Is there any errata for the Cleric spell Deathwatch, or is it just a bad spell?

[Mars Ultor]

I was going to pick the spell Deathwatch but it doesn't make sense to me. Among the results are "Fragile," which is equivalent to 3 or less HP, and "Fighting Off Death," which is 4 or more HP.

Fighter One and Fighter Two both start with 50 HP, then Fighter One takes 45 HP of damage, Fighter Two is unhurt and still at 50 HP. According to the wording of this spell, both of them are "Fighting Off Death."

Is there a corrected version of this spell or any more information, or is this just a bad spell?

[tyckspoon]

It's not meant to tell you how healthy something is. It's meant to tell you if they are imminently near dying. Both of your example Fighters are quite far away from being dead, and so give the same information to the spell.

I mean.. it's also a bad spell, but you're wanting it to provide information it really is not intended to - there's nothing to correct there.

[Doctor Despair]

It's more useful for piercing disguises when someone is trying to appear to be dead, undead, alive, or none of the above instead of their normal condition.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Also, triage is apparently inherently evil in D&D.

[Duke of Urrel]

Unless the dungeon master imposes very strict secrecy between players (for example forbidding each player to reveal how many Hit-Points they have left), players usually know which ally is dying, close to death, or healthy just by observing the game. Even if strict secrecy is imposed by the dungeon master, player characters may be able to communicate to their allies, using free actions, just how badly they have been hurt. So I would question how much player characters actually need a Deathwatch spell for the strictly non-Evil purpose of saving lives rather than ending them.

Higher-level clerics of Good alignment may freely use the second-level Status spell to help them practice triage among their allies, even those who are out of sight and hearing. I don't think the Deathwatch spell really unbalances the game that much.

[Troacctid]

3 HP is a weird choice of cutoff for sure, but the main purpose of the spell is to tell whether a creature is alive or dead, not to determine their hit point total. If you see a pile of fresh-looking corpses, it will give you a good idea of how likely they are to stand up and attack you, and alert you to the presence of any survivors. Of course, we all know as soon as you let your guard down after seeing that they register as dead, they're going to stand up and attack you anyway because they're possessed by dybbuks, but no detection spell is foolproof, right?

[Cygnia]

Also, triage is apparently inherently evil in D&D.

Tell me about it. I played a healer (who RAW have to be of Good alignment) who used this in an Undead campaign. It's on their bloody spell list! GM still was anal about claiming it was an EVIL ACT~! in using this spell. :smallyuk:

[sreservoir]

Tell me about it. I played a healer (who RAW have to be of Good alignment) who used this in an Undead campaign. It's on their bloody spell list! GM still was anal about claiming it was an EVIL ACT~! in using this spell. :smallyuk:

Fortunately, there are no consequences to a healer for becoming Evil per se!

[Particle_Man]

Fortunately, there are no consequences to a healer for becoming Evil per se!

Well you might make your celestial unicorn companion sad. That said, an evil healer that still heals all good aligned creatures, but only so that they may selfishly retain their class abilities, would be amusing.

[ShurikVch]

Fortunately, there are no consequences to a healer for becoming Evil per se!
Note: Evil Healers are unable to cast [good] and Sanctified spells.

[Particle_Man]

Note: Evil Healers are unable to cast [good] and Sanctified spells.

I get that evil healers can't cast Sanctified spells, but why can't they cast [good] spells? Isn't that doable, but risking them losing their "evil" alignment? Just like a good healer casting the [evil] spell Deathwatch can do it but risks losing their "good" alignment?

[sreservoir]

Note: Evil Healers are unable to cast [good] and Sanctified spells.

The healer spell list has three [Good] spells and one [Evil] spell: bless water, deathwatch, holy aura, and protection from good.

The restriction against casting spell of an alignment opposed to one's deity is a specific class feature of the cleric (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm#chaoticEvilGoodandLawfulSpells) and druid (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm#chaoticEvilGoodAndLawfulSpells), but in general is specified on a case-by-case basis; e.g. divine bard (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantDivineBard) has an even stricter restriction of only being able to cast alignment spells of their own alignment. It's not a universal divine spellcasting thing. (I mean, if it were, healers wouldn't be able to cast deathwatch either...)

