Druid healing variants

[W3bDragon]

It seems I'll be playing a druid in an E6 game, starting at 1st level.

I've been looking for a good spontaneous method of healing. My options seem to be:

Spontaneous Healing: Takes up a feat, which for a non-human 1st level druid, is an expensive payout. Also, with no cure spells at 2nd, its pretty limited.

ACF Spontaneous Rejuvenation: Good because it replaces summoning, which I won't be using, but the amount of healing seems to be pretty pathetic at low levels, even up to the E6 cap. Damage is rarely distributed in a useful way for AoE fast healing.

Is there any other way to do it? The vigor line is useful, but not being able to spontaneously cast them put a serious damper on preparing spells, and again, only at 1st and 3rd. None at 2nd.

Anyone with ideas or experience using any of those at 1st-6th levels?

[Eldariel]

You only need CLW; on level 3, you should already be using Curing Wands all the time instead of wasting spell slots on it. Tho giving up Spontaneous Summoning seems incredibly poor since it's one of Druid's greatest strengths allowing them to literally adapt to every situation; there's plenty of problem solver-type summons on the list. Even more, many of the best Druid-feats power up Summons. So while I'm not telling you to focus on it, I suggest keeping your options open especially if you expect to hit Epic.

Spontaneous Curing from Fangshield Druid [CoV] seems rather good; if you're a non-Humanoid, it's quite perfect as it gives up Resist Nature's Lure (OH NOES, YOU ONLY HAVE +13-14 WILL-SAVES!) and gains you spontaneous Cure Light Wounds. Of course, the big drawback is that you get it on level 4, so it'll mostly be obsolete by then. The way I see it, if you honestly want to be a Big Stupid Healer, just prepare Lesser Vigor in your slots, along with maybe one Entangle. The idiots will get themselves hurt enough for you to use 'em all anyways.

[gomipile]

Try to make do til level 7, because then you get Summon Nature's Ally IV, which is one of the best spontaneously cast cure spells in the game, along with SNA V and VI.

Why? Because Unicorns have cure spells

If you really need to be the healbot before level 7, do the flowing: Just prepare all vigors and cures, etc. and rely on your animal companion, a spear and some darts, and wild shape for the rest of your party contribution til level 7.

[Eldariel]

Try to make do til level 7, because then you get Summon Nature's Ally IV, which is one of the best spontaneously cast cure spells in the game, along with SNA V and VI.

Why? Because Unicorns have cure spells

If you really need to be the healbot before level 7, do the flowing: Just prepare all vigors and cures, etc. and rely on your animal companion, a spear and some darts, and wild shape for the rest of your party contribution til level 7.

E6 means no level 7 (or level 4 spells) ever...well, almost ever

[gomipile]

Oops, my bad. I glossed over that. I hate when people do that with my OPs .

In that case, if it were me, I'd pick up Craft Wand asap and make wands of lesser vigor a lot. If you're doing the only XP based crafting, and doing it for the party's benefit, perhaps your DM could be persuaded to waive the XP cost for those, at least.

Sorry again about the mixup, its just hard for me to imagine a druid without SNA Iv, it is such an iconic ability.

Also, since it is E6, you'll be getting tons of feats after level 6, so picking up a spontaneous healing feat will pay off big time in the long run.

[W3bDragon]

Thanks for the advice.

@Eldariel: Yeah I see what you're saying about SNA loss. I do have more reasons for swapping it out as well. (Setting fluff, plus DM new to the rules and wants to keep things simple) So I'm volunteering to get rid of SNA. I'm not worried about the power loss since our games aren't highly optimized.

Also, the setting is very low magic. No magic shops. Magic crafting is a long lost art. So no crafting or easy to get wands, or any items for that matter.

@gomipile: Like above, crafting is out. However, the target playstyle I have in mind is what you recommended, which is preparing healing+buff spells, and relying completely on wildshape and animal companion for battle effectiveness. However, until I actually get to 5th level, my spells will have to substitute.

I'm picking wildshape-themed spells to tide me over until 5th, for fluff reasons, so stuff like Aspect of the Wolf, Beast Claws and the like. That leaves me with very little (read:none) room to prep any healing spells. It would be nice to just spontaneously heal, and it would be a fair trade for the feat, but the loss of cure spells at 2nd is frustrating.

