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View Full Version : Pathfinder The Healer, revisited (PEACH)



Lichtenstein
2016-09-16, 04:30 PM
We all remember the Healer [Lots of disparaging remarks here] Anyway, the idea was to preserve the feel of the healer while .. you know, make it not suck. This conversion is for people who really want to play a healer, but can't justify not playing a cleric. (so, sidestepping that whole, "healing is suboptimal" thing)

This Healer still has a spell list focused almost exclusively on healing, but with the option to learn one of any Conjuration or Divination spell of each level.

Buffs include: Spontaneous Casting, Lay On Hands, Channel Positive Energy, the removal of RP armor restrictions, and spell list flexibility with Divination and Conjuration (If chosen at each opportunity, the Healer could, for instance, end up with every Summon Monster or Summon Nature's Ally spell)

Debuffs include and are generally limited to: Poor BAB when making lethal attacks against living creatures, temporary curing of ailments through abilities instead of permanent

Thoughts? Too much? Not enough? Missed the mark?
Anyway here's the class

The Healer

HD: d8
BAB: Medium
Fort: Good
Ref: Bad
Will: Good
Skills/Level: 4

Alignment: Any
Any type of person may become a healer. There is no specific deity to follow or oath to obey. The Healer is simply a sage with great skills in manipulating divine positive energy. That is not to say that your healer does not follow a deity or have a strict code of ethics, merely that someone who does not may still be a healer.
No matter the alignment, Hesitancy functions as written. Channeling divine positive energy and healing others always makes you a little bit better of a person, even if just by habit instead of inclination. An evil person - even an evil outsider - will still hesitate momentarily before killing a being healed by positive energy, based on experience with their penchant for cooperation or the work involved in mending them.
Also, an undead healer may exist just as a living necromancer can.

Weapon and Armor proficiency:
Healers are proficient with light armor but not with shields. They are proficient with all simple weapons and all weapons that naturally deal nonlethal damage without a penalty. Since this grants proficiency with unarmed strikes, the healer gains the Improved Unarmed Strike feat

Class Skills:
Craft, Diplomacy, Handle Animal, Heal, Kn: Nature, Kn: Religion, Linguistics, Profession, Sense Motive, Spellcraft, Survival

1: Advanced Learning 0, Orisons, Healing Hands, Hesitancy, Doctor
2: Lay On Hands, Skill Focus (Heal)
3: Advanced Learning 1, Channel Positive Energy
4: Mercy
5: Advanced Learning 2, Divine Blessing
6: Mercy
7: Advanced Learning 3
8: Mercy, New Limb
9: Advanced Learning 4
10: Greater Mercy, Greater Hesitancy
11: Advanced Learning 5
12: Mercy, Mass New Limb
13: Advanced Learning 6
14: Mercy
15: Advanced Learning 7
16: Mercy, New Life
17: Advanced Learning 8
18: Mercy
19: Advanced Learning 9
20: True Mercy, Miracle Worker

Spellcasting:
The Healer spontaneously casts spells. A healer can cast every spell on their spell list of an appropriate level. Healers progress like clerics in their spells per day (including the +1 that Clerics get for a domain spell, but Healers just use that as a normal spell slot) and level at which they can cast spells. This means that, yes, they gain a spellcasting level one level before other spontaneous casters. Healers use Wisdom as their casting score.

Hesitancy:
If the Healer is dealing lethal damage to a creature with an Int score that is not undead nor an evil-aligned outsider, the Healer uses a poor BAB for their attacks instead of a Medium BAB. The Healer may use nonlethal damage against all creatures using their Medium BAB. The healer still takes a -4 penalty on attack rolls when dealing nonlethal damage with a lethal weapon as normal, unless they have the appropriate feat or ability

Healing Hands (Ex):
When casting a spell that cures HP damage, a Healer adds their Cha bonus to the amount of HP restored. For instance, a 2nd level Healer with 16 Cha casts Cure Light Wounds as 1d8+2+3.