Sanctified spells have their own restriction against being cast by evil characters. (Notably, corrupt spells aren't restricted by caster alignment, they're just mostly [Evil], so even Good healers can still cast them.) This is a real loss, considering sanctified spells are practically the better half of the healer's spell list, but hey, you at least get to keep them through neutral.

[ShurikVch]

The healer spell list has three [Good] spells and one [Evil] spell: bless water, deathwatch, holy aura, and protection from good.
From where this part?
Miniatures Handbook don't even mentioned protection from good - let alone as a Healer spell


The restriction against casting spell of an alignment opposed to one's deity is a specific class feature of the cleric (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/cleric.htm#chaoticEvilGoodandLawfulSpells) and druid (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/classes/druid.htm#chaoticEvilGoodAndLawfulSpells), but in general is specified on a case-by-case basis; e.g. divine bard (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/classes/variantCharacterClasses.htm#bardVariantDivineBard) has an even stricter restriction of only being able to cast alignment spells of their own alignment.
Also, Paladins: Good Paladins are unable to cast [evil] spells, Lawful Paladins - [chaotic] spells, etc
Actually, I dare to presume divine caster's inability to cast spells in contrary to their nature is a general thing, and exceptions are - case-by-case basis
I, personally, don't remember any exceptions besides Archivist and Chameleon; Archivist is "research anything, cast anything" - that's why they cast from Int; Chameleon is opportunistic to the end...
(Also, divine patron matter: no way Good deity would grant [evil] spells)


It's not a universal divine spellcasting thing. (I mean, if it were, healers wouldn't be able to cast deathwatch either...)
Deathwatch being [evil] is odd tidbit of 3.5 edition
Monte Cook blindsided with it everybody - other authors included: Deathwatch get not just in Healer spell list and Repose domain ("Death domain" for Good-aligned deities), but even in the Slayer of Domiel spell list ([exalted] PrC! Limited stricter than any Paladins!!!)

[Thurbane]

As has been debated many times, Deathwatch being evil is just dumb, and didn't exist in 3.0 (it also lacked the ridiculous flavour text of "using the foul sight granted by the powers of unlife"). It just reeks of one of the 3.5 devs having some weird, personal issue with the spell from his own gaming table, and decided to enforce his fluff as RAW in the update.

Also, would make much more sense being divination than necromancy to me. Maybe both, if you wanted to follow the PHB2 rules for dual school spells (but I don't think that's necessary myself). Seeing how the already mentioned Status spell does much the same kind of thing, is divination and non-evil, it just makes the classification of Deathwatch even more silly.

Deathwatch may be worth mentioning in the Common Houserules thread, since so many people I know of completely ignore the Evil tag.

I guess the one thing about it is being necromancy rather than divination, and being SR: no and no save, it's a lot harder to foil with things like Mind Blank or Nondetection.

[Mordaedil]

Unless the dungeon master imposes very strict secrecy between players (for example forbidding each player to reveal how many Hit-Points they have left), players usually know which ally is dying, close to death, or healthy just by observing the game. Even if strict secrecy is imposed by the dungeon master, player characters may be able to communicate to their allies, using free actions, just how badly they have been hurt. So I would question how much player characters actually need a Deathwatch spell for the strictly non-Evil purpose of saving lives rather than ending them.

Higher-level clerics of Good alignment may freely use the second-level Status spell to help them practice triage among their allies, even those who are out of sight and hearing. I don't think the Deathwatch spell really unbalances the game that much.

I don't think I've ever been at a table that allowed players to tell each other what their HP was, (unless after the fact of it mattering), but we would usually revert to the same information we'd get from a video game like NWN.

That is to say, uninjured, barely injured, injured, badly wounded, near death and dead(downed).

For more accurate information one of us allowed a DC 10 heal check to tell how bad it was (15 is first aid after all)

[Elkad]

I don't think I've ever been at a table that allowed players to tell each other what their HP was, (unless after the fact of it mattering), but we would usually revert to the same information we'd get from a video game like NWN.

That is to say, uninjured, barely injured, injured, badly wounded, near death and dead(downed).

