Healer feat vs Inspiring Leader

[x3n0n]

"Everybody knows" that Inspiring Leader is a very good feat, letting you spend 10 minutes to add (your level + your Cha-mod) THP to your whole party (up to 6 creatures at a time), once per (short or long) rest at no resource cost, just 10 minutes spent talking.
Healer lets you spend an action and a healer's kit "charge" per creature to restore (target "level" + 4 + 1d6) HP to any number of creatures, once per short rest. It also allows pop-up healing at the action economy cost of Use an Item, which is an action for most characters and a bonus action for Thief Rogues.

Comparing:

Healer restores HP, I.L. grants THP. Going *into* a difficult battle with full HP and no other source of THP, THP is probably better (since it keeps you up longer). Any other time, restoring HP seems better. (Note also that many parties will have competing sources of THP or effects that want their "own" THP, like armor of Agathys or Circle of Spores's Symbiotic Form.) Healer seems better on balance?
Assuming a party of equal level, they both grant (T)HP equal to "level" plus a bonus: Healer of 4+1d6, I.L. of Cha-mod. Healer's bonus is reliably larger.
Healer takes 1 action per target; I.L. takes 10 minutes. Healer's action cost is smaller.
Healer has a physical resource cost and encumbrance (healer's kit; 3lb per 10 charges, "retail price" of 5sp per use), while I.L. has no resource cost. Advantage I.L.
Healer can pop-up heal; I.L. cannot. Advantage Healer.


Given how similar these are, why do we talk so much about Inspiring Leader and so little about Healer?

[Tanarii]

For the healers kit physical resource, it has encumbrance too.
Generally also a minor issue. But still worth noting.
Having a physical resource may be the biggest drawback, depending on how often you have access to restock.

[Mellack]

My thinking is that it is the action cost. I often hear about Healer for rogues to use with fast hands. As a bonus action, it is a great use. As an action, not so much. You could get much the same effect without costing a feat by just buying healing potions. A Healing Word spell can do it from range for a bonus action. It usually isn't worth spending an action to get what is likely less than one hit worth of HP back.

[Amnestic]

I generally rate Healer as equivalent to Inspiring Leader. They both have drawbacks and advantages over the other.

Another "advantage" for Inspiring Leader is that it's simpler than Healer. There's no question about "oh do you have enough HP? should we heal now and risk overhealing or do it later?". There's no rolling either. Complete a short rest: Everyone gets Cha+Level temp HP, except those who don't want it. Flat number, very simple and direct. Finish a rest, boom, temp HP. Healer is more "finnicky" in checking people's hit point totals, etc. etc.

It's minor, sure, but so is encumbrance. Still worth noting.

[Segev]

I've seen Healer in games. I have not seen Inspiring Leader. Healer definitely earned its place. This isn't a knock on Inspiring Leader, just a datum for Healer being good.

[solidork]

One thing that I don't like about Inspiring Leader is that it means your character is the kind of person that gives inspiring speeches multiple times per day. I don't think anyone actually expects you to roleplay that out, but nonetheless it is happening in the fiction and completely eliding it bothers me. I guess you could say you're going around to everyone individually and having a short conversation, that's less awkward.

I've taken healer before when it makes sense for a character, and I may do so again in the future. I made a Monster Hunter fighter with the singular goal of getting everyone through Death House alive, taking Healer and Interception fighting style. It was pretty effective.

[Segev]

One thing that I don't like about Inspiring Leader is that it means your character is the kind of person that gives inspiring speeches multiple times per day. I don't think anyone actually expects you to roleplay that out, but nonetheless it is happening in the fiction and completely eliding it bothers me. I guess you could say you're going around to everyone individually and having a short conversation, that's less awkward.

I've taken healer before when it makes sense for a character, and I may do so again in the future. I made a Monster Hunter fighter with the singular goal of getting everyone through Death House alive, taking Healer and Interception fighting style. It was pretty effective.

I mean, you could be telling a story while everyone is resting, or just going over the plan and cheerleading how awesome everyone is doing. "Inspiring speeches" don't need to be formal "everyone, let me get on a podium and exhort you" things. They can just be encouragement and affirmation.

[LordShade]

I think both feats are very good.

I posted a recent thread about the efficiency of healing in combat. One conclusion I came to after a great discussion from the forum was that a party with several sources of bonus action healing can be very effective at in-combat healing--they can soak burst damage, and spot heal it back in the following round in an action-efficient way. In this formulation, a Fast Hands thief gets a ton of spell slots worth of healing value from the feat and working together with anyone who has Aura of Vitality or Healing Spirit, it's really high value as an in-combat action.

Looking at it this way, both of these feats are better with proper synergy than they are standing alone.

[solidork]

I mean, you could be telling a story while everyone is resting, or just going over the plan and cheerleading how awesome everyone is doing. "Inspiring speeches" don't need to be formal "everyone, let me get on a podium and exhort you" things. They can just be encouragement and affirmation.

That's fair. There is, however, a fictional framing element to using Inspiring Leader that might not make sense for every character.

[stoutstien]

I'd say that are about equal assuming the party doesn't have another party wide source of THP. Both scale well enough to stay relevant and are flavorful.

[Ganryu]

Healer's awesome on a thief- rogue. You get a surprising amount of healing out of it, and can prevent someone being at 0 HP all day long. This as a bonus action.

Infact, whenever I play Rogue, my DM's just kinda assumed I'm a thief at this point, and grabbed this feat.

One of my favorite campaigns, I pulled this off on a charlatan who claimed to be a cleric. XD It took a while for people to realize "Wait a second, he doesn't actually HAVE any magic!". They then realized the 'deity' I worshipped was also a con.

[Segev]

That's fair. There is, however, a fictional framing element to using Inspiring Leader that might not make sense for every character.

I submit for your approval an example of Inspiring Leader performed in an unexpected fashion:
https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/spy-x-family9171/images/f/ff/Anya_Forger_Anime.png/revision/latest?cb=20211031153350

(If you have not seen Spy x Family, I heartily encourage you to do so. This is possible the cutest little kid in anime, and that is saying something.)

[KorvinStarmast]

I generally rate Healer as equivalent to Inspiring Leader. They both have drawbacks and advantages over the other. Similar experience, seen both, never seen them in the same game though.

There's no rolling either. For inspiring leader, yes, good point.

[Corran]

Given how similar these are, why do we talk so much about Inspiring Leader and so little about Healer?
Because of the action cost. Because of it it loses a lot of appeal as a combat option. Reduce the action cost to a bonus action because you are playing a thief, and suddenly healer gets talked a lot. As for out of combat healing there are usually better options.

[Pex]

I finder Healer is best used after combat. It heals better than a healing potion or 1st level Cure Wounds, saving more valuable resources than a healing kit use. It's healing you can do without need of a rest. If you do short rest it supplements and saves a HD for healing, and you can heal later since you can benefit again after a short rest. Healer is a good support feat.