Its still a toss up for me. Pay something I wouldn't mind paying for pathetic healing with all my slots? Or pay a feat, which I don't want to, to get decent healing for just 1 level of my slots? (1 only because that's when it really matters, 1st-4th)

On a side note, If I take spontaneous healing, could I give up a 2nd level spell to get Cure Light Wounds?

[Jack Zander]

Are there any cleric domains that grant animal companion's or wildshape? If so maybe you wanna be a cleric and reflavor some of your spells.

[SurlySeraph]

Carry wands of Lesser Vigor, they're really all you need. Adding a Metamagic Rod of Extend or just Extend Spell + metamagic level reducers is helpful but not critical.

Alternately/ in addition, you could take one or more levels in cleric and use Divine Metamagic (Persist) plus a Metamagic Rod of Chain to cast Persistent Vigor or Lesser Vigor on your entire party. You'd still get 3rd-level spells, and Fast Healing 2 for the entire party for 24 hours should resolve any healing issues pretty well.

[Eldariel]

On a side note, If I take spontaneous healing, could I give up a 2nd level spell to get Cure Light Wounds?

Spontaneous Curing gets you "Turn Any Spell Into CLW", yes. But frankly, even if items are unavailable, I suggest you don't waste all your wonderful spellslots on curing; Lesser Vigor is just so much better. CLW cures on average 4.5+1/level, Lesser Vigor cures 10+1/level; it just gets you back up with far lesser investment. As you aren't casting them in combat anyways, the time is rarely an issue.

Tho really, Mass Lesser Vigor should tend to all your curing needs eventually. Chances are every level 1 slot you have will be used for healing anyways so might as well prepare them thusly and use your level 2/3 slots to fight efficiently.


Tho yeah, level in Cleric + DMM: Persist on Mass Lesser Vigor would tend to all your curing needs.

[W3bDragon]

Spontaneous Curing gets you "Turn Any Spell Into CLW", yes. But frankly, even if items are unavailable, I suggest you don't waste all your wonderful spellslots on curing; Lesser Vigor is just so much better. CLW cures on average 4.5+1/level, Lesser Vigor cures 10+1/level; it just gets you back up with far lesser investment. As you aren't casting them in combat anyways, the time is rarely an issue.

Tho really, Mass Lesser Vigor should tend to all your curing needs eventually. Chances are every level 1 slot you have will be used for healing anyways so might as well prepare them thusly and use your level 2/3 slots to fight efficiently.


Tho yeah, level in Cleric + DMM: Persist on Mass Lesser Vigor would tend to all your curing needs.

I need something to cover my needs from 1st to 5th, so I'm afraid going cleric with DMM: Persist won't work with all the feats required.

To further add to my woes, just when it seemed I was settled on Spontaneous Healing, I just realized I can't qualify for it at 1st level, since it needs 4 ranks in Knowledge: Religion, which isn't a class skill for druids. By the time I qualify at 5th, it won't really matter.

The difference between cure spells and vigor spells isn't that large in our games, because we house rule that all healing/restoration spells used outside combat automatically do max. So clw would be 8+1/lvl vs 10+1/lvl for lesser vigor, plus the option of dumping a bigger heal on your target in combat when needed.

*sigh* I don't know. I just went through the ACF handbook and didn't find anything useful. No usable ACF that gives clerics wildshape, nor is there a druid ACF that helps with healing other than Spontaneous Rejuvenation.

To reiterate, in case someone has more ideas:

Looking for useful spontaneous healing method for druids. Focusing on kicking in at 1st or 2nd level. Core+PHB2+Complete books. Cure spells heal max outside combat.

[JeminiZero]

Since you are the dedicated healer, look up the Touch of Healing Reserve Feat from Complete Champion. As long as you keep at least one level 2 cure spell in reserve, you can always bring your party back to half HP.

[gomipile]

Since you are the dedicated healer, look up the Touch of Healing Reserve Feat from Complete Champion. As long as you keep at least one level 2 cure spell in reserve, you can always bring your party back to half HP.

Are there any level 2 Conjuration(healing) spells for druids anywhere? If not, he could qualify for the feat at level 3 but not use it til level 5.

[Gavinfoxx]

Level 2 Druid Conjuration(healing) spells?

Delay Poison
Estanna's Stew
Hydrate
Remove Addiction
Lesser Restoration

[WinWin]

Magic of the Land from Races of the Wild becomes available at 2nd level. Allows for minor healing on buff spells.

Goodberry might help out. 1/day level duration. 2-8 hp that can be spread around as needed. Good cast the day before you set of on an adventure.