Party Problem: No Healing

[kreytor]

Got a group of four in my campaign: Sorcerer, Wizard, Knight and Scout. They are about third level coming up on fourth pretty quickly. I am having a hard time challenging them without wounding them. They take a long time to heal up from any decent battle. With only one meatshield, once he gets hurt they are very reluctant to continue into dangersous areas.

I have been thinking of giving them sometihng to help out, but not certain what that should be. A ring of Regeneration would help in some ways but is a bit powerful.

Should I include an NPC such as a low level bard, adept or cleric? Or just give an item that allows them to cast cure light wounds a couple times a day?

[Isomenes]

Isn't there a healing spell in the Wizard spell list in some splatbook? V-something? (I only remember because of its oddity.)

[Draz74]

You could "hurt them without damaging them" by fighting them entirely with save-or-suck effects from enemy casters. The classic way of doing this is swarms of low-level Kobold Sorcerers.

Or you could demand that one of them multiclass into something with healing abilities. Even a one-level dip in Dragon Shaman would be quite helpful. Or a one-level dip in Ranger or Bard or Paladin would allow the use of a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. (Scouts don't get hurt much by a 2-level Ranger dip, especially if they're planning on taking Swift Hunter.)

Or you could go with the item idea. A stash of Potions of Cure X might be more believable than a custom item that non-healer classes can use. Keaough's Ointment (or whatever it's called in the PHB) could work too.

[Thinker]

Remind them that they can hire outside help. Don't cater to them. If they don't want to get healing thats their problem, not yours. Hit them with a death and they'll see.

[Rachel Lorelei]

Thinker, that's a terrible way to look at it. If the party has no healing, which the game requires, that *is* the DM's problem, since the DM wants everyone to be having fun, hopefully... and sitting around rather than adventuring isn't fun. "Kill them so they learn better" is antagonistic DMing.

Try Belts of Healing, from the Magic Item Compendium. Relatively cheap, and they provide a solid amount of healing for low levels. After that, well, suggest one of them pick up Leadership for a healing cohort.

[calebcom]

I've played in a party that went from level 1 to level 20 with no healer. They did fine, our DM was constantly trying to actually challenge us. at lvl 20 our rogue killed a balor in 1 round.


However our guys were incredibly smart in stacking the odds in their favor.

[Ponce]

Could let the sorcerer cast a few healing spells, as the bard would.

[Yechezkiel]

I recommend a house rule, letting them heal their level + con mod per night (instead of just level). It's minor, but helps (normal natural healing is painfully slow).

Otherwise they are really going to need an PC or NPC healer. It's better then just giving them an item that solves the problem (in my opinion).

[Shhalahr Windrider]

A stash of Potions of Cure X might be more believable than a custom item that non-healer classes can use.

Yeah. Along those lines, almost every NPC that has a reasonable expectation to be injured in my campaigns carries one or more healing potions. This includes most of the bad guys. So, if the PCs are quick enough to dispatch the baddies before the baddies drink their potions, the PCs manage to obtain the potions as loot.

It's a dangerous world. It's best to be prepared.

Oh, yes, and you could also try playing with the Reserve Points rules from Unearthed Arcana.

[MeklorIlavator]

You could also give them a free bonus feat: Fast Healing(Or whatever its called. Its in the complete Warrior). Effectively doubles healing per night. Also, remember that if someone makes a heal check: Longterm aid, the recipients healing rate is also doubled. And that stacks with Fast Healing, so that should help a lot.

[Aquillion]

Houserule that the scout gets UMD (they're not that powerful of a class, it won't break them.) Then give them a wand of CLW. Presto.

Alternatively: Have the party discover a magic healing spring somewhere. They still have to travel back to it for healing, and you should place some limits on it so they can't abuse it when they get teleport, but a spring that heals 1 hp per minute you spend soaking in it (with water that is nonmagical when removed from the spring) wouldn't be too abusable and would solve your problems nicely. Maybe the spring itself could be a plot point or a quest reward--the players could hear a rumor of it and have to go on an adventure to discover its exact location, then later they'd have to protect it from evil forces that want to abuse its power somehow or whatever.

Plus some healing potions for when they need quick field healing, naturally.

[SadisticFishing]

Or, if you want a balanced party and to be a mean DM (I do this when my party really doesn't want to heal, but they all try to force each other to)... Don't do anything special. They get a decent amount of power from not having a constant healer (33% more if the healer does nothing but heal), so they shouldn't be coddled.

[Xuincherguixe]

Potions of Cure Light Wounds for when they really need healing. Maybe some sort of item that lets them heal a smidge every round.

[Aquillion]

Or, if you want a balanced party and to be a mean DM (I do this when my party really doesn't want to heal, but they all try to force each other to)... Don't do anything special. They get a decent amount of power from not having a constant healer (33% more if the healer does nothing but heal), so they shouldn't be coddled.