I had one DM like that.

So the players made a nice list. Something like: Unharmed, Healthy(>90%), Sore, Bruised, Harmed, Wounded, Damaged, Maimed, Mutilated, Mangled, Dying(<10%).

We all had a copy. And of course we knew one another's starting hit points. "I'm Damaged" literally means "I'm between 40% and 50% hitpoints."
You'd put it in a nice sentence, but the key word on the list is what matters.

DM was grumpy when he figured it out about 12 sessions later.

[sreservoir]

From where this part?
Miniatures Handbook don't even mentioned protection from good - let alone as a Healer spell

*protection from evil, my bad.


Also, Paladins: Good Paladins are unable to cast [evil] spells, Lawful Paladins - [chaotic] spells, etc
Actually, I dare to presume divine caster's inability to cast spells in contrary to their nature is a general thing, and exceptions are - case-by-case basis
I, personally, don't remember any exceptions besides Archivist and Chameleon; Archivist is "research anything, cast anything" - that's why they cast from Int; Chameleon is opportunistic to the end...
(Also, divine patron matter: no way Good deity would grant [evil] spells)

Look, go ahead and try to find rules text to that effect. As far as I know, no such rule exists, and nor for lack of trying to find one. Best I can tell, paladins can cast spells opposed to their alignment just fine; casting an [Evil] spell is a code of conduct violation.

Archivist and Chameleon aren't exceptions, nothing calls them out as exceptions, alignment spells never come up in their spell descriptions at all. There is just isn't a general rule for them to be excepted from.


I don't think I've ever been at a table that allowed players to tell each other what their HP was, (unless after the fact of it mattering), but we would usually revert to the same information we'd get from a video game like NWN.

That is to say, uninjured, barely injured, injured, badly wounded, near death and dead(downed).

For more accurate information one of us allowed a DC 10 heal check to tell how bad it was (15 is first aid after all)

Now that I think of it, do the rules specify whether players are supposed to know their own hit points?

[ShurikVch]

Look, go ahead and try to find rules text to that effect. As far as I know, no such rule exists, and nor for lack of trying to find one. Best I can tell, paladins can cast spells opposed to their alignment just fine; casting an [Evil] spell is a code of conduct violation.

Archivist and Chameleon aren't exceptions, nothing calls them out as exceptions, alignment spells never come up in their spell descriptions at all. There is just isn't a general rule for them to be excepted from.
Most other divine spellcasters are just lacking spells with "different" alignment descriptors, thus - any such rules are just unnecessary
Also, many other divine spellcasters have the "prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does" - thus, inheriting all the Cleric restrictions (unless their RAW says differently)
Still, Adept have both Animate Dead an Protection from Evil. Tentative point to you...

[Cygnia]

(Mass) Status is fine, providing your party members consent to it being cast on them (or they don't razz you for 'wasting a spell slot" on what they consider a "useless" spell), but for say, NPC non-party allies in a skirmish, Deathwatch is useful in saving their butts.

And, of course, seeing who's masquerading as undead. :smalltongue:

Seriously, has Cook ever said why he made such a change?

[Duke of Urrel]

(Mass) Status is fine, providing your party members consent to it being cast on them …

I cannot find any Mass Status spell in the Spell Compendium. Does it appear elsewhere?

[Thurbane]

I don't think I've ever been at a table that allowed players to tell each other what their HP was, (unless after the fact of it mattering), but we would usually revert to the same information we'd get from a video game like NWN.

"Hey Razgar, on a scale from 1 to 37, how badly hurt would you say you are?" :smalltongue:

[Duke of Urrel]

Several of you have mentioned the word "Healer" in capital letters. Is this a prestige class or a character class described in some rulebook that I lack (and I lack a lot of them)? I would like to know more about it, because presently what I know is ... nothing. (I only know that "The Healer" is a subspecialty of the cleric class in the Player's Handbook II, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what you mean.) Anyway, my favorite fix to the problem of the Deathwatch spell would be to grant characters of the Healer class something like the Status spell as a spell-like ability, perhaps usable once per day for every point in your Wisdom bonus.