Orisons:
A Healer can use all orisons listed on their spell list at will, as well as the orison learned from Advanced Learning 0

Advanced Learning:
At each odd level, the Healer may learn one Conjuration or Divination spell off of any Arcane, Divine, or Psychic spell list. Regardless of the spell list the spell came from, it is considered a Divine Spell on the Healer Spell List when used by the Healer. The maximum level of the spell that may be added to the Healer Spell List is listed with the ability. The spell obtained may not be chosen at a level lower than that in which the class in question first becomes able to cast a spell. For instance, if selecting a 4th level Bard spell, the healer may not select it before 10th level, as that is the level that bards become able to cast 4th level spells.
At each even level, one spell learned at an Advanced Learning level may be changed to another spell of the level listed or lower. (For instance, if Advanced Learning 3 is used to learn a 3rd level spell, that may be swapped at 8th level for a 2nd level spell, and may be swapped at 10th level for a 3rd level spell, but not a 4th level spell).

Doctor (Ex:)
When using the Heal skill, modify Provide Long-Term Care and Treat Deadly Wounds in the following ways

Provide Long Term Care, DC 15

Providing long-term care means treating a wounded person for a day or more. If your Heal check is successful, the patient recovers hit points or ability score points (lost to ability damage) at twice the normal rate (plus your Healing Hands bonus for HP damage): 2 hit points per level + your Cha bonus for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 hit points per level for each full day of complete rest; 2 ability score points for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 ability score points for each full day of complete rest.
You can tend as many as six patients at a time, plus two for each level of Healer after the first. You need a few items and supplies (bandages, salves, and so on) that are easy to come by in settled lands. Giving long-term care counts as light activity for the healer. You cannot give long-term care to yourself.
Action/Time: 20 minutes of your care per patient, minus 1 minute for each level past first. Additionally, 8 hours of time must be spent in the general vicinity of all of the patients total; the time initially spent caring for each of them counts towards this total. The Healer may sleep during this time, but if more than 4 hours of this time is spent asleep, the Healer must roll a DC 20 Fortitude save. If failed, the Healer loses 1 hour of sleep due to the time spent woken up by sick or injured patients.
Retry? Varies. Generally speaking, you can’t try a Heal check again without witnessing proof of the original check’s failure.

Treat Deadly Wounds, DC 20 - The action/time spent on Treat Deadly Wounds is reduced to 20 minutes, minus 1 minute per patient for each level past first

Lay On Hands (Su):
Gained at 2nd Level. Functions as the Paladin ability.

Channel Energy (Su):
At 3rd level, a Healer gains the ability to Channel Positive Energy like a good-aligned cleric. Using this requires 2 uses of Lay On Hands.

Mercy:
Gained beginning at 4th level, and every 2 levels thereafter. Healers become able to apply mercies with uses of Lay On Hands. Functions as the Paladin ability, including the level that types of mercies become available.

Divine Blessing:
At 5th level, a healer receives a divine blessing. A Divine Blessing may take one of three forms. Once chosen, that form may not be changed. Specific blessings within a form may be changed as usual:


Unicorn Companion - As a Divine Bond mount of a Paladin of equal level to the Healer, but a Unicorn (Bestiary) instead of a Horse

Blessed Weapon - As the Divine Bond weapon of a Paladin equal in level to the Healer, but the healer may only increase her weapon's enhancement bonus or add the following properties to her weapon: Conductive, Defending, Disruptive, Grayflame, Merciful, or Bane focused on undead or a type of evil outsider.

Blessed Symbol - as the Divine Bond ability of the Sacred Servant Paladin archetype

New Limb:
Once per day, when using Lay On Hands, a Healer may regrow or repair a creature's lost or damaged body part or organ as a Regenerate spell.

Greater Mercy:
In addition to the mercy gained at 10th level, the Healer also gains the ability to spend 2 uses of Lay On Hands to permanently remove an effect that they can hold at bay with Mercy. This use of Lay On Hands still cures hit point damage as normal but does not apply any other mercies. Spending an additional 2 uses of Lay On Hands allows this ability to function with Channel Positive Energy

Greater Hesitancy:
At 10th level, the Healer has fully committed to the lifestyle and ethos that go with healing the sick and injured through positive energy channeling. When lethally attacking a creature that triggers Hesitancy, the Healer is restricted to 1 attack per round unless they pass a DC 15 Will save. This applies even if they have extra attacks from other classes.