The thing is, it doesn't really work like that. WoTC realized that people never want to play the healer, so they made the healing classes significantly overpowered to compensate. Even totally unoptimized, a cleric can afford to buff themselves, wade into combat at key points, then heal everyone up afterwards. And even if a healer never does any "field healing", simply having a healer around means that the entire party can recover completely with a single day of downtime (verses literally months without no healer at all.)

They can survive on healing potions, sure, but "33% more" just isn't true. A party with no cleric is losing a huge amount and will be operating significantly below where a party of their size otherwise would; the DM has to figure out how to accommodate for this. If you don't--if you just keep throwing four daily encounters at the party as if nothing was wrong--nobody is going to have any fun, because they're going to get brutally slaughtered. (That doesn't necessarily hold true for really optimized parties, but none of the CR-type guidelines do in that case anyway.)

[The_Werebear]

You may want to look into the vitality point system. Recovery goes faster that way, provided you don't take too many critical hits along the way.

[Damionte]

Remind them that they can hire outside help. Don't cater to them. If they don't want to get healing thats their problem, not yours. Hit them with a death and they'll see.

I agree with Tinker. My own group of players are always reluctant to play a cleric. Then bitch when they don't have enough healing. My turn to GM is coming up and I normally play the cleric. I've warned them they're ogign to need one.

If they don't make at least one person with the remote possibility to heal I won't cater to them either. I'll run tyhe adventure as before and let them dfeal with it. They chose not to bring a healer thus they choose to deal with the consequences of that.

Once thier progress slows to a crawl or they lose a coupel of characters they'll figure it out.

[BardicDuelist]

We have this problem often, which is why I almost always play a character with UMD or a bard. No one in our group likes clerics (most of the time).
Healing potions help, but what I may recomend is a Healer from the miniatures handbook hireling.

The group gets less XP and has to pay gold to have somone follow them around healing. I would have the healer take a vow of non-violence, and possibly be a roleplaying nag ("Was that really necessary? We could have talked it out."). They get practically nothing but healing spells, and a lot of them.

One thing, though, is remember that things that damage levels or ability scores are significantly tougher without a cleric, druid, or to a lesser extent paladin. Without regeneration, heal, etc. those fights are significantly tougher to bounce back from. I would still use them, but adjust CR appropriately.

The group should learn that they may have to sell some really cool items that they find to pay for hirelings/potions, etc.

Make healing stuff accessable in most situations, but at a cost.

[Thinker]

Thinker, that's a terrible way to look at it. If the party has no healing, which the game requires, that *is* the DM's problem, since the DM wants everyone to be having fun, hopefully... and sitting around rather than adventuring isn't fun. "Kill them so they learn better" is antagonistic DMing.

Try Belts of Healing, from the Magic Item Compendium. Relatively cheap, and they provide a solid amount of healing for low levels. After that, well, suggest one of them pick up Leadership for a healing cohort.

The latter was more what I was suggesting. Going with hirelings or cohorts is a good way to help them out. Thats why I recommend suggesting it as a possibility, but not forcing them into anything. Then if they continue to disregard life-threatening situations because they have time to heal, make it harder on them. In your world magical healing is used to stave off death for adventurers. And making encounters that are life-threatening is not antagonistic DMing. Sorry if I wasn't very clear with my initial response.

I agree with Tinker. My own group of players are always reluctant to play a cleric. Then bitch when they don't have enough healing. My turn to GM is coming up and I normally play the cleric. I've warned them they're ogign to need one.

If they don't make at least one person with the remote possibility to heal I won't cater to them either. I'll run tyhe adventure as before and let them dfeal with it. They chose not to bring a healer thus they choose to deal with the consequences of that.

Once thier progress slows to a crawl or they lose a coupel of characters they'll figure it out.

I am Thinker, after the namesake of the famous statue. Not to be confused with Tinker, the first part of a brand of toys. I recommend that you, too suggest they get a hireling or a cohort if they do not want to be a healer.

Clerics are not just heal-bitches. You could also point out to them Binders: they are great for out of combat healing. Crusaders are great for in-combat healing. There are all sorts of alternatives. Most healing I've seen is done out of combat anyway.

[Rachel Lorelei]

Because... making people play something they don't want to leads to more fun? Or not taking party composition into account? Great DMing, there.

[BardicDuelist]

Because... making people play something they don't want to leads to more fun? Or not taking party composition into account? Great DMing, there.

I agree. Hence: They have access to healing magic, they just have to pay for it with their gold. If they run out of gold, they may have to sell one of their cool magic items.

Sidenote: Is there a SRD for the miniatures handbook, or is the healer anywhere online?

[Rachel Lorelei]

I agree. Hence: They have access to healing magic, they just have to pay for it with their gold. If they run out of gold, they may have to sell one of their cool magic items.

Those magic items are part of the power their characters are supposed to have. Without them, they'll get hurt more, have to spend more money, etc. Potions are an expensive way to heal during downtime.

Besides, it's still punishing the group because nobody felt like being the proverbial heal-bitch.

