How feasible is a non-Cleric healer?

[Trekkin]

I've been invited to play in a new 5e campaign, starting at level 1. I'd like to be able to at least offer to cover the healing role, since as far as I can tell everyone else enjoys tanking/blasting more, but if at all possible I'd really rather not be a Cleric. I just can't RP them comfortably.

So is there a way to build a Bard or a Paladin or a Druid (or another class, but I think that's all the ones that can heal magically) to serve the same role roughly as well, either through damage mitigation or outright HP restoration?

[silveralen]

Yes, a Bard or Druid isn't even noticeably worse at healing than a cleric, outside a specific cleric archetype. Bard's song of rest arguably makes him the best default healer overall.

Paladin... I'm less sure of. The fact he has a pool of healing+spells to heal if he chooses to use them helps, and he can mitigate damage with his auras to an extent.

Of course, healing is less essential this edition, with short rests giving easy access to some healing and long rests recovering everything, so I wouldn't base my character soley on healing power. It's not that important.

[Shadow]

Yeah, Bard and Druid both make good healers as well. Paladins and Rangers can do it, too; just not on the same evel that the other three can. Multiclass any caster with one of the above and you can have a Wizard or Sorcerer healer as well.

If your DM is kosher with balanced homebrew (balanced being the keyword here) there's also Way of the Four Elements Monk.
What's that you say?
Yep, monk. Four Elements cast spells with Ki. Cure wounds isn't listed as an option, but if he lets you use it you can just follow the burning hands example and make it 2 ki base +1 ki per extra spell level. It would be a water based spell as far as the elements are concerned.

[Tynyss]

Bards would definitely do what you want very well, they have access to healing word and cure wounds, good access to control spells to keep your allies from getting hit, as well as a few buffs. They also have song of rest which increases the healing from short rests slightly.

While I wouldn't make a Character that is mainly focused on healing and nothing else, due to cure wounds being rather weak, a Bard would definitely help to keep your group alive.
Don't really know the other 2 classes well enough but If I'm not mistaken Druids also have access to cure wounds and Goodberry.

[Rilak]

The strongest healer in the game ought to be a Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard 19. The life cleric power adds 2+spell level to any healing from a spell.

Lore Bard allows you to grab Aura of Vitality (or Prayer of Healing, if you want to use 2nd level slots).

Prayer of Healing would heal (2nd) 2d8+9=18 (3rd) 3d8+10=23.5; without Cleric level: (2nd) 2d8+5=14 (3rd) 18.5
Aura of Vitality would heal (3rd) 10*(2d6+5)=120 (because Disciple of Life applies to every single use of the aura); without Cleric level: (3rd) 10*2d6=70

Aura of Vitality takes a total of 1 minute to cast and you can move/fight in its duration.

A weakness of the Bard is that it only gets Mass Cure Wounds but not Mass Healing Word (a bard you would assume it is the other way around). Also, Bards generally have a lot of use for bonus actions, so the aura of vitality is not something you want to cast in the middle of combat.

[Ashrym]

I've been invited to play in a new 5e campaign, starting at level 1. I'd like to be able to at least offer to cover the healing role, since as far as I can tell everyone else enjoys tanking/blasting more, but if at all possible I'd really rather not be a Cleric. I just can't RP them comfortably.

So is there a way to build a Bard or a Paladin or a Druid (or another class, but I think that's all the ones that can heal magically) to serve the same role roughly as well, either through damage mitigation or outright HP restoration?

It's easy to make a non-cleric healer. It's easy enough to make a cleric non-healer for that matter.

Clerics, druids, and bards are largely interchangeable in the basic concept and playstyle. The only cleric subclass that pulls ahead is the life cleric; other than that the spells do the same things and many are shared. Clerics do have a slight advantage with prayer of healing early, but bards have heroism to prevent more damage than cures and bonus short rest healing. Song of rest doesn't scale well but it's helpful at low levels when spells are fewer. Druids get a couple more spells out of natural recovery on a land circle, and can stock up on goodberries the day before.

The best healer outside of a life cleric is a lore bard. Vicious mockery prevents damage, heroism should be taken to cover multiple allies at low levels, cutting words can be used against AoE damage rolls on a reaction, song of rest, and at 6th level they can add aura of vitality or prayer of healing via secrets and revivify for raising and better efficiency healing. Variant human allows for the healer feat if you want a lot of healing.

Paladins can do a lot of healing because of spells and lay on hands to support it. They also have heroism, and aura of vitality. The progression for higher level spell access is slower but they are effective enough with the tools they have. Paladins, and druids, are a bit deficient in area healing but I don't see that as very impacting in gameplay.