New Limb, Mass:
Once per week, when using Channel Positive Energy, all creatures within the radius are affected by Regenerate before healing is applied.

New Life:
Once per week, when using Lay On Hands, a Healer may return a dead creature back to life, as if casting True Resurrection.

True Mercy: In addition to the mercy gained at 20th level, the Healer permanently heals all conditions normally held at bay by her mercies when using Lay On Hands, but not Channel Positive Energy

Miracle Worker:
At 20th level, a Healer masters their connection to positive energy. This manifests in one of two ways. Once a manifestation is picked, it cannot be changed.


Divine Mysteries - Miracle is added to the Healer spell list as a 9th level spell. On the Healer's spell list, Miracle counts as a Conjuration spell, not an Evocation spell

New Life, Mass - Once per week, when using Channel Positive Energy, all creatures within the radius are affected by True Resurrection before healing is applied. Additionally, New Life may be used once per day

Lichtenstein
2016-09-16, 04:31 PM
Create Water
Deathwatch
Detect Magic
Detect Poison
Light
Mending
Purify Food and Drink
Read Magic
Stabilize


Bless Water
Cure Light Wounds
Goodberry
Protection from Evil
Remove Fear
Remove Paralysis
Sanctuary
Speak with Animals
Comprehend Languages


Calm Emotions
Cure Moderate Wounds
Delay poison
Gentle Repose
Remove Blindness/Deafness
Remove Disease
Lesser Restoration
Detect Thoughts


Create Food and Water
Cure Serious Wounds
Neutralize Poison
Remove Curse
Restoration
Status
Sacred Bond
Read Thoughts


Cure Critical Wounds
Death Ward
Freedom of Movement
Cure light wounds, Mass
Grove of Respite
Tongues, Communal
Divination
Minor Creation


Atonement
Break Enchantment
Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass
Raise Dead
Stone to Flesh
True Seeing
Flesh to Stone
Music of the Spheres
Major Creation


Greater Restoration
Heal
Heroes’ Feast
Cure Serious Wounds, Mass
Regenerate
Chains of Light
Find the Path


Cure Critical Wounds, Mass
Repulsion
Resurrection
Refuge
Soul Transfer


Discern location
Holy aura
Heal, Mass
Trap the Soul


Foresight
Gate
True Resurrection
Create Demiplane, Greater

Digitalfruitz
2016-09-17, 09:52 AM
First off I love this concept, i have a halfling oracle/paladin that will soon be re classes into this if my DM allows it. I do have one thing about the ability hesitancy, since you can only use your medium BAB against undead and evil outsiders I'd probably change it to be a default of poor and it increases to medium

Lichtenstein
2016-09-17, 10:16 AM
With regard to Hesitancy, I wrote it that way for two reasons.

One, I didn't want to drop the Healer's d8 to a d6, since it's a divine caster, (and as someone with an intimate connection to healing and health, they probably would not be particularly frail) and so to follow Pathfinder convention, a medium BAB should be paired with a d8.

Two, the Healer may still use their medium BAB when attacking any creature with nonlethal damage. They are also automatically proficient with any weapon that can be used to deal nonlethal damage without a penalty. (I have updated the Hesitancy description to make this clearer) In the case of a sentient, nonevil creature that is immune to nonlethal damage (like an intelligent construct) the Healer would be forced to use a poor BAB, but in almost all cases that are not undead or evil outsiders, there is the option to use a sap or something.

Don't know if that satisfies your concerns, please do let me know =)

nonsi
2016-09-17, 10:21 AM
Seems solid enough.
Miracle Worker requires "choose one of..." specification (as specified for Divine Blessing).