[Damionte]

Having to use magic items, or take a hireling is part of what I consider the consequences of not having someone on the team that can heal.

This is a large party ofplayers. Usually from 6-7 players plus the GM. If they can't figure out they need to take at least one person with the capacity to heal with them, then it's going to be on them.

There are enough base classes that heal that they should be able to find at least one that has enough flavor for one of them to fit into an interestign concept. Even splashing a level or 3.

Cleric
Healer
Druid
Bard (Arcane)
Favored Soul
Shugenja
Spirit Shaman
Ranger
Palladin
Ardent (Psionic)
Dragon Shaman

And these are just the base classes that can heal without magic items. Not to mention the UMD skill monkeys like Rodue & Warlocke.

This is a 7 man party. They should be able to squeze at least a few levels of some of these classes into thier builds. If they can't then it'll be up to them to figure it out as they go.

I'm the same way with the other base skills. If they don't take any meat shield warriors then I expect them to be good at crowd control or johnny on the spot with summun monster. If no one in the party can disarm traps through skill then they should have detect traps or knock handy, or just be prepared to bash in doors with an axe the old fashioned way and use thier fort and reflex saves to disarm traps. In a party this large I can't afford to tailor encounters just for the abilities they have. Party this large should have at least 1 person in it that can handle most generic situations one way or another.

The players are forwarned that I won't tailer to them. They've been warned to be balanced, and they're making characters at the table together as a group.

In my experience this has always turned out better than having a hole in the party. When multiple people do the same thing the overlap in abilities tends to cause more boredom than being the guy who had to play a healer.

[Eldritch_Ent]

Actually, as it stands, I think Thinker has the right idea. He's not being antagonistic- Antagonistic would be "Rocks Fall, nobody dies immediately, but you all slowly bleed to death because you don't have a healer."...

He's just not altering the rules based on poor player planning. I certainly don't believe it's right to coddle people because they sold the Plot MacGuffin for a kiss and w ink, or don't know how to make a decent character build, or chose to play a Monk instead of a Fighter, or a Blaster Mage instead of a Batman... All thinker is saying is you shouldn't reward players for dull decisions.

My suggestion would be to continue as normal- The PC's will have to spend resources to heal (Much as they would with a Cleric), just less in "Abilities per day" and more in "Time and Money".

However, a Ring of Vigor or the like could also be useful. Or at the very least make sure the party can purchase healing potions, wands, hirelings, all that sort of stuff.

And hey, I *LOVE* playing the Cleric! (Ohhhh no, there goes Tokyo- Go Go CoDZilla!)

[Soepvork]

You might houserule some hit point healing with a successful heal check. I like to use the following:

If a wounded character gets treated with a succesful heal check, he'll regain (check-DC) hit points. Using the skill this way requires one hour. A character can take 10 but not take 20 on this check.

Of coure, you can set the "DC" whatever you want, 10 or 15 seems reasonable

[SadisticFishing]

Heh, we played a three person party with no healer, but we were... rather optimised, so maybe my vision is a bit skewed. Wands of Cure Light Wounds work wonders for cutting down downtime though.

[Kizara]

NPCs are your friend.

Cleric of Pelor/Fhar/Kord etc.

[bigbaddragon]

Got a group of four in my campaign: Sorcerer, Wizard ....

Arcane casters can get healing via Arcane Disciple feat (Complete Divine pg 79). The feat gives access to spells from a cleric domain.

If you want to give them a cohort then make it the Healer class from Miniatures Handbook. It focuses on healing and removing some unfavorable conditions from characters (paralysis, disease, poison, fear, blindness ...) and at level 7 it doesn't provoke AoOs when casting healing spells.

EDIT: Arcane Disciple (Healing) drawback is that for those domain spells your primary casting stat is wisdom.

[ChrisMcDee]

I'd give them a relatively fragile cohort/hireling that can heal them. They gain the healing ability but he'll need to be protected from danger. Give a little and take a little away

[bigbaddragon]

Also wands of Lesser Vigor (spell is in Spell Compendium pg 229) are much better than wands of Cure Light Wounds for post battle healing. They cure 11 HP compared to d8+1 from wands of Cure Light Wounds.

[warmachine]

Make the campaign in the wilderness where they're opposed by a tribe, such as orcs or goblins. The tribe commander knows he must send scouting parties to find the party but knows he has the advantage of numbers. As his scouting parties find the party, he launches hit-and-run attacks to wear down the spellcasters. The Knight and the Scout will do well and the party is likely to beat off all attacks by low level mooks. If the party doesn't keep moving, the tribe commander can deploy progressively more troops against them and the attacks increase. The Knight and the Scout will start to run down on HP and the party will be forced to retreat or die. The players will realise that healing will give them endurance.

How they get that healing is up to them: potions, wands, hired cleric, whatever. The DM is not railroading and is presenting level appropriate encounters that obviously make sense within the game world. They're up against a smart commander that's exploiting an obvious weakness: no Cleric or Paladin. The players just have to be smarter.