Inspiring Leader is also great. With bias I think you need the CH for efficiency. At 4th level 8 temporary hit points (18 CH) means something where 4 (10 CH) does not. It's not worth the feat slot without CH. Variant human can have Inspiring Leader and 18 CH at 4th level with Point Buy. For anyone else 7 temporary hit points is still good.

[Amnestic]

I finder Healer is best used after combat. It heals better than a healing potion or 1st level Cure Wounds, saving more valuable resources than a healing kit use. It's healing you can do without need of a rest. If you do short rest it supplements and saves a HD for healing, and you can heal later since you can benefit again after a short rest. Healer is a good support feat.

Inspiring Leader is also great. With bias I think you need the CH for efficiency. At 4th level 8 temporary hit points (18 CH) means something where 4 (10 CH) does not. It's not worth the feat slot without CH. Variant human can have Inspiring Leader and 18 CH at 4th level with Point Buy. For anyone else 7 temporary hit points is still good.

Though it is somewhat forgettable (doesn't seem to have been mentioned in the thread), Inspiring Leader does require 13 Cha to take, so it's always a minimum of 1+[Level] tempHP.

Healer doesn't have a stat requirement, in comparison, meaning that cha-dumpers can still take it no problem.

[Warder]

That's fair. There is, however, a fictional framing element to using Inspiring Leader that might not make sense for every character.

I agree with that, but I think the same could be said about Healer. Why is your evocation wizard a trained nimble-handed combat medic?

The one time I picked Inspiring Leader I did roleplay it out every time, it was my character retelling the story of Icewind Dale (the CRPG) but the party consisted of poorly-veiled analogues of our party, and made each segment of the story about heroically overcoming the terrible odds stacked against them. Gave it in broad strokes of course, I didn't spend 10 minutes relaying every word!

[Pyrophilios]

If Healer wasn't limited to once per short rest per creature I'd say it was superior to IS. As it is, it's in direct competition with healing potions, which at higher level of play are plentiful, cheap and not limited in consuption.

IS on the other hand not only gives your fellow PCs added staying power but also makes animal companions, familiars, homunculi and all the rest of the zoo a typical party has with them a lot more survivable. Especially scouting familiars might even surive one or two successful attacks, allowing them to return (or absorb two attacks that would otherwise have struck a PC)

If you need pop up healing, you send your familiar with a healing potion.

[x3n0n]

Lots of good commentary here!

I could have done a better job of framing this; I've seen Inspiring Leader cited as "great" and as a reason for characters to prioritize 13 Cha so they can meet the pre-req, and I've rarely heard Healer mentioned except as "good with Thief". (Inspired (pun intended) by strangebloke's recent thread suggesting that Barbarians should take feats instead of ASIs: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645919-Barbarian-ASIs-are-for-feats)

It sounds like there are two camps of commenters so far:

They're in the same "quality tier" of feat, or
Healer is bad for non-Thief characters because healing with an action is bad in combat and healing between combats is better done with resources that don't cost you a feat.


Am I missing anybody?

(I happen to think that Healer saves enough resources in tiers 1 and 2 to justify taking it instead of buying zillions of Potions of Healing or spending long-rest spell slots or relying entirely on short-rest HD-based recovery, but that may not be the case at all tables.)

[strangebloke]

In general I prefer IL because it prevents you from going low in the first place, which is better than getting up from low health. It's also less fiddly because there's no medical kit uses involved, and it does a lot more for mounts and pets and familiars. You can't really heal a familiar. But there are admittedly plenty of cases where healer is more useful Lets consider two cases.

CASE 1: You have 50 hp. You take 50 damage in a fight, you go down. Healer lets someone use an action to bring you back up. Inspiring leader lets you never go down in the first place. Inspiring leader is better here.

CASE 2: You have 50 HP. You take 65 damage in a fight when the dragon massively overkills you with a single hit. Inspiring leader does nothing here, healer still lets someone use an action to bring you back up. Healer is better here.

And yeah, if there are other common sources of THP, like a fiendlock or a shepherds druid, IL gets worse though not much worse. Most THP abilities give THP in the middle of combat, so you can just wait until the THP is gone and get full value from both abilities. Its also worth nothing that if there's really efficient healing in the party, like a jorasco halfing life cleric, healer can be redundant in the same way that IL is. IL is more likely to be redundant, but by that same token if it isn't it tends to be more impactful, especially if you've got a lot of allies. There's absolutely nothing stopping you from inspiring a small army six guys at a time.

IMO an optimized party should have both healing and THP, and these feats are pretty efficient ways for any random character to get access to either.

[Dork_Forge]

I'm a big fan of the Healer feat but have never taken Inspiring Leader personally, or seen it taken at my tables.

When using Healer my character simply suggests that everyone carry their own Healer's Kit military style, and then their kit gets used to heal them. In practice running out of charges is never a problem with so many kits around.

I also think that Inspiring leader is too overlapped, especially nowadays. 13 Cha is a steep cost for a non Cha-based character, for a benefit that is now extremely common to get, and a benefit that might even become redundant in later levels (like with the Celestial Warlock's 10th level ability).

And just in general, I'd rather have healing than temp hp, it just covers more situations.

[Sigreid]

I personally rate Inspiring Leader higher as it can be applied to the whole party simultaneously and healing < to THP that prevent you from going down to begin with.

[Tanarii]

I'd it higher because it lets you start a combat with HPs > max.

[Hytheter]

If Healer wasn't limited to once per short rest per creature I'd say it was superior to IS. As it is, it's in direct competition with healing potions, which at higher level of play are plentiful, cheap and not limited in consuption.

A single healer's kit with the feat is worth 500gp worth of potions at level zero plus another 500gp worth for every seven levels. That's a pretty substantial saving if you ask me.

[Dork_Forge]

If Healer wasn't limited to once per short rest per creature I'd say it was superior to IS. As it is, it's in direct competition with healing potions, which at higher level of play are plentiful, cheap and not limited in consuption.

This is making a lot of assumptions about how common healing potions are, and that you'd live long enough to get to high level.



If you need pop up healing, you send your familiar with a healing potion.

I really wouldn't bet on a familiar, especially a normal familiar, being able to use a potion.

[Amnestic]

This is making a lot of assumptions about how common healing potions are, and that you'd live long enough to get to high level.


With 25gp of materials and a long rest anyone with herbalism kit proficiency can pump out a healing potion regardless of what the marketplace looks like.

[Dork_Forge]

With 25gp of materials and a long rest anyone with herbalism kit proficiency can pump out a healing potion regardless of what the marketplace looks like.

Yeah this isn't anymore convincing, you need:

- To use alternative rules from Xanathar's

- Have someone with Herbalism kit prof

- Have down time

- Have the materials to use. The default isn't turning gold to healing potions, those ingredients need to come from somewhere

Healing potion availability will always be highly dependent on the DM, making cross table assumptions can easily lead to disappointment and misjudging things.