It doesn't bother me so much that Deathwatch is an Evil spell. Although Good characters can imagine many Good uses for it, the purpose of the spell is to seek out weak living things in order to kill them. I think it's okay for Evil clerics to have one spell that Good clerics can't use.

If you're a Good cleric, a simple way to avoid the curse of the Deathwatch spell is to hire a morally Neutral cleric to cast it for you. For example, a Lawful-Neutral cleric of Saint Cuthbert will have no objection to using the Deathwatch spell for non-Evil purposes and will also suffer no ill consequences for doing so.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

Several of you have mentioned the word "Healer" in capital letters. Is this a prestige class or a character class described in some rulebook that I lack (and I lack a lot of them)? I would like to know more about it, because presently what I know is ... nothing. (I only know that "The Healer" is a subspecialty of the cleric class in the Player's Handbook II, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what you mean.) Anyway, my favorite fix to the problem of the Deathwatch spell would be to grant characters of the Healer class something like the Status spell as a spell-like ability, perhaps usable once per day for every point in your Wisdom bonus.

It doesn't bother me so much that Deathwatch is an Evil spell. Although Good characters can imagine many Good uses for it, the purpose of the spell is to seek out weak living things in order to kill them. I think it's okay for Evil clerics to have one spell that Good clerics can't use.

If you're a Good cleric, a simple way to avoid the curse of the Deathwatch spell is to hire a morally Neutral cleric to cast it for you. For example, a Lawful-Neutral cleric of Saint Cuthbert will have no objection to using the Deathwatch spell for non-Evil purposes and will also suffer no ill consequences for doing so.It's a base class in the Miniatures Handbook. It's...really not very good. Like, at all. It's the only full-casting class that is a lower tier than a barbarian. If it was like the other fixed-list spontaneous casters (dread necromancer and beguiler), then it'd be low tier but at least it'd be a competent healer, but it's a fixed-list prepared caster that has almost nothing but healing spells, and it can't even swap out for cure X wounds spells like clerics can, so it's actually worse at healing than clerics are, along with being worse at everything else. Note that there are a lot of healing spells on the cleric list that aren't on the healer list, while the number of non-cleric spells on the healer list is tiny (and even tinier when domains are taken into account).

[Thurbane]

SC does recommend adding new spells to the Healer list, but it requires a fair bit of DM fiat:


Healer (Miniatures Handbook): Add spells concerned with healing, removing affliction, providing protections, and providing for needs. In particular, add higher-level versions of spells the healer can already cast, such as mass restoration.

But overall, yes, they aren't a great class. As mentioned, they are worse at healing than a Cleric, and definitely are the lowest ranked tier-wise of the full casters, for good reason.

A common houserule I've seen is making them set-list casters like Beguilers, Warmage etc. The main downside of this is loss of easy access to Sanctified spells.

Personally, I do find them a nice choice of class for a NPC/DMPC to support the party without too much fear of outshining anyone.

[sreservoir]

Also, many other divine spellcasters have the "prepares and casts spells the way a cleric does" - thus, inheriting all the Cleric restrictions (unless their RAW says differently)

That's a point against paladins casting corrupt spells, sure, although the healer in particular is not one of them.

Surprisingly few base classes have their spellcasting worded that way, actually, though to be fair that's partly because there aren't actually a lot of prepared divine spellcasting base classes to begin with.


Several of you have mentioned the word "Healer" in capital letters. Is this a prestige class or a character class described in some rulebook that I lack (and I lack a lot of them)? I would like to know more about it, because presently what I know is ... nothing. (I only know that "The Healer" is a subspecialty of the cleric class in the Player's Handbook II, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what you mean.) Anyway, my favorite fix to the problem of the Deathwatch spell would be to grant characters of the Healer class something like the Status spell as a spell-like ability, perhaps usable once per day for every point in your Wisdom bonus.

That'll be the Healer base class in the Miniatures Handbook. (Most famous to failing to live up to the lofty standard of "9-level full caster" by stint of combining probably actually the best spells-per-day progression of any first-party base class with the single worst 9-level spell list by a pretty wide margin.)

