Healing without a Cleric

[KatfishKaos]

Hi, I remember surfing these (or possibly another) forums and stumblind across a detailed and indepth post about healing without a "Healing class:, in 3.5 that is. If anybody knows the link it would be greatly appreciated. It's a 2-man party and we have a Human Fighter 3, and a Dwarf Rogue 1 / Swashbuckler 2 any and all tips would also be great!

Thanks Playgrounders!

[Yora]

First thing would be healing potions. I can't think of any other ways.

[Eldariel]

1) Buy a Healing Belt [Magic Item Compendium] for everyone.
2) Max out Use Magic Device (you has a Rogue).
3) Buy Wands of Cure Light Wounds (or Lesser Vigor; even better)
4) ???????
5) Profit!


Also, the thread: A Player's Guide to Healing

First thing would be healing potions. I can't think of any other ways.

Never use unless you're desperate or find them. They're way overpriced for what they do.

[Saph]

You don't need a long essay on it; it's actually pretty straightforward.

You get Wands of Cure Light Wounds. (Lesser Vigour instead if you have the Spell Compendium.) A wand of CLW costs 750 gp and cures an average of 275 points of damage, which means in practice you'll never run short as long as you have access to a shop that sells them.

To activate a Wand of CLW you need at least 1 level in:

• Cleric
• Druid
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Bard

which unfortunately your party doesn't have. But you have a character with Rogue levels, so you can substitute the Use Magic Device skill instead.

After every encounter, spam Cure Light Wounds from your wand until the party is on full HP. Simple and effective. No cleric required.

- Saph

edit: *fights off ninja attack from Eldariel*

[Gaiyamato]

There is a feat from FR somewhere that lets you activate wands as if you are a level 1 wizard.

Or yeah, just get the rouge to UMD with the wands. lol.

Or get the swasbuckler/rogue to take a level in bard. :P
Bard goes well with swashbukler and rogue and it gives you a little arcane magic, arcane versions of the cure spells and bardic music is a prerequisite for some battle dancing. :)

Look in complete champion (or is it Complete Divine) for the bardic class options there. Some useful bardic music for healing etc.

Alternatively the fighter can take some paladin levels for lay hands.

[BobVosh]

There is a feat from FR somewhere that lets you activate wands as if you are a level 1 wizard.

And...um....how does that help you heal people? Unless they are constructs.

Anyway: Listen to the sneaky ninja Eld. Belt of healing + Wand of Lesser vigor=all the healing you will need until level 10. Even then it is good.

750 gold for 550 health. Thats ~1.36 gold per health. A better bargin is hard to find.

[Adumbration]

Dragon shaman with Aura of Vigor.

[JeminiZero]

Anyway: Listen to the sneaky ninja Eld. Belt of healing + Wand of Lesser vigor=all the healing you will need until level 10. Even then it is good.

750 gold for 550 health. Thats ~1.36 gold per health. A better bargin is hard to find.

A custom item of command word cure minor wounds costs 0.5 spell level * 1 caster level * 1800 multiplier = 900 gp. Basically limitless out of combat healing for a bit more GP. But very few GMs will permit that (yours might since you don't have a cleric).

[Jack_Simth]

A custom item of command word cure minor wounds costs 0.5 spell level * 1 caster level * 1800 multiplier = 900 gp. Basically limitless out of combat healing for a bit more GP. But very few GMs will permit that (yours might since you don't have a cleric).

It's less broken than you might think; all it does is replenish HP. It doesn't have a noticable impact in combat, and out of combat, has about as much impact as the wands of Lesser Vigor or Cure Light Wounds that almost everybody buys anyway. For the Wizard, Cleric, or other top-tier character? It's not so useful - their primary resource is a bunch of per-day abilities that simple HP replenishment doesn't fix. For the skillmonkeys (Rogue, Bard, and to a lesser extent the Monk and Ranger) and meatshields (Fighter, Paladin, Barbarian, and to a lesser extend the Ranger and Monk)? Their primary resource is their HP; so they're a little strengthened by it ... but not enough to affect any one battle.

So... the top-tier classes aren't affected, the low-tier classes are a bit strengthened. How's it a problem?

[Farlion]

1. Build a Trap of cure minor wounds which sets of if you push the red button
2. push the red button
3. get healed

You might want to discuss this with your DM first =)

Cheers,
Farlion

P.S: I was in a similar situation once and our DM gave us a nice little item to replace the healer. We found an amulett somewhere out in the middle of nowhere in an old tempel, which had a ghost bound to it. The ghost didn't remember why he was a ghost, but couldn't move farther away from the amulet then 20' or so. The ghost was a cleric and was able to cast cure light wounds and cure moderate wounds a couple of times per day. The ghost was not really good aligned, but he had some interest in keeping us alive, thus he could walk around with us.