[Chronos]

A 10th-level celestial warlock doesn't make Inspiring Leader useless. A creature can only benefit from IL once per rest, but it doesn't have to be immediately after the rest. If you have both in the party, then right after you rest, you use the warlock ability, and then after an encounter or two when those temp HP are used up, then you use IL, and get more temp HP.

Also note that, while you can give the speech to up to six creatures at a time, you can just use it again to give it to more creatures (as long as they haven't already been speechified since their last rest).

[Dork_Forge]

A 10th-level celestial warlock doesn't make Inspiring Leader useless. A creature can only benefit from IL once per rest, but it doesn't have to be immediately after the rest. If you have both in the party, then right after you rest, you use the warlock ability, and then after an encounter or two when those temp HP are used up, then you use IL, and get more temp HP.

Also note that, while you can give the speech to up to six creatures at a time, you can just use it again to give it to more creatures (as long as they haven't already been speechified since their last rest).

When you're carving out chunks of 10 minutes at a time for speeches between rests, you really have to ask yourself how many of those speeches could have just been a rest...

[Kurt Kurageous]

As a person who has aspired to be an inspiring leader IRL:

I assert that HP is an abstraction of the will to live, the will to stay in the fight, never quit. I don't think I.L. actually looks like a ten minute monologue every short rest. It's more like the squad/team leader checking in with each individual member of the team one on one.

"How ya doin' on ammo and water, Jones? Remember, we got a fight somewhere up ahead." (makes eye contact, pats Jones on shoulder)

"Smitty, how's that blister growin'? You changes socks and add powder, now. You got moleskin? See Doc or me if you're out."

And so on.

[Pyrophilios]

This is making a lot of assumptions about how common healing potions are, and that you'd live long enough to get to high level.




I really wouldn't bet on a familiar, especially a normal familiar, being able to use a potion.

You make a lot of assumptions about when you get feats - taking healer as your first at lvl 4 instead of an ASI is a pretty bold move that few people undertake. Even Vuman or Custom Lineage usually have better things to do with their feat slots unless it's a very gritty campaign and/or very few healer types in the party.

In fact, lvl 8 is the earliest that I've seen a Vuman Fighter take a non-combat feat in a dedicated campaign (And as a Battlemaster, he decided to take Inspiring Leader)

And speaking of potions: Magic Item Table A, the most basic treasure table to roll on is 50% finding a healing potion.

Finally: If you are not able to buy potions because the ingredients are too rare, chances are you aren't getting your healer's kit either since the medicine/salves within likely draws from the same sources.

[JackPhoenix]

One thing to note about Healer is that it's one of the few healing abilities that work on undead, if you have a necromancer in the party.

[Frogreaver]

"Everybody knows" that Inspiring Leader is a very good feat, letting you spend 10 minutes to add (your level + your Cha-mod) THP to your whole party (up to 6 creatures at a time), once per (short or long) rest at no resource cost, just 10 minutes spent talking.
Healer lets you spend an action and a healer's kit "charge" per creature to restore (target "level" + 4 + 1d6) HP to any number of creatures, once per short rest. It also allows pop-up healing at the action economy cost of Use an Item, which is an action for most characters and a bonus action for Thief Rogues.

Comparing:

Healer restores HP, I.L. grants THP. Going *into* a difficult battle with full HP and no other source of THP, THP is probably better (since it keeps you up longer). Any other time, restoring HP seems better. (Note also that many parties will have competing sources of THP or effects that want their "own" THP, like armor of Agathys or Circle of Spores's Symbiotic Form.) Healer seems better on balance?
Assuming a party of equal level, they both grant (T)HP equal to "level" plus a bonus: Healer of 4+1d6, I.L. of Cha-mod. Healer's bonus is reliably larger.
Healer takes 1 action per target; I.L. takes 10 minutes. Healer's action cost is smaller.
Healer has a physical resource cost and encumbrance (healer's kit; 3lb per 10 charges, "retail price" of 5sp per use), while I.L. has no resource cost. Advantage I.L.
Healer can pop-up heal; I.L. cannot. Advantage Healer.


Given how similar these are, why do we talk so much about Inspiring Leader and so little about Healer?

I suggest there a few reasons:

We see Inspiring Leader more often and that the reason we do is more closely related to concept and stat alignment than to power level. There are alot of Charisma characters out there afterall. Paladin/Warlock/Bard/Sorcerer/Charisma Rogue (and their multiclasses) form one of the most popular class blcoks out there.
Inspiring leader offers a clear benefit even in a single combat scenario, which is where most whiteroom comparisons occur. The Healer feat often takes multiple encounters to really start having a major impact. This makes it easier to talk about inspiring leader in online discussions than it is to talk about healer.
Leadership is a popular characteristic and there's extremely limited ways to mechanically support that concept. Healing just takes a little bit of magic or a few class features to cover well.


I don't really see consensus on rating one as more powerful than the other. Thus, I theorize it's more to do with these other considerations.

[Dork_Forge]

You make a lot of assumptions about when you get feats - taking healer as your first at lvl 4 instead of an ASI is a pretty bold move that few people undertake. Even Vuman or Custom Lineage usually have better things to do with their feat slots unless it's a very gritty campaign and/or very few healer types in the party.

In fact, lvl 8 is the earliest that I've seen a Vuman Fighter take a non-combat feat in a dedicated campaign (And as a Battlemaster, he decided to take Inspiring Leader)

Err... all of that is a very different kind of assumption and more personal experience than anything else.


And speaking of potions: Magic Item Table A, the most basic treasure table to roll on is 50% finding a healing potion.

Which doesn't really say anything about it? Even if the DM uses that table, and rolls healing potions, they still need to do both frequently enough for healing potions to actually be abundant.


Finally: If you are not able to buy potions because the ingredients are too rare, chances are you aren't getting your healer's kit either since the medicine/salves within likely draws from the same sources.



This is just heresay which doesn't make much sense:

One restores hp, the other stabilizes you.

One costs 50GP, the other costs 5GP.

Nothing in the books indicate common ingredients, but the difference in function and cost can very much inform availability.

[Frogreaver]

Finally: If you are not able to buy potions because the ingredients are too rare, chances are you aren't getting your healer's kit either since the medicine/salves within likely draws from the same sources.

That's a really far out assumption. IME, if healers kits aren't available to buy, the DM will allow them to be crafted (especially if someone invested a feat for Healer). Crafting healing potions is typically much harder if it's even allowed in the first place.

[Pyrophilios]

It's that kind of assertion that makes me wonder just what kind of GM you all have.

I can see the sense of restricting certain items in a particularly gritty campaign where healing is supposed to be rare - but why would the Healer feat be available to there?

In any other scenario it seems very weird to restrict items from the basic equipment table being available in game.

The loot tables are an indication of how the writers intended the game to be played - you don't have to use them, but they give an idea how rare or common items are. And in that case, healing potions are literally the most common item to be found at low levels.

[Dork_Forge]

It's that kind of assertion that makes me wonder just what kind of GM you all have.

I can see the sense of restricting certain items in a particularly gritty campaign where healing is supposed to be rare - but why would the Healer feat be available to there?