They do get Status, actually, but in what might be another edition editing issue, it's a 3rd-level spell for them vs 2nd-level on the Clr list. It's actually the only spell they have at a higher level than the cleric, but it's one spell level lower than it would've been for a 3e cleric, since Status was a 4th-level spell then; at a level lower, it would fit in with the pretty substantial fraction of the Healer spell list that's one level lower than on the Cleric list (Deathwatch, Remove everything, Neutralize Poison, Restoration, Mass Cure everything, Stone to Flesh—okay, this one isn't actually Clr, it's actually Sor/Wiz 6 only in Core—Regenerate, Greater Restoration, and Mass Heal; that's like a quarter of the Healer spell list).

So maybe the appropriate fix is for Status to be a 1st-level spell for them?

[Cygnia]

I cannot find any Mass Status spell in the Spell Compendium. Does it appear elsewhere?

I erred. Mixed it up with Greater Status found in the Heroes of Battle book (pg128)

[Elkad]

Now that I think of it, do the rules specify whether players are supposed to know their own hit points?

There are tables that play that way. They tend to be very storytelling oriented.
I'm already keeping track of 46 monsters on the board (and the ones off the board who heard the noise...), I don't want to do the paperwork for
8 PCs and 21 sidekicks too.

[Lans]

I believe the healer is about the same tier as the barbarian, mostly on the back of it's companion and sanctified spells. Death Watch is an interesting detection spell against invisible and hidden enemies

[MaxiDuRaritry]

I believe the healer is about the same tier as the barbarian, mostly on the back of it's companion and sanctified spells. Death Watch is an interesting detection spell against invisible and hidden enemiesThat'd be the case if it were a spontaneous caster, but as it stands, it's absolutely horrible at healing due to not having the versatility that spontaneity would provide. After all, having to choose between prepping HP healing spells and also between all the "fix specific malady" spells means there's a very good chance that you won't have the right spells prepped for anything, leaving you completely useless without having to invest heavily in scrolls. Meanwhile, the cleric is just flat-out better at everything, including the only thing the healer can actually do, which the cleric can do spontaneously if he doesn't happen to have anything better to be doing.

Tier 4, but only if houseruled to be spontaneous (and even then, on the low side, since healing is a terrible thing to specialize in, given how easy it is with even a little WBL invested).

Currently straddling the line between tiers 5 and 6, as RAW intends.

Deathwatch to negate ambushes is quite an interesting trick, but it negates exalted spell use, and it's likely to turn you evil if used as written. It also negates the healer's main schtick (not that it's a good schtick to begin with), as it does eat spell slots.

[Thurbane]

The Healer really isn't a great class, but in terms of removing conditions, they so get 1/day Su abilities to cover paralysis, disease, fear, poison, blindness, [Restoration stuff], petrification, [limited Regenerate] and 1/week resurrection.

A lot of these come on line pretty late, but it helps a little with what spells to prepare.

From level 7 on, Panacea comes online, which fixes a bunch of stuff for the target.

At 8th, you get a unicorn, and it can throw in some minor healing and neutralise poison 1/day. It also has an always on Magic Circle Against evil.

I know it's very late game, but I don't think any class with Gate on their spell list is completely useless.

Also, unlike a Barbarian, it has a chassis with ful casting access to level 9 spells - and quite a lot can be done to expand a spell list.

I mean, if nothing else, they are a source for level 3 Potions of Restoration, or Level 0 Wands of Deathwatch. :smalltongue:

Healer snuck in as low tier 3 on a more recent tier list: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?600635-Why-each-class-is-in-its-tier-2019-update

TL;DR? Healer is generally garbage, and is unarguably worse at healing than a Cleric, but has some niche uses and small redeeming features.

[Elkad]

...along with being worse at everything else.


And then at L17 it gets Gate and moves straight to Tier2...

Note that Healer was reworked on this board.
It's a pretty nice rebuild, and actually makes them live up to their name.

https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?133118-Retooling-the-Healer-(Heal-it!-Heal-it!-No-one-wants-to-be-defeated

[Lans]

Tier 4, but only if houseruled to be spontaneous (and even then, on the low side, since healing is a terrible thing to specialize in, given how easy it is with even a little WBL invested).

