classes without worrying about getting stuck being a healbot. I volunteered to be the healbot since I enjoy the role and can do it well. I'm just trying not to let my loss of spellcasting change that agreement.

A spell less paladin may be fun. I may look more into trading the mount for the healing spirit acf to effectively get 3x the normal lay on hands pool with a few added benefits. I don't need to do a ton of damage since most of the party can throw out a ton of damage/save or lose already. I usually just make sure nothing slows them down or threatens them so charging mounted smites aren't entirely necessary. I'll have to look into that more though.


Obilarory mention of binder. If you are trading levels. Andras at effective binder level 7 (lvl 5 with improved binding) with a shield a mercy your artificer can create gives you infinite out of combat healing because you have infinite smites. Pair with another vestige for effective tanking or whatever.

It looks like binder would actually give me 2 vestiges to pump out healing with. Naberius would come online faster and I could pair the faster ability damage healing with stigmata until I can afford the shield. Not a perfect solution but it would do for a little while.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far everyone. I definitely have a few decent options to take a closer look at now. Once my DM and I can figure out what rules to proceed with, I can start focusing on which classes work best for the situation. Any other suggestions are still appreciated

[Maat Mons]

I can understand why the Cleric and Bard wouldn't want to get pressured into being healers. Though, honestly, even with your intention being to focus on healing and support, it seems weird to me that you went with the Healer class.

Anyway, speaking of tricks to get infinite healing as a Binder, there's a vestige that gives infinite Turn Undead uses, and there's a feat that lets you heal by expending a Turn Undead use.

Psionics is easily able to heal hit point damage. But I don't remember there being much support for removing conditions from others.

[aglondier]

After losing your connection to your diety, you are desperate to reconnect...to feel the whole being part of something greater...

...so you accept a pact and retrain into Warlock...

[Bromley20]

I can understand why the Cleric and Bard wouldn't want to get pressured into being healers. Though, honestly, even with your intention being to focus on healing and support, it seems weird to me that you went with the Healer class.

Honestly, I went with healer as a bit of an optimization challenge for myself. I didn't want to play a cleric or bard since we already had them in the party. I wanted to avoid paladin and druid in the beginning since I usually play them. I just wanted to try something new. I saw the 7th and 20th level abilities for healer and wanted to see what I could do with the class. The bonus SLAs for condition removal was also pretty nice utility to free up a few spell slots each day.