In any other scenario it seems very weird to restrict items from the basic equipment table being available in game.

The loot tables are an indication of how the writers intended the game to be played - you don't have to use them, but they give an idea how rare or common items are. And in that case, healing potions are literally the most common item to be found at low levels.

Let me try and clear this up for you with how things work in my games:

You're in a major town or city? Sure you can go shopping for healing potions, roll a (die size dependent on type of settlement) to see how much they have in stock.

You're in a major town or city? Sure you can go shopping for ingredients, roll a (die size dependent on type of settlement) to see how much they have in stock.

You're in a very small, rural, or just poor area? No, they don't have a 50GP potion readily available, they might have one, if that, and it is regarded as very precious.

Why is the Healer feat available in games where healing potions aren't around every corner? Well, why would you restrict that? It comes at a cost and if anything makes more sense in a world with less magical healing.

As for potions as loot: when it makes sense, sure. But there comes a point where the monsters should really be drinking those potions themselves if they had them.

[Pex]

With 25gp of materials and a long rest anyone with herbalism kit proficiency can pump out a healing potion regardless of what the marketplace looks like.

With Healer that same 25 gp gets you 50 uses of a healing kit for 50 healings of 1d6 + 4 + level instead of one use of 2d4 + 2 healing.

[Urbanmech]

Healer also continues to scale with your level unlike healing potions. Having the Healer feat is like telling your cleric or druid or other healing caster that they can cast other spells more freely.
At 1st level an average Cure Wounds spell with a 16 casting stat heals 7.5. A Healer kit charge 8.5.
By 5th level a a Healer kit charge heals 12.5, only .5 less than a 2nd level Cure Wounds. It may only be once per person per rest, but it can still add up to a lot of relatively resource free healing.

[animorte]

That's fair. There is, however, a fictional framing element to using Inspiring Leader that might not make sense for every character.

That's a very good point to note when comparing the two. You would very likely NOT see Inspiring Leader on a non-Cha based character, one that is likely to fit the description within the feat itself anyway. Somebody that might actively inspire their allies in one way or another.

Paladin might say a prayer and seek to compare the memories of the past with the fortune favored in the near future.
Bard would likely tell a story of triumphs through prose or lyrics, or just provide some hype tunes.
Sorcerer certainly falls back on their display of natural power and confidence.
Warlocks... Well, my pact with whomever likely provides the drive to accomplish whatever task lies ahead.

[Kane0]

I generally prefer IL because it can coat the whole party, even if someone has another source of THP it might save them some resources/options (eg the artillerist can use the ballista or flamethrower instead of protector, the shepherd druid hawk or unicorn spirit, the paladin cast divine favor instead of heroism, etc etc). That and between both having similar numbers it's generally better to be proactive rather than reactive, which is to say more efficient to have that HP ready to go going into a fight before you take damage rather than using healer for that HP during or after the fight.

[someguy]

Every character can short rest then spend hit dice by default. If you can short rest, and have hit dice, then the between combat uses of healer are worthless. I think that’s pretty common. Inspiring leader helps in the first combat after a long rest as well as all the others.

So if you’re in a 1 encounter per long rest group, inspiring leader helps more. And if you regularly get short rests, inspiring leader is better until you run out of hit dice. Then it’s still close.

[Dork_Forge]

Every character can short rest then spend hit dice by default. If you can short rest, and have hit dice, then the between combat uses of healer are worthless. I think that’s pretty common. Inspiring leader helps in the first combat after a long rest as well as all the others.

So if you’re in a 1 encounter per long rest group, inspiring leader helps more. And if you regularly get short rests, inspiring leader is better until you run out of hit dice. Then it’s still close.

This assumes:

- that you if you do get short rests, then it's only one encounter per short rest

- That if you can't short rest you only have one encounter..?

- Environmental hazards and traps are not a threat

- The party is fine limping along injured to a place of safety

- Nobody went down in the combat

- You have enough hit dice to fully heal

[Frogreaver]

I generally prefer IL because it can coat the whole party, even if someone has another source of THP it might save them some resources/options (eg the artillerist can use the ballista or flamethrower instead of protector, the shepherd druid hawk or unicorn spirit, the paladin cast divine favor instead of heroism, etc etc). That and between both having similar numbers it's generally better to be proactive rather than reactive, which is to say more efficient to have that HP ready to go going into a fight before you take damage rather than using healer for that HP during or after the fight.

IMO, if there's only 1 encounter between rests then inspiring leader is better (provided a decent charisma).

If there's more than 1 encounter between rests then it's not nearly as clear cut. Also, party composition can easily put the healer feat back on top (a party having only 1 PC with healing capabilities can make healer feat an excellent pickup for another PC to grant a way of picking up the healer in the worst case scenario of them being downed).


Every character can short rest then spend hit dice by default. If you can short rest, and have hit dice, then the between combat uses of healer are worthless. I think that’s pretty common. Inspiring leader helps in the first combat after a long rest as well as all the others.

So if you’re in a 1 encounter per long rest group, inspiring leader helps more. And if you regularly get short rests, inspiring leader is better until you run out of hit dice. Then it’s still close.

Hit dice can only be spent during a short rest. It's not clear why you assume characters are either short resting after every combat with hp loss or intentionally choosing not to heal via other means when they don't short rest?

[sambojin]

Inspiring Leader is fun, because it can do stupid stuff. High HP familiars (that'll probably still just wink-out if someone looks at them hard), silly wildshape shenanigans (super Rat form), etc. Can also make some Summon X spells pretty amazing (look, little Fey dude, you're the best! And we all are too).

Healer is fun, because you probably can use it in some wildshape forms, and it's not casting. Better on a thief, but having healing in wildshape is handy. It saves spell slots, which is what wildshape does anyway. And you can probably use it on yourself (or get someone else to), just to extend your free-HP buffer zone.

As a Druid, it's pretty hard to say which one is more hilarious to use. Totally bonafide use of stats and feats either way though, whether it's you or another party member with them.


(High charisma Moon Druids are actually one of the funniest builds to play. You're already 0-stats-needed/SAD, so you can be pretty inspiring if you want. "What? Did you not understand my ten-minute roar-speech? It was meant to be inspiring!". Summons can always understand you though :)
(Also encourages higher CR conjures, because there's only so much inspiration to go around, which is never a bad thing. 6-pax sitting for the feat, so while it's "better percentage-wise" to make 6 super-velociraptors, it's *actually better* for your party to all have free tHP and a couple of boosted Giant Eagles).

Healer works too, because you keep your knowledge and mental stats in wildshape, and if a Giant Spider/ Female Steeder/ bear/ deinonychus/ ape knew how to use a healer's kit, they probably could. And you've got summons/ familiars. Don't worry too much about the action economy, you'll be fine. So will everyone else.
Good on the optimised new-kobold druid too. It never feels like a wasted turn. Action heal someone and bonus action advantage-for-everyone (including summons), and you'll feel pretty good about the use of your time. Firbokg invis pops, eladrin teleports, there's lots of stuff to do in wildshape alongside action healing)

[Lunali]

I agree with that, but I think the same could be said about Healer. Why is your evocation wizard a trained nimble-handed combat medic?