Currently straddling the line between tiers 5 and 6, as RAW intends.
s.

No, as it stands it is around T4, whether it's a high T5 or a very low T3 is arguable. Making it's casting spontaneous likely knocks it down to around T5.

[Psyren]

Pathfinder removed the evil tag for what it's worth.

The silly "fighting off death" threshold is still there, but so is the "healthy" category, and any sane DM will use the latter for something that is mostly or wholly undamaged.

[Fizban]

Is that people ragging on the Healer I see?


Several of you have mentioned the word "Healer" in capital letters. Is this a prestige class or a character class described in some rulebook that I lack (and I lack a lot of them)? I would like to know more about it, because presently what I know is ... nothing. (I only know that "The Healer" is a subspecialty of the cleric class in the Player's Handbook II, but I'm pretty sure this isn't what you mean.)
As noted, the Healer is a base class from the Miniatures Handbook. It's not as bad as people say it is if you take a moment to understand what's going on:

Mini's Handbook was support for the DnD Miniatures line, which was attempting to get into the wargaming minis side of things- where people control multiple minis. The two base classes it introduces, Warmage and Healer, are thus vastly simplified- and the book also introduce some spells and rewrites which end up becoming very important (the uber Orbs, Close Wounds, Panacea, Revivify, etc).

The Healer is in fact a better Healer than a Cleric- a PHB-only Cleric, which is what existed at the the time. Complete Arcane, Complete Divine, Spell Compendium (with several of Mini's spells), PHB2, Complete Champion (and more), all the books people draw on for healing builds (and Healer fixes), none of them existed yet. The basic Augment Healing feat didn't even exist. The Healer dared to actually use its own spell list, which means it doesn't get the infinite splat creep of "all Cleric/Druid/Sor/Wiz/etc" lists.

But the Healer does have several PHB healing/status removal spells a level early, as well as several as 1/day Su abilities which are nigh-impossible to stop, and a Mount feature that much like the Paladin's actually has a secret ridiculously OP option (go look up a Gynosphinx). As a Healer, it beats a PHB Cleric, by definition, and has a potentially unique and interesting ability. Whether that's worth the loss of other Cleric stuff is up to you.

All those fixed list spontaneous casters that make it so "obvious" the Healer should be one of them? Didn't exist yet. Healer came out alongside the Warmage, the first of its kind. And if you think about it, a Healer shouldn't have all the healing and status healing spells available spontaneously. DnD expects Clerics to not have every answer available at all times, even if they can come back with it tomorrow. That's why the normal spontaneous casters have such short known lists. That's why planning and preparation are important. Actually being able to remove anything right now right up until you're completely out of slots means the DM just can't do anything other than outright kill or mildly inconvenience you. It sucks tension out of the game and is boring and frustrating for the DM. So Mini's Healer being a prepared caster is fully appropriate.

I too have done a Healer fix, though not in it's own thread (I'm pretty close to posting my whole tweaks and brew doc though):

Healer

Add Ride to skill list.
Add Wis to AC when wearing light non-metal or no armor and no shield.
Spell access, bonus slots, and save DCs are all based on Wisdom.
Gain Spontaneous Cure Spells as Cleric.
Unicorn Companion changed to Celestial Companion, uses Paladin's Special Mount table but replacing Command with Devotion, and Healers use an alternate companion list.
Added and rearranged class features:



Level
Special
Level
Special


1st
Healing Hands, Skill Focus (Heal)
11th
Maximized Cure Spells


2nd
Augment Healing, Cleanse Fear
12th
Ranged Healing 60', New Limb


3rd
Cleanse Paralysis
13th
-


4th
Bolster Healing, Cleanse Disease
14th
Cleanse Death


5th
Celestial Companion, Cleanse Blind
15th
-


6th
Ranged Healing 30', Cleanse Poison
16th
Reverse Death


7th
Effortless Healing, Cleanse Curse
17th
-


8th
Cleanse Conditions
18th
Ranged Healing 120'