Lichtenstein
2016-09-17, 11:18 AM
The idea was that they get all of those things. It sound like a lot, for sure, my reasoning was as follows:

1. Miracle was a spell I originally gave the Healer at 9th level, because it seemed to fit fluff-wise, but seemed a bit OP for 17th level, given the narrow focus of the Healer as well as Miracle being an Evocation spell. (I have a Warmage build that I will be posting soon, and they don't receive Miracle outside of Advanced Learning, and it seemed wrong for the Healer to get the most powerful Evocation spell one level before the dedicated Evocation caster)

B. Once per week, the ability to revive the party in an emergency seemed like a reasonable ability for a 20th level dedicated Healer. New Life gets an upgrade from 1/week to 1/day, otherwise when introducing Mass New Life, the Healer would have a major and minor ability with the same cooldown. (I have taken the New Life upgrade out of the 20th level bracket and included the 20th level upgrade in the New Life description). Furthermore

Third, True Mercy is an effect that can be accomplished by like, 3rd level or lower spells.

TLDR
I could see the whole block of them being a bit OP, but for a class that's light on combat ability, giving upgrades to abilities that just replicate spell effects (New Life and True Mercy, with Mass New Life - an undeniably awesome ability - still not doing anything that a few spells could pull off, except faster) didn't seem like quite enough, and the addition of Miracle was actually just delayed from 17th level. Still, perhaps I could break them into two groups.

Proposed Change: At 20th Level, a Healer gains True Mercy. The Healer may also select one of the following:
A) [Ability Name Unfinished] - New Life 1/day + Mass New Life 1/Week
B) Miracle Worker - Add Miracle to your spell list as a 9th level spell

Wadya think? 1 ability or choose from 2?

nonsi
2016-09-17, 01:46 PM
The idea was that they get all of those things. It sound like a lot, for sure, my reasoning was as follows:

1. Miracle was a spell I originally gave the Healer at 9th level, because it seemed to fit fluff-wise, but seemed a bit OP for 17th level, given the narrow focus of the Healer as well as Miracle being an Evocation spell. (I have a Warmage build that I will be posting soon, and they don't receive Miracle outside of Advanced Learning, and it seemed wrong for the Healer to get the most powerful Evocation spell one level before the dedicated Evocation caster)

B. Once per week, the ability to revive the party in an emergency seemed like a reasonable ability for a 20th level dedicated Healer. New Life gets an upgrade from 1/week to 1/day, otherwise when introducing Mass New Life, the Healer would have a major and minor ability with the same cooldown. (I have taken the New Life upgrade out of the 20th level bracket and included the 20th level upgrade in the New Life description). Furthermore

Third, True Mercy is an effect that can be accomplished by like, 3rd level or lower spells.

TLDR
I could see the whole block of them being a bit OP, but for a class that's light on combat ability, giving upgrades to abilities that just replicate spell effects (New Life and True Mercy, with Mass New Life - an undeniably awesome ability - still not doing anything that a few spells could pull off, except faster) didn't seem like quite enough, and the addition of Miracle was actually just delayed from 17th level. Still, perhaps I could break them into two groups.

Proposed Change: At 20th Level, a Healer gains True Mercy. The Healer may also select one of the following:
A) [Ability Name Unfinished] - New Life 1/day + Mass New Life 1/Week
B) Miracle Worker - Add Miracle to your spell list as a 9th level spell

Wadya think? 1 ability or choose from 2?

Either-or seems enough for me. You're either the ultimate healer or a miracle worker. Players have enough time to decide what's more important to them.
Both options seem equally inviting, with the first being used more often and the latter serves as the character's ace in the hole.

Digitalfruitz
2016-09-21, 10:48 AM
While this is a neat class that I'll probably play in the future their is one problem I noticed. An oracle with the life mystery can outheal a healer. On level 1 the most a healer can heal is 39 hitpoints. This is by them casting cure light wounds three times, (possible with a high wisdom) which would heal 1d8+5 each time(1 from class level and 4 from Charisma) assuming they roll the max amount every time they will heal a total of 39 hit points. A level 1 oracle with the life mystery can heal a maximum of 57 hitpoints! By casting the spell cure light wounds three times (8+1 times 3) they can heal 27 hitpoints, if they take the life mystery and the channel power they can channel 5 times a day healing a total of 1d6 five times. Assuming they roll the maximum amount every time they will be able to heal 30 hitpoints from channeling. This adds up to a total of 57 hitpoints which is quite a bit more than the healers 39

Knitifine
2016-10-04, 03:24 AM
At a glance this looks interesting.
Depending on how far you're willing to stray from the original classes flavor, I was thinking of this as a different version of Hesitancy.