The one time I picked Inspiring Leader I did roleplay it out every time, it was my character retelling the story of Icewind Dale (the CRPG) but the party consisted of poorly-veiled analogues of our party, and made each segment of the story about heroically overcoming the terrible odds stacked against them. Gave it in broad strokes of course, I didn't spend 10 minutes relaying every word!

I find it far easier to justify someone that routinely sees combat developing the skills to perform first aid than I do someone that routinely gives inspiring speeches multiple times a day.

[Sigreid]

I find it far easier to justify someone that routinely sees combat developing the skills to perform first aid than I do someone that routinely gives inspiring speeches multiple times a day.

Not that far out there for a charismatic person to develop a skill for putting steel in the spine of his allies and motivating them. I've seen people do it in real life.

[sambojin]

Meh, you can roleplay it how you want. Inspiration comes in many forms.

"Round of drinks, everyone?". 10 mins later...

"Ok, I'm going to spend 10mins being awesome to inspire everyone"....

"Yep, just juggling yesterday's Goodberries. We'll be fine tomorrow as well"....

"And upon you, I bring the blessings of my god. The god of kicking arse!"....

Etc etc.... Plenty of ways of doing it where it's not just speech time.

[Sigreid]

Meh, you can roleplay it how you want. Inspiration comes in many forms.

"Round of drinks, everyone?". 10 mins later...

"Ok, I'm going to spend 10mins being awesome to inspire everyone"....

"Yep, just juggling yesterday's Goodberries. We'll be fine tomorrow as well"....

"And upon you, I bring the blessings of my god. The god of kicking arse!"....

Etc etc.... Plenty of ways of doing it where it's not just speech time.

Don't forget "walk it off <insert your favorite vulgarity>"

[strangebloke]

Meh, you can roleplay it how you want. Inspiration comes in many forms.

"Round of drinks, everyone?". 10 mins later...

"Ok, I'm going to spend 10mins being awesome to inspire everyone"....

"Yep, just juggling yesterday's Goodberries. We'll be fine tomorrow as well"....

"And upon you, I bring the blessings of my god. The god of kicking arse!"....

Etc etc.... Plenty of ways of doing it where it's not just speech time.

"I'm going to murder every last one of you if you don't pull your weight out there."

[JackPhoenix]

Every character can short rest then spend hit dice by default. If you can short rest, and have hit dice, then the between combat uses of healer are worthless. I think that’s pretty common. Inspiring leader helps in the first combat after a long rest as well as all the others.

So if you’re in a 1 encounter per long rest group, inspiring leader helps more. And if you regularly get short rests, inspiring leader is better until you run out of hit dice. Then it’s still close.

You only get half your expended hit dice back on a long rest, so relying on a hit dice for healing is a losing game if you need to have two adventuring days in a row. And even if you get enough short rests to use those hit dice, Healer extends how long will they last, and gives you some help when you roll low.

[Joe the Rat]

I've had (and used) both in my games. They do different things, and will change in priority in different party compositions. If you have a large supply of healcasters or an overzealous herbalist/alchemist, Healer loses some value. But a cheap 1d6+4+123456789etc is useful throughout, to take a little pressure off of healers, and hit dice. If you are going an atypical route (like my older group - we have a Paladin and an Artificer for health support), it can be clutch.

Inspiring Leader is also beneficial when some players can generate their own THP. With a large enough group, having a couple of self-boosters still means you have several people who don't have their own. And anything resource-dependent means there may be times when a 10 minute pep is better than an hour's chill and recharge. Also, don't forget about pets. If you're using the "familiar with a six-pack" approach to healing, adding those THP to the relatively squishy flying monkey medic can mean the difference between saving a party member or having a pile of broken bottles and being out 10gold in incense.


One thing that I don't like about Inspiring Leader is that it means your character is the kind of person that gives inspiring speeches multiple times per day. I don't think anyone actually expects you to roleplay that out, but nonetheless it is happening in the fiction and completely eliding it bothers me. I guess you could say you're going around to everyone individually and having a short conversation, that's less awkward..
You've got the idea of not every use being a St. Crispin's Day speech. 10 minutes walking among your men teammates and saying a few words to each is totally on brand.

But our Archfey Warlock?

"I'm going to murder every last one of you if you don't pull your weight out there."Pretty much this. Drill Sergeant is a solid take for IL.



I finder Healer is best used after combat. It heals better than a healing potion or 1st level Cure Wounds, saving more valuable resources than a healing kit use. It's healing you can do without need of a rest. If you do short rest it supplements and saves a HD for healing, and you can heal later since you can benefit again after a short rest. Healer is a good support feat.
When I was playing my Inspired Physician Monk in AL, this was the idea - burn a few silvers after combats (or before rests) to patch up a little so the clerics can save some slots (and everyone the pricey potions) to clean up a bit. If you really need to go in combat, the unlimited stabilize to 1hp (purchase required) can be handy when things are going sideways.


One thing to note about Healer is that it's one of the few healing abilities that work on undead, if you have a necromancer in the party.We've had this one come up too, only applied directly to the healer, since he's dead and all.

[Chronos]

It shouldn't be hard to replenish a healer's kit, anywhere that people live. The biggest thing that gets used up is bandages, and those are basically just cloth. You know who uses cloth? Everyone. Next, you'll want something for cleaning wounds. You know what works really well for that? Alcohol. You know who uses alcohol? Also everyone. There are also a lot of place you can replenish healing potions, but they won't be nearly as easy as the healer's kit.

[strangebloke]

It shouldn't be hard to replenish a healer's kit, anywhere that people live. The biggest thing that gets used up is bandages, and those are basically just cloth. You know who uses cloth? Everyone. Next, you'll want something for cleaning wounds. You know what works really well for that? Alcohol. You know who uses alcohol? Also everyone. There are also a lot of place you can replenish healing potions, but they won't be nearly as easy as the healer's kit.

Pretty much, having reliable uses of healer's kits is fiddly but ultimately about as trivial as ammunition.

Making/Carrying health potions can be good but its like a dozen times more work, and its really expensive to keep up with healer in this way, unless you have a very generous DM.

[loki_ragnarock]

Survived Curse of Strahd with a support Cleric pimping Aid and Healer to make the party more survivable. Took alot of pressure off using spell slots for healing and generally produced more hp on an action than a cure wounds spell would have recovered, anyway. Personal anecdote says it does what's on the tin, but this wasn't a party that was focused on relatively low durability summons or pets. Action to heal with a bonus action to guide a Spiritual Weapon synergized perfectly into the Heal + Attack paradigms of a standard cleric pretty seamlessly.

Took Healer at 4 with an ASI wis at 8th. Saved many a spell slot over those levels.