9th
Cleanse Petrification
19th
-


10th
Cleanse Spirit
20th
New Life



Augment Healing: at 1st level a healer gains Augment Healing (Complete Divine) as a bonus feat.
Bolster Healing: at 4th level a healer's spells are further augmented. Any Conjuration [Healing] spell she casts also grants the targets 1 temporary hit point per caster level, which last for up to 1 minute.
Celestial Companion: Healer companions are always highly magical, with multiple spell-like abilities or even their own innate casting. The Healer's first companion is usually a Celestial Swiftmane (Ghostwalk WE), with bonuses at her full Healer level. Alternative companions include:
7th: Celestial Unicorn (Level-2)
8th: Celestial Pegasus (Level-3)
11th: Lammasu, Gynosphyinx (recently stricken due to Symbol SLAs), Water Naga, Leskylor (BoED) (Level -6)
15th: Androsphynx, Coutal, Moon Dog (BoED), (level -10)

DMs interested in allowing more aggresive, combat focused, or peculiar companions might also allow:
13th: 9HD large Ravid (MM), Crypt Warden (BoED) (Level -8),
14th: Three-Headed Leskylor (BoED) (Level -9)
Ranged Healing: at 6th level a healer's Conjuration [Healing] spells with a range of touch can instead be cast with a range of 30' on willing targets, or as a 30' ray against unwilling targets. At 11th level the range increases to 60', and at 17th it increases to 120'.
Effortless Healing: as normal.
Cleanse Curse, Cleanse Conditions (Su): as Remove Curse and Panacea (SpC).
Maximized Cure Spells: all Cure spells are Maximized as the feat at no cost.
Cleanse Death (Su): as Revivify (SpC). Upgrades to Ressurection with Reverse Death at 16th, and finally to True Ressurection with New Life at 20th. The healer can use an earlier version if desired, but only has one use per day regardless of the number of options.

Healer Spell List
Note: the Healer's original spell list includes many spells at a lower level than normal, as an effective feature of the Healer, which I've marked for convenience. Additionally, I reduced the level of a few spells from other sources for them. These changes do not affect standard item pricing. (Some spells are also later than normal, but those are not marked).

Original/PHB List:


0th
Create Water
Cure Minor Wounds
Deathwatch*
Detect Poison
Light
Mending
Purify Food and Drink
Read Magic

1st
Bless Water
Cure Light Wounds
Goodberry
Obscuring Mist^^
Protection From Evil
Remove Fear
Remove Paralysis*
Sanctuary
Speak With Animals

2nd
Calm Emotions
Close Wounds^
Cure Moderate Wounds
Delay Poison
Gentle Repose
Gust of Wind^^
Lesser Restoration
Remove Blindness/Deafness
Remove Disease*
Shield Other^^
Status

3rd
Create Food and Water
Cure Serious Wounds
Daylight^^
Magic Circle Against Evil^^
Neutralize Poison*
Remove Curse
Restoration*
Water Breathing^^


4th
Cure Critical Wounds
Control Water^^
Death Ward
Dismissal^^
Freedom of Movement
Mass Cure Light Wounds*
Panacea^

5th
Atonement
Break Enchantment
Dispel Evil^^
Hallow^^
Mass Cure Moderate Wounds*
Raise Dead
Revivify
Stone to Flesh
True Seeing

6th
Banishment^^
Greater Restoration*
Heal
Heroes' Feast
Mass Cure Serious Wounds*
Regenerate*

7th
Mass Cure Critical Wounds*
Repulsion
Resurrection

8th
Antimagic Field^^
Discern Location
Holy Aura
Mass Heal*

9th
Foresight
Gate
True Ressurection

*reduced level
^from original list, use SpC versions.
^^additional PHB spell



New Healer Spells:

Spell Compendium



0th
Dawn
Naturewatch

1st
Delay Disease
Healthful Rest
Lesser Vigor
Resurgence
Summon Elysian Thrush
Wall of Smoke
Wood Wose

2nd
Cloudburst
Golden Barding
Healing Lorecall
Spawn Screen
Stabilize

3rd
Capricious Zephyr
Circle Dance
Lesser Planar Exchange*
Mass Resurgence
Mass Lesser Vigor
Vigor