I would also add that bards are the only class other than clerics who can get mass heal, via secrets, and that is pretty good when it is needed. Bards also have sole access to the power word heal spell. Mass heal is generally better because it's more hit points and 60 ft range instead of touch, but power word heal doesn't cost secrets and ends more status effects.

You can play whichever appeals to you. My recommendation would be a human variant lore bard with the healer feat using secrets for more healing spells for a strong healer.


A weakness of the Bard is that it only gets Mass Cure Wounds but not Mass Healing Word (a bard you would assume it is the other way around). Also, Bards generally have a lot of use for bonus actions, so the aura of vitality is not something you want to cast in the middle of combat.

You don't need mass healing word. Concentration on 3 targets in the same slot using heroism will prevent more damage than mass healing word, usually. Mass healing word doesn't do enough individual healing and the bard can just use healing word on a 4th person if needed.

Later the bard just gives up the action for mass cure.

[MeeposFire]

A really out there choice would be a thief. They can use fast hands with healing kits to heal with a bonus action assuming you pick up the feat to use healing kits in that way. Not a bad trick and certainly would make you unique.

There are some issues such as that it is melee only (healing wise), you rely on access to healing kits, and requires level 4 OR being a feat human.

[holygroundj]

A really out there choice would be a thief. They can use fast hands with healing kits to heal with a bonus action assuming you pick up the feat to use healing kits in that way. Not a bad trick and certainly would make you unique.

There are some issues such as that it is melee only (healing wise), you rely on access to healing kits, and requires level 4 OR being a feat human.

Yes, The healer feat is amazing at making anyone an effective OutofCombat/hasty in combat. It sucks to give up an ASI, but healer kits are cheap and probably plentiful.

[Eslin]

The strongest healer in the game ought to be a Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard 19. The life cleric power adds 2+spell level to any healing from a spell.

Lore Bard allows you to grab Aura of Vitality (or Prayer of Healing, if you want to use 2nd level slots).

Prayer of Healing would heal (2nd) 2d8+9=18 (3rd) 3d8+10=23.5; without Cleric level: (2nd) 2d8+5=14 (3rd) 18.5
Aura of Vitality would heal (3rd) 10*(2d6+5)=120 (because Disciple of Life applies to every single use of the aura); without Cleric level: (3rd) 10*2d6=70

Aura of Vitality takes a total of 1 minute to cast and you can move/fight in its duration.

A weakness of the Bard is that it only gets Mass Cure Wounds but not Mass Healing Word (a bard you would assume it is the other way around). Also, Bards generally have a lot of use for bonus actions, so the aura of vitality is not something you want to cast in the middle of combat.

Yay for the ability to grab any spell you want =D

[Tenmujiin]

Honestly, just play whatever character you feel like playing, combat healing is kinda bad in this edition, my cleric doesn't even prepare cure wounds (for RP reasons too but I probably wouldn't bother preparing it most days). We do have a pally in the party who covers most of our OOC healing but even without him we'd just have to take more short rests, we end most days with almost full HD and for in combat healing I use healing word since I can still mele or cast guidance in the round I use it.

[Yoroichi]

Our group's main healer from levels 1-10 was a DM PC bard, until it was discovered that he was part of a secret army created by a magic gem used in order to take control of the world, at which point we fought him and he exploded into ashes when dying.

But other than that, he was an exceptional healer.

I have not played with a cleric though so i can not compare the two, but the bard's healing was never lacking.

[RedMage125]

I play a Valor Bard, and I provide enough healing for our group of 4 PCs.

[Balor777]

You can allways dip a level in cleric to get the cure wounds and pick sorcerrer or wizard.
With life domain CL1/SORC X you can twin cure wounds or even quicken one and cast firebolt(cantrip) in the same round.
Spell slot levels stack so you are ok.Plus with life domain you get healing bonus 2 + the spell slot level AND heavy armor mastery!

[Madfellow]

I've been invited to play in a new 5e campaign, starting at level 1. I'd like to be able to at least offer to cover the healing role, since as far as I can tell everyone else enjoys tanking/blasting more, but if at all possible I'd really rather not be a Cleric. I just can't RP them comfortably.

As others have pointed out, Bards, Druids, and Paladins are all valid choices. However, if you're uncomfortable roleplaying as a religious zealot, you can always play a Cleric as more of a philosopher instead. Like Hippocrates.

[Shining Wrath]

At high levels - once they get Wish - a Wizard / Sorcerer can cast any spell of 8th level or lower. You aren't going to burn that on Cure Wounds, but Heal or Restoration?

[Inevitability]

My party has had a Paladin as their only healer for some time. It worked out reasonably well, especially because the player was content with burning all spells on Cure Wounds. Combined with LoH, he could pump out 3d8+21 hit points a day, which was more than enough when combined with the player's Hit Dice.

