Healing Hands and Devoted Paladin

[Mordar]

Hello all -

While I suspect I know the answer (or at least what I think the answer should be), I hope the Playground can help confirm and provide a recommendation (for or against) the following:

Devoted Paladin (Add Cha bonus to Lay on Hands healing, +1 surge) and Healing Hands (Add Cha bonus to Lay on Hands healing). At first I thought perhaps Devoted Paladin (from Divine Power) was simply a re-write of Healing Hands, adding the extra surge. It appears that is not the case.

As best I can tell, the "typed bonuses" stacking clause only applies to dice rolls and defenses, and that as such, a Paladin choosing to expend feat slots on both DP and HH would gain 1 surge per day and add 2[Cha bonus] to each LoH usage. Confirm?

Now then, assuming that the confirmation is "Yes", is this a worthwhile path to consider? Here's some background - Group of 5 currently at Level 3 (Ranger, Rogue, Paladin, Warlord, Invoker), Ranger is a de facto back-up defender (Goliath, good Con) but the Paladin handles the majority of the Defendery duties (and loves Divine Sanction!).

The Paladin also happens to be multiclass Bardic Dilettante (follows a love goddess, backstory driven) and has Majestic Word. Currently the Paladin's wisdom allows only a single LoH per day, but at level 4 that will increase to 2/day. So, the sum total healing available is LoH, Majestic Word and the Warlord's word. We've got excellent damage output, but are a little short, I think, on the healing. The group is not, nor will be, "optimization" driven, even by 4e standards...but that doesn't mean we don't want to make good decisions!

At level 4 I am almost certainly taking Devoted Paladin...but shall I take Healing Hands down the line as well? Will the additional +4 (Cha 18 - love goddess, don'tcha know?) be worth the Feat slot, or is there something else the might be recommended? I've not seen anything that will increase LoH uses (either directly or indirectly).

For the record, the majority of LoH uses have been applied to the Paladin, so there's be little to no risk of having to reposition out of a defensive spot to apply the healing to someone else.

- M

[Namillus]

Well, first off, Devoted Paladin only grants the additional healing to allies, so if most of your Lay on Hands is going on you then Healing Hands is a better choice, unless you want the extra surge from Devoted Paladin.

However, yes, as far as I'm aware, Devoted Paladin and Healing Hands stack.

As for increasing usage of Lay on Hands, there's the Untiring Virtue paragon tier feat, which gives you an extra use of Lay on Hands, Virtue's Touch, or Ardent Vow each day for every milestone the group reaches.

Also, I can recommend the Hospitaler Paragon Path, which at 16th level gives you your Charisma to Lay on Hands again.