4th
Delay Death
Favor of the Martyr
Holy Storm
Positive Energy Aura
Revenance
Sheltered Vitality


5th
Mass Sanctuary
Planar Exchange*
Rejuvenation Cocoon
Triadspell
Wall of Water

6th
Greater Vigor
Revive Outsider
Rejection
Vigorous Circle

7th
Fortunate Fate
Greater Planar Exchange*
Holy Star
Renewal Pact

8th
Death Pact
Mass Death Ward

9th
Heavenly Host

*reduced level




Other



0th
Candlelight (Ghostwalk WE)
Detect Disease (OA)

1st
Invest Light Protection (PHB2)
Healer's Vision (CSc)
Ease of Breath (Frost)
Cloak of Shade (Sand)
Locate Water (Sand)
Peacebond (City)

2nd
Ease Pain (BoED)
Estanna's Stew (BoED)
Remove Nausea (BoED)*
Body Ward (CCh)
Soul Ward (CCh)
Freedom of Breath (Sand)
Hydrate (Sand)

3rd
Heart's Ease (BoED)
Refreshment (BoED)
Invest Moderate Protection (PHB2)
Forest Voice (CCh)
Soul of Light (DrMa)
Insignia of Healing (RoDe)
Regroup (PHB2)
Renewed Vigor (PHB2)*
Insignia of Healing (RoDe)
Control Sand (Sand)
Storm Mote (Sand)
Air Breathing (Storm)


4th
Celestial Brilliance (BoED)
Greater Status (BoED)
Sustain (OA/BoED)
Channeled Divine Health (PHB2)
Healing Spirit (PHB2)
Seed of Life (CCh)

5th
Invest Heavy Protection (PHB2)
Magic Convalescence (PHB2)
Renewed Vigor (PHB2)
Darts of Life (CCh)
Healing Circle (CCh)
Hibernate (Frost)

6th


7th
Bastion of Good (BoED)
Rejuvenating Light (CCh)

8th
Spread of Contentment (BoED)
Flashflood (Sand)
Surelife (Sand)
Summon Aspect of Bahamut (RoDr)

9th
Sublime Revelry (BoED)


*reduced level




Notes:
The original Healer spell list is extremely short, with the mass cures and many status removal spells a level early, but hardly anything at high levels and no "offense" to speak of aside from cure/heal against undead, and it was missing a few PHB spells that should have been there in order to properly fill the "Cleric" role.

The expanded healer list gives them access to essentially all of the healing, status removal, and status prevention spells, with only a couple exceptions. Healers now command some of the gentler wind, water, and sand spells, culminating in their most powerful direct attack with Flashflood. Most uniquely they gain early access to the Planar Exchange line, which allows them to call an avatar of good to take their place- however, when using Planar Exchange many of the healer's most important spells (such as Close Wounds, Delay Death, and Revivify) cannot possibly be delivered in time, so it must be used judiciously.

The new healer is closer to a Dragon Quest cleric/Final Fantasy white mage/summoner, focusing on hp and status effects but also with a number of odd, specific, or restricted offensive options and summoning effects.



I erred. Mixed it up with Greater Status found in the Heroes of Battle book (pg128)
There's also a Greater Status in Book of Exalted Deeds, which hits 1/3 levels and allows ranged casting, and at 4th level. It's one of the few ways to get some ranged healing without a super specific feat or item,


As for the Deathwatch spell, eh, I've always found it amusing that the evil/necomantically inclined Cleric would have a spell that reads 90%+ of the population as "fragile," and the rest as "fighting off death." It's super thematically appropriate, helpful for setting up Death Knell, and if you want a non-evil version it barely takes a moment to write one. As for players being aware of hit points: I'm pretty sure there are multiple examples of play where the books explicitly have the players relaying their current hit points and announcing heal values, but for enemies even the common addition of a "bloodied" status at 1/2 max is a significant increase in information (and obviously if the PCs are separated, they ought to have no way of relaying their own hit points, thus Status spells). I think there's another spell or two that can detect enemy hit points, as well as PHB2's BAB 12+ Combat Awareness feat (which does mention ally as if you wouldn't know- but ally can include non-PCs with no out-of-game communication).