[Rilak]

You don't need mass healing word. Concentration on 3 targets in the same slot using heroism will prevent more damage than mass healing word, usually. Mass healing word doesn't do enough individual healing and the bard can just use healing word on a 4th person if needed.

Mass healing word is a life-saver yo-yo. Everyone in the team down? This brings them all back up. Yes, you don't need it. But it is very nice. Prayer of Healing and Healing Word can't be used on the same turn (CW is touch only). So you are much more limited without that spell.
Then again, it's quite rare that players hit 0 hp. It's not a spell you would use a magical secrets slot on; you would just want to learn it.

[Jamesps]

A really out there choice would be a thief. They can use fast hands with healing kits to heal with a bonus action assuming you pick up the feat to use healing kits in that way. Not a bad trick and certainly would make you unique.

There are some issues such as that it is melee only (healing wise), you rely on access to healing kits, and requires level 4 OR being a feat human.

This is my very favorite healer build. As long as you can avoid getting killed yourself it's basically unlimited free hits your party can take during a battle (well, 5sp a hit anyways).

[Justin Sane]

As a data point, my 3-man party (Hunter Ranger, Vengeance Paladin, Lore Bard) has no dedicated healer, since all of us have some healing ability, in one way or the other (Goodberry, Cure Wounds + LoH, Healing Word; respectively). We're still considering which one of us should get the Healer feat, and if it's necessary at all.

[Ashrym]

Yay for the ability to grab any spell you want =D

Magical secrets isn't the reason it works. It's the life cleric dip to enhance the healing spells and additional healing from song of rest. Without splashing life cleric then life cleric is still the best healer regardless of magical secrets.


Mass healing word is a life-saver yo-yo. Everyone in the team down? This brings them all back up. Yes, you don't need it. But it is very nice. Prayer of Healing and Healing Word can't be used on the same turn (CW is touch only). So you are much more limited without that spell.
Then again, it's quite rare that players hit 0 hp. It's not a spell you would use a magical secrets slot on; you would just want to learn it.

The entire team rarely goes down when heroism is being used because it cushions those hit points and allows spot healing with healing word and leaves the action available for vicious mockery. Prayer of healing can't be used in combat at all because of the casting time but if it's really necessary the healer feat and healing word can be used on the same turn by the same character as opposed to using vicious mockery.

Access to 5th level spells moots mass healing word because the bard would just mass cure instead.

Heroism is a good alternative because mass healing word still doesn't heal what heroism prevents over 2-3 rounds of combat in the same slot. The only issue with it is the concentration requirement but that's also the mechanic that opens up actions. I still use it in 4th level slots or lower with 20 CHA on some characters but it becomes a lot more niche as more concentration spells become available to compete with it. As a stopgap tool early it's effective.

[Maelynn]

When we had our char creation night, my party noticed it was lacking in the healing department, so the Sorcerer decided to switch to Divine Soul. Basically, she could pick and choose from both the Sorc and the Cleric list for her spells.

You could look into that. It's not a fully dedicated healer, but it should be able to give enough heals when necessary while also allowing you to do damage when heals are not needed.

[Xihirli]

Prayer of Healing and Healing Word can't be used on the same turn (CW is touch only).

Yeah, especially since Prayer of Healing takes ten minutes.

[Unoriginal]

This thread is 3 years old.

[ImproperJustice]

If UA is allowed, the Alchemist with the Healer feat can be a pretty solid healer.

Use the feat for out of combat and emergency stabilization. Use Healing Draughts for combat healing. Use magic for restoration if you have to.
Although magic is usually better for defensive/utility purposes.

During downtime, brew extra potions and pass then around to your friends.

[MaxWilson]

The strongest healer in the game ought to be a Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard 19. The life cleric power adds 2+spell level to any healing from a spell.

Almost. The strongest is Life Cleric 1/Sorcerer 3/Lore Bard X. Extended Spell metamagic doubles the effectiveness of Aura of Vitality/Healing Spirit.

You can start Aura of Vitality (Healing Spirit) during combat in order to provide pop-up healing, and then just leave it running after combat to top everyone off. It's so good that it can turn Shield spell into a bit of a trap: it's actually more efficient to let yourself get hit and take 10 points of damage or whatever, planning to heal it afterwards, than it is to spend 2 spell points and your reaction casting a Shield spell. (But I would usually still cast Shield anyway because getting wounded/stabbed/clawed/ripped apart HURTS, and who likes that?)

[Quoxis]

Currently playing a non-magical healer (monk/swashbuckler rogue with the healer feat), and i managed to get both my teammates up at least twice during a recent fight, all while bonus action dodging to avoid getting hit.
Works out nicely, better than most people around here would give the feat credit for.

[mephnick]

Healing Spirit makes every other form of healing obsolete, so Clerics aren't the best anyway.