Hesitancy:
In order to attack another sapient, living creature the Healer must use spent full round action instead of a standard action. This is not a full attack. The healer cannot use the full attack action against sapient, living creature.

Lichtenstein
2016-10-24, 02:44 PM
Split the final ability into a choice of 2.

Added a nonmagical Doctor ability at level 1 to bring up nonmagical healing ability. Assuming the healer can make a DC 15 but not 20 Heal check at 1st level, this adds an additional 5 (1 + Cha bonus) per teammate. Assuming a party of 4, that's a total of 54 (39+15) hit points. Granted they're at the end of the day and take an extra hour or two of the healer's time. Not quite 59 hp immediately, but I am satisfied that the gap is sufficiently closed, since the Healer can pull ahead at later levels, and has different tricks at 1st level.

To compensate for the Doctor ability's increased utility at higher levels, the healer gains Greater Hesitancy at 10th level, a modified version of what Knitifine suggested.

gooddragon1
2016-10-27, 01:03 PM
Spellcasting: Sounds good since it's more specialized in it's spell list. So getting spells a level earlier than normal for spontaneous and getting the whole spell list isn't a problem.

Hesitancy: A nerf, but not out of line.

Healing Hands: Makes them good at their job.

Orisons: Standard stuff.

Advanced Learning: So they're not completely unable to use spells that can help in combat.

Doctor: Good even when out of spells. That's good.

Lay on Hands: Pouring on the heals, but it uses charisma and your spellcasting uses wisdom. For pathfinder you might want to say that it uses wisdom for a higher power level.

Channel Energy: So if you take extra channel does the conversion work in reverse and you get 4 uses of lay on hands?

Mercy: More stuff to be good at your job.

Divine Blessing: Not sure how most of that works, but it looks okay

New Limb: That's pretty good for 8th level, but the healer is a specialist.

Greater Mercy: An improvement that is logical.

New Limb Mass: Same as greater mercy.

New Life: Getting close to 20 so it's okay.

True Mercy: Same comment as new life.

Miracle Worker: Capstone, and copying mercy from overwatch is cool.

Overall looks cool.

Red Bear
2016-11-08, 11:29 PM
have you considered giving him the ability to heal at a distance (like she can cast all touch healing spells as they have a range of close, or using lay of hands at a range of close, or he can heal targets by channeling he spell through a whip or others) and/or more mass healing options (like lay on hands on multiple targets)?
I think this would set it apart from other healers classes

Lichtenstein
2016-11-12, 10:30 PM
Given the narrow focus of the spell list, I think the metamagic feat reach spell will go a long way for ranged healing, but, not sure. I would hope that the Doctor ability helps it edge out or match other prominent healing builds. The healer does get the option to use mercies through Channel Positive Energy

Red Bear
2016-11-18, 07:33 PM
is there a reason why you choose WIS as the casting stat instead of CHA like most (all?) spontaneous divine casters? Did you want the class to rely on 2 stats?

Did you not give her the ability to convert any spell into a healing spell?

Lichtenstein
2016-11-19, 12:18 PM
The casting stat was originally Wisdom in the 3rd edition healer, as the healer was a prepared class. That seemed unnecessarily constricting given the narrow spell list, so I switched it to spontaneous without changing the level progression - or, as it turns out, the casting stat as well. Healing spells are on every level of the spell list, and healers know their entire spell list, so converting spells into healing spells would be redundant. The Wis/Cha thing is directly modeled after the cleric, but now I'm thinking that maybe this should be a SAD class, since it is so narrowly focused and unable to deal much damage.
On the other hand, the healer can make a decent melee combatant. It has the stamina to fight for a long time, and the proficiency with nonlethal weapons includes the unarmed strike, bola, whip, and sap, covering an array of fighting styles. (I guess i should go back and add Improved Unarmed Strike in the weapon proficiency to explicitly state that) Some of the Divine Blessing options give combat buffs as well.