Inspiring Leader might have worked just as well, as we didn't have competing sources for temp hp apart from, well, me. But as a very offense-light character, Healer gave me something to help the party with actions that otherwise might have been dedicated to dodging. Made me feel a more active participant. And that's not nothing in game design.

[Kane0]

Healer is also pretty good on an expert sidekick, since its combat stuff is largely based on bonus actions

[Keravath]

Lots of good commentary here!

I could have done a better job of framing this; I've seen Inspiring Leader cited as "great" and as a reason for characters to prioritize 13 Cha so they can meet the pre-req, and I've rarely heard Healer mentioned except as "good with Thief". (Inspired (pun intended) by strangebloke's recent thread suggesting that Barbarians should take feats instead of ASIs: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?645919-Barbarian-ASIs-are-for-feats)

It sounds like there are two camps of commenters so far:

They're in the same "quality tier" of feat, or
Healer is bad for non-Thief characters because healing with an action is bad in combat and healing between combats is better done with resources that don't cost you a feat.


Am I missing anybody?

(I happen to think that Healer saves enough resources in tiers 1 and 2 to justify taking it instead of buying zillions of Potions of Healing or spending long-rest spell slots or relying entirely on short-rest HD-based recovery, but that may not be the case at all tables.)

The argument against the healer feat is the usual in combat action cost to heal the 1d6+4+target level hit points. In many situations, that is insufficient hit points to keep a character up more than one round until they are hit again, much like any other in combat healing.

If you are going to use an action to heal then why not use a healing potion? These are often found as treasure or in many campaigns the party has enough gold to buy them without issues.

Is it better to use your action to make an attack that will typically do more damage and possibly eliminate an opponent or use the action to give a modest number of hit points to a team mate. The hit points might make sense if the team mate is on the ground with failed death saves or if the game being run includes a homebrew penalty for hitting zero hit points. However, even then, a fighter/rogue/wizard making attacks or casting spells instead - or a cleric/druid/bard doing it as a bonus action using healing word would usually make more sense than a character sacrificing their action to use the healer feat.

Between combats, a second level spell, prayer of healing, will do pretty much the same as the healer feat - it does require 10 minutes and a second level spell slot but by the time a party is into late tier 2 and after - a second level spell slot isn't typically a big deal. In addition, a life cleric gets to add 4 hit points to each use of prayer of healing making it strictly better than the healer feat for between combat healing and the spells is available to at least clerics and paladins. Prayer of healing scales by upcasting too. (but it does cost a long rest resource).

In a party with limited healing potions, no character with healing word, a general lack of healing capability, or at low level where resources are more constrained then the healer feat has more value.

Finally, in the case of a thief rogue which can use the feat as a bonus action, you have less impact on the ability of the party to do damage at the same time. The rogue retains use of their action. However, rogues have a lot of very valuable uses for their bonus action - dash, disengage, hide, steady aim etc - which help either survivability or damage (by granting advantage on attack rolls and enabling sneak attack against targets without an opponent adjacent). So, even then, although it has reduced impact on the action economy, it does stop the rogue from using some important features on the round it is used.

Compare all of these considerations to Inspiring Leader. No impact on combat action economy, pre-buff the number of hit points granted so that everyone starts off after a rest with extra hit points which for some characters might last the entire day. 10 minutes required after every short or long rest which is usually not an issue since the characters have time for at least an hour already - an extra 10 minutes doesn't usually make any difference. The extra hit points can delay the need for in combat healing and thus improves the action economy by allowing the characters to attack for a bit longer (maybe an extra combat round?) before needing in combat healing.

I think these are the considerations for why Inspiring Leader is often considered better than the healer feat. Healer has some significant impact on the combat action economy to use it and it is only usable once/short rest for bringing characters back up from zero hit points - which means the party is likely to need additional healing anyway.

[x3n0n]

The argument against the healer feat is the usual in combat action cost to heal the 1d6+4+target level hit points. In many situations, that is insufficient hit points to keep a character up more than one round until they are hit again, much like any other in combat healing.

If you are going to use an action to heal then why not use a healing potion? These are often found as treasure or in many campaigns the party has enough gold to buy them without issues.

Is it better to use your action to make an attack that will typically do more damage and possibly eliminate an opponent or use the action to give a modest number of hit points to a team mate. The hit points might make sense if the team mate is on the ground with failed death saves or if the game being run includes a homebrew penalty for hitting zero hit points. However, even then, a fighter/rogue/wizard making attacks or casting spells instead - or a cleric/druid/bard doing it as a bonus action using healing word would usually make more sense than a character sacrificing their action to use the healer feat.

Between combats, a second level spell, prayer of healing, will do pretty much the same as the healer feat - it does require 10 minutes and a second level spell slot but by the time a party is into late tier 2 and after - a second level spell slot isn't typically a big deal. In addition, a life cleric gets to add 4 hit points to each use of prayer of healing making it strictly better than the healer feat for between combat healing and the spells is available to at least clerics and paladins. Prayer of healing scales by upcasting too. (but it does cost a long rest resource).

In a party with limited healing potions, no character with healing word, a general lack of healing capability, or at low level where resources are more constrained then the healer feat has more value.

Finally, in the case of a thief rogue which can use the feat as a bonus action, you have less impact on the ability of the party to do damage at the same time. The rogue retains use of their action. However, rogues have a lot of very valuable uses for their bonus action - dash, disengage, hide, steady aim etc - which help either survivability or damage (by granting advantage on attack rolls and enabling sneak attack against targets without an opponent adjacent). So, even then, although it has reduced impact on the action economy, it does stop the rogue from using some important features on the round it is used.

Compare all of these considerations to Inspiring Leader. No impact on combat action economy, pre-buff the number of hit points granted so that everyone starts off after a rest with extra hit points which for some characters might last the entire day. 10 minutes required after every short or long rest which is usually not an issue since the characters have time for at least an hour already - an extra 10 minutes doesn't usually make any difference. The extra hit points can delay the need for in combat healing and thus improves the action economy by allowing the characters to attack for a bit longer (maybe an extra combat round?) before needing in combat healing.

I think these are the considerations for why Inspiring Leader is often considered better than the healer feat. Healer has some significant impact on the combat action economy to use it and it is only usable once/short rest for bringing characters back up from zero hit points - which means the party is likely to need additional healing anyway.

Another really good post! Bolded a few points for emphasis (and one for questioning).

The question: I read Healer's first bullet as allowing "unlimited" use of 0-to-1 healing when stabilizing, and the "once per short rest" limitation is only attached to the second bullet. Agree?

I think there are two things in favor of I.L. that I had not given sufficient weight until this discussion.

Party-wide THP of ("caster" level + bonus) is exceedingly valuable (similar in HP value to adding +1 Con bonus to all characters, and significantly greater than that for minions), and provided by very few features (IIRC: I.L., Celestial Resilience, Shepherd's Bear Totem, and Twilight Sanctuary, of which only I.L. is in the PHB).
Party-wide level-scaling out-of-combat HP recovery is available to every party through resting (and by RAW, resting is very generous unless you're doing 3+ consecutive days with lots of HP-depleting encounters); additionally, most parties have some method of significant out-of-combat between-rest HP recovery (spells like goodberry or prayer of healing, Lay on Hands, Hand of Healing, potions, etc.). In such a party, Healer's second bullet just reduces pressure on those other methods.