[Saph]

The problem is that it's a custom item made with the (broken) pricing rules. Pretty much any DM with any experience is going to react negatively to that.

Besides, it isn't necessary. There's no need to go looking for a custom item when a regular one can do the job.

- Saph

[#Raptor]

Alternatively the fighter can take some paladin levels for lay hands.

A Fighter taking a few Paladin levels certainly for lay on hands certainly ain't gonna cut it. Better take 1 Cleric level for the wand of lesser Vigor instead.

Btw, for those who don't have Spell Compendium... lesser Vigor also is in Complete Divine.

The only drawback for the wand of lesser Vigor is that its a Cleric/Druid spell - Paladins and Rangers are stuck with CLW.

[Riffington]

Alternatively, ask your DM if you can retrain your 3rd fighter level for Crusader instead.

They're still as fighty as you want to be, they're fun, and they have some healing powers.

Or just go with the ranger level and a wand of CLW, I suppose.

[Roderick_BR]

If it's a party with only 2 characters, see if your DM won't allow you to do gestalt. Give paladin levels to your fighter, and bard levels (or beguiler) to your rogue. Since the base stats of those classes overlapt (HP, armor, bab, ...), you just get some half-casting as bonus. Will help a lot the small group, and give more in-game options.

[Trodon]

there is the doctor homebrewed class

[John Campbell]

I've been playing for a while in a party with no cleric. My character's currently a Fighter 2/Rogue 8/Urban Ranger 2, and gets the cure spells from the Urban Ranger list, even though I'm never getting enough levels in Ranger to actually be able to cast under my own power (I'm going to be straight-up Rogue from here on out). We have a Paladin/Kensai who gets a bit of lay on hands and CLW on the Paladin list, a Sorcerer with UMD, and a Knight who is useless.

I've been the party's primary healer for most of the game, using CLW wands and supplementing with healing belts and the Paladin's limited lay on hands. We're now 12th level and have reached the point where this doesn't really work anymore. Using the CLW wands for out-of-combat healing is getting expensive (I just basically drained one on a single adventure, and that's 750gp we're never going to see again), and they're utterly useless for combat healing. 1d8+1 is nothing when even I'm doing more damage than that with a single attack that I don't get my sneak attack on. We really need heal, and we don't have it.

The Knight's taking Leadership as his 12th level feat, and, despite his effort to remain useless by refusing to actually take any of the benefits from the feat, the rest of us have managed to browbeat him into getting a Cleric cohort for a healbot - should be 10th level; he's got a good Cha. We'll see how that works out...

[Starbuck_II]

The problem is that it's a custom item made with the (broken) pricing rules. Pretty much any DM with any experience is going to react negatively to that.

Besides, it isn't necessary. There's no need to go looking for a custom item when a regular one can do the job.

- Saph

The trap rules don't have the prohibiting warning that the magic item guidelines have in the DMG. So custom traps are less warned against.

[Fixer]

I now recall an item our group created called the Healing Rock.

Cleric/Runecaster (Forgotten Realm prestige class). He carved a rune upon a small rock (fits in one hand). The rune was Cure Light Wounds. The rock was set to 1st level caster, permanent, and used only when touched. Because of his level in Runecaster, the rune was automatically maximized.

Very straightforward formula in the Runecaster prestige class:
Spell Level (1) x Caster Level (1) x 2000 (permanent rune) x 1 (usable only when touched) =
2000gp

for 9hp instantly per touch, unlimited uses.

That is even better than a lesser vigor rock would be, because it is instantaneous and can be used over and over.

After that, we decided that such an item would be available a bit more commonly, as it doesn't wear out, have 'charges' or is otherwise easily broken. Thus, the magic healing rock market was created.

[Thurbane]

The Binder (ToM) can basically get unlimited healing by about level 4, binding the right vestige...

[Pharaoh's Fist]

there is the doctor homebrewed class

Doctor who?

[shadzar]

Doctor who?

Just "The Doctor", if you please.

[Jack_Simth]

A little harder for application in your specific situation, but if you had a Wizard or Sorcerer with the Summon Elemental Reserve feat (Complete Mage), one of the elemental languages, and a Vampiric weapon (property from the Magic Item Compendium), you could get non-capped non-combat healing.