Given that:

Inspiring Leader is valuable to every party, and difficult to replicate unless you have one of those other features.
Healer's second bullet only comes into its own if you're playing in an environment where between-rests HP recovery is more important than "usual" due to pacing and/or non-PHB resting (e.g., "long rests don't restore HP") or in a party where there is little or no additional out-of-combat healing capability (including availability of gp and healing potions). If you're a Thief, both bullets are usable as a bonus action, making in-combat use practical (although still putting more pressure than you'd like on your action economy).


Fair?

[Tanarii]

So, sounds like consensus is, in a short version:

Inspiring Leader prebuffs and that's almost always useful.

Healer just takes the pressure off other healing resources, which is sometimes worth a feat and sometimes not.

With an asterisk for Thief Rogues because they're just awesome.

[strangebloke]

The argument against the healer feat is the usual in combat action cost to heal the 1d6+4+target level hit points. In many situations, that is insufficient hit points to keep a character up more than one round until they are hit again, much like any other in combat healing.

If you are going to use an action to heal then why not use a healing potion? These are often found as treasure or in many campaigns the party has enough gold to buy them without issues.

Is it better to use your action to make an attack that will typically do more damage and possibly eliminate an opponent or use the action to give a modest number of hit points to a team mate. The hit points might make sense if the team mate is on the ground with failed death saves or if the game being run includes a homebrew penalty for hitting zero hit points. However, even then, a fighter/rogue/wizard making attacks or casting spells instead - or a cleric/druid/bard doing it as a bonus action using healing word would usually make more sense than a character sacrificing their action to use the healer feat.

Between combats, a second level spell, prayer of healing, will do pretty much the same as the healer feat - it does require 10 minutes and a second level spell slot but by the time a party is into late tier 2 and after - a second level spell slot isn't typically a big deal. In addition, a life cleric gets to add 4 hit points to each use of prayer of healing making it strictly better than the healer feat for between combat healing and the spells is available to at least clerics and paladins. Prayer of healing scales by upcasting too. (but it does cost a long rest resource).

In a party with limited healing potions, no character with healing word, a general lack of healing capability, or at low level where resources are more constrained then the healer feat has more value.

Finally, in the case of a thief rogue which can use the feat as a bonus action, you have less impact on the ability of the party to do damage at the same time. The rogue retains use of their action. However, rogues have a lot of very valuable uses for their bonus action - dash, disengage, hide, steady aim etc - which help either survivability or damage (by granting advantage on attack rolls and enabling sneak attack against targets without an opponent adjacent). So, even then, although it has reduced impact on the action economy, it does stop the rogue from using some important features on the round it is used.

Compare all of these considerations to Inspiring Leader. No impact on combat action economy, pre-buff the number of hit points granted so that everyone starts off after a rest with extra hit points which for some characters might last the entire day. 10 minutes required after every short or long rest which is usually not an issue since the characters have time for at least an hour already - an extra 10 minutes doesn't usually make any difference. The extra hit points can delay the need for in combat healing and thus improves the action economy by allowing the characters to attack for a bit longer (maybe an extra combat round?) before needing in combat healing.

I think these are the considerations for why Inspiring Leader is often considered better than the healer feat. Healer has some significant impact on the combat action economy to use it and it is only usable once/short rest for bringing characters back up from zero hit points - which means the party is likely to need additional healing anyway.

I mean, as a counter point here I'd bring up Aid. You can achieve similar effects to Inspiring leader with spells as well, much in the way you can use Prayer of Healing instead of Healer. Aid is generally less efficient from a pure resources to hp conversion, but it also stacks with everything so its arguably better.

Using medic in combat is more of a niche play, but even then it is a lot more hp than most potions give. At level 5 you're looking at 12.5 hp, which is honestly enough to stay alive for a turn at that level.

[Corran]

I mean, as a counter point here I'd bring up Aid. You can achieve similar effects to Inspiring leader with spells as well, much in the way you can use Prayer of Healing instead of Healer. Aid is generally less efficient from a pure resources to hp conversion, but it also stacks with everything so its arguably better.
Less efficient that what? There are spells that are more efficient than aid (when thinking of aid as a way to proactively recover hp; obviously it does not only do that), but I'd generally consider it an efficient use of resources.

[Tanarii]

Aid and Inspiring Leader can both be used on the same target btw

[strangebloke]

Less efficient that what? There are spells that are more efficient than aid (when thinking of aid as a way to proactively recover hp; obviously it does not only do that), but I'd generally consider it an efficient use of resources.

We're comparing prayer of healing to Healer feat which both restore comparable hp.

for contrast, aid doesn't increase hp by as much as IL increase thp. Which, yes, its sort of a false comparison since they do stack, but that's technically true of prayer of healing and Healer as well (though in both cases you get diminishing returns)

[sethdmichaels]

One thing that I don't like about Inspiring Leader is that it means your character is the kind of person that gives inspiring speeches multiple times per day. I don't think anyone actually expects you to roleplay that out, but nonetheless it is happening in the fiction and completely eliding it bothers me.

i think it's pretty easily reflavored to something that isn't a big speech. A song, a prayer session, a quick set of restorative yoga poses...there are lots of ways to inspire.

[Sigreid]

i think it's pretty easily reflavored to something that isn't a big speech. A song, a prayer session, a quick set of restorative yoga poses...there are lots of ways to inspire.

Not showing fear as you enter a fight can work too.

[Dork_Forge]

Not showing fear as you enter a fight can work too.

That one is hard to jive with the taking 10 minutes out thing though.

[strangebloke]

ten minutes of psyching up your allies before jumping headlong into danger is like the most realistic thing imaginable, I don't know why people get hung up on this. Ten minutes is not that much time, its basically enough time to pass around a flask, give everyone a compliment and a thump on the back, say "we got this my dudes" and then go. Your party probably spends more time haggling over health potion prices.

[Dork_Forge]

ten minutes of psyching up your allies before jumping headlong into danger is like the most realistic thing imaginable, I don't know why people get hung up on this. Ten minutes is not that much time, its basically enough time to pass around a flask, give everyone a compliment and a thump on the back, say "we got this my dudes" and then go. Your party probably spends more time haggling over health potion prices.

Ten minutes is a long time to stop in a hostile environment outside of a rest (which I think is the context being discussed).

Separately ten minutes is quite a but long in real life IMO too, that's the useable part of a 15 minute work break, and a single conversation that actually goes on for ten minutes is very long if not with someone you have to talk to (work meeting) or really want to (loved ones and friends). Talking to a cashier/shopkeeper for anything less complicated than a new phone contract or four figure purchase doesn't feel ordinary.

[strangebloke]

Ten minutes is a long time to stop in a hostile environment outside of a rest (which I think is the context being discussed).
That's not exclusively what people are talking about. They're also talking about how "out of character" it is to spend ten minutes "giving speeches" several times a day. I'd argue for a high stress job like fighting to the death against eldritch horrors, taking ten minute breaks to psych yourself up is very very normal.

As for using it "in a hostile environment": Not all hostile environments are created equally and people trying to make hard claims about how pacing works at all tables are always wrong. There are lots of cases where you can find 10 minutes here or there.

Separately ten minutes is quite a but long in real life IMO too, that's the useable part of a 15 minute work break, and a single conversation that actually goes on for ten minutes is very long if not with someone you have to talk to (work meeting) or really want to (loved ones and friends). Talking to a cashier/shopkeeper for anything less complicated than a new phone contract or four figure purchase doesn't feel ordinary.

Nah. Set a ten minute timer whenever a spell with that duration gets cast and track whether the party does anything before that timer goes off.

[Chronos]

And who says you're stopping for ten minutes for the inspiring speech or whatever? You finish your rest, you all pick up your packs, and head back down the dungeon corridor, and while you're walking, you do your thing. Nothing says that you have to be stationary, or using your actions, or anything like that.

As an aside, it also says it affects allies who can hear or see you. So there needn't be any auditory component to it at all: You can inspire them just by looking awesome.

[ImproperJustice]

Hmmmm, late to the party, but honestly both are great.

Been in a campaign with a Fighter / Paladin that had Inspiring Leader and it was the gift that kept on giving. He role played the speeches as just being the overall team leader, like the movie Gladiator where he walked around the campfire, always talking and checking in with everyone and we all rolled with it.
Sometimes his speech was him raising his blade and us just saluting or repeating a chant together.

I mean, ever seen LOTR 3, and the Ride of Rohan?
Dude just running down the line tapping swords to lances and yelling death at the top of his lungs should get the job done.


And with Healer?
I liked it so much, I often play level 1 fighters with the feat just to keep people from rerolling characters.

Yeah, sure, Cleric and Druids can burn their limited low level slots to heal people, or use them to win the game.
And what happens if they go face down in the dirt?
Redundant healing is always nice.

Have everyone carry a kit. They’re cheap.
With healer it costs almost nothing to keep people “topped off” for the next battle.

And Healer is better than healing potions.

2d4+2= 7-8hp average roughly at level 3
Costs 25-50gp, and it’s gone.

Healer: 1d6+4+level = 10-11 at level 3.
Costs 1gp approximately
Wait an hour, do it again if needed.

Honestly Healer is like adding a whole other classes features to a player for a feat. You get excellent healing, stability/ revival capabilities all for a very low cost.

Having both in a party is a great way to extend resources and both are good choices.

[Keravath]

I mean, as a counter point here I'd bring up Aid. You can achieve similar effects to Inspiring leader with spells as well, much in the way you can use Prayer of Healing instead of Healer. Aid is generally less efficient from a pure resources to hp conversion, but it also stacks with everything so its arguably better.

Using medic in combat is more of a niche play, but even then it is a lot more hp than most potions give. At level 5 you're looking at 12.5 hp, which is honestly enough to stay alive for a turn at that level.

I'd say Aid stacks with Inspiring Leader so why not use both? Also, since Aid increases total hit points, it may take the pressure off using the Healer feat by reducing the odds that it will be needed. (Also, most characters with Aid also have healing spells available further reducing the value of the Healer Feat except as a mechanism to shift resource costs a bit).

[strangebloke]

I'd say Aid stacks with Inspiring Leader so why not use both? Also, since Aid increases total hit points, it may take the pressure off using the Healer feat by reducing the odds that it will be needed. (Also, most characters with Aid also have healing spells available further reducing the value of the Healer Feat except as a mechanism to shift resource costs a bit).

Shifting resources is the whole game here. There are a lot of means of getting healing and a lot of means of getting THP. Ultimately both IL and Healer contend with this fact. You won't want either of these feats if there's a glut of THP generators or a glut of healers. Aid wasn't perhaps the best example here, but it had the virtue of stacking on multiple targets for the whole day like IL, so its what I used. Clearly a party composed of a fiend warlock, long death monk, shepherd druid, and heroism paladin don't want IL.

That's not to say IL or Healer is bad. My intention is quite the opposite! But both have the same party synergy questions to answer.

[x3n0n]

So, the thing they have in common is that both can directly extend the HP/durability available to the party between long rests by (party level + 5ish) * (1 + number of short rests) per character at minimal resource cost (either none or very few gp for a readily-available item with minor encumbrance).

What other features offer a similar or greater amount of durability to the whole party with low resource cost?

Celestial Resilience, Shepherd's Bear Spirit Totem, and Twilight Sanctuary: per-short-rest refreshing THP in the same order of magnitude
Disciple of Life + (Goodberry if allowed or Aura of Vitality) seems very efficient: low-ish level spell slots for LOTS of HP recovery
lots of healing potions (depending on what you mean by "low resource cost": in some campaigns at some levels, gp, Potions of Healing, and ways to carry them are readily available)

Others?

[strangebloke]

So, the thing they have in common is that both can directly extend the HP/durability available to the party between long rests by (party level + 5ish) * (1 + number of short rests) per character at minimal resource cost (either none or very few gp for a readily-available item with minor encumbrance).

What other features offer a similar or greater amount of durability to the whole party with low resource cost?

Celestial Resilience, Shepherd's Bear Spirit Totem, and Twilight Sanctuary: per-short-rest refreshing THP in the same order of magnitude
Disciple of Life + (Goodberry if allowed or Aura of Vitality) seems very efficient: low-ish level spell slots for LOTS of HP recovery
lots of healing potions (depending on what you mean by "low resource cost": in some campaigns at some levels, gp, Potions of Healing, and ways to carry them are readily available)

Others?

Yeah this is the right way to think about this. Some other good ones include

really resilient characters that will almost never struggle with hp damage as such (moon druids, some EK/bladesinger builds)
prayer of healing, aura of vitality. These are amazing with disciple of life but even without this they're solid.
celestial lock, paladin, and dreams druid of whom have a completely separate resource track for their healing and thus don't sacrifice much in other areas to heal.

Admittedly these are a lot weaker than what you already mentioned, but in aggregate even 2-3 of these will cut into the utility of additional full party healing resources. Though by that same token, a larger party will greatly enhance these features.

[Chronos]

Disciple of Life + (Goodberry if allowed or Aura of Vitality) seems very efficient: low-ish level spell slots for LOTS of HP recovery
The really efficient thing about Goodberry is that you can cast it with yesterday's spell slots. Still have three slots when it's time to go to bed? Start the next day with 30 points of healing, absolutely free. When I was playing a ranger in a party with two clerics, I ended up healing more than either of them, all because of that spell, because the berries were the first thing we turned to when it was time to heal.

[animewatcha]

One's a bandaid-with-benefits and the other is a preventative. If you have to choose between one or the other, what do you find most often happening to you?