Healer with no Alignment issues?

[JeminiZero]

So, I was thinking or rolling a primary healer type of character. However, I am not too keen on the standard healers (Clerics, Druids) as I like to have the option of setting the forest / village / party member on fire should the situation call for it. In short, I am asking if there is a healer class, where you can shift alignment around while retaining all your powers, without the need of atonement.

[MartinHarper]

Bard with Cure spells.
Rogue with Use Magic Device.

[UserClone]

Favored Soul of a Neutral deity...and that's only because for some reason, you forgot how Clerics can be Neutral.

[Jothki]

Do Bards fall if they become Lawful?

[Saph]

A Bard or Ranger, or any class with high UMD, can work fine as an out-of-combat healer by using a stock of Wands of Cure Light Wounds, assuming you're at level 3 or more.

That said, healing in D&D is generally the province of divine magic, which means deities, which means alignment. All the primary healer classes I can think of off the top of my head involve deities or alignment somehow. The Bard's the only full caster that gets cure magic as arcane spells, and they still have a bit of an alignment issue (can't be lawful).

- Saph

[VanBuren]

A Cleric drawing their powers from the ideal of compassion or something. RAW says that Clerics don't have to get their power from a deity and that a concept or an ideal can work, with the exception of FR.

So if you remain dedicated to whatever ideal drives you to heal others, alignment becomes a non-issue.

[Rutee]

I think the question is about Alignment switching, not alignment hangups like Always LN or whatnot. It'd be helpful if there was some clarity though.

[Vectner]

Yes bards can become former bards if they become lawful.

[JeminiZero]

I think the question is about Alignment switching, not alignment hangups like Always LN or whatnot. It'd be helpful if there was some clarity though.

It is about alignment switching. E.G. if I started out as LG, but after travelling with a group of !@#$%^&, I decide it would be far better for me to kill them all and take their stuff (and shifting to CE in the process), is there a healer class which retains all its powers when such a drastic shift occurs.

[VanBuren]

It is about alignment switching. E.G. if I started out as LG, but after travelling with a group of !@#$%^&, I decide it would be far better for me to kill them all and take their stuff (and shifting to CE in the process), is there a healer class which retains all its powers when such a drastic shift occurs.

Again, just have your Cleric dedicate him/herself to a philosophy which permits this.

[The Extinguisher]

You'd have a hard time arguing that someone who would think like that would be Lawful Good in the first place.

Also, kind of on topic but not worthy of it's own thread.
Is it possible to have an evil cleric of a neutral diety who can spontaneously cast cure spells?

[icefractal]

There's a feat called Spontaneous Healer that will always allow you to convert spells to healing. So if you're a Cleric of a neutral deity with that feat, you're safe no matter what your alignment becomes.

[Wordmiser]

Archivist and Chameleon make a pretty competent healers without any restrictions.
Ur-Priest is an option for fallen Clerics. You might just prepare for that.
Binders and Factotums have some healing abilities. I don't remember if Dragon Shaman has any alignment restrictions, but it can contribute as well.
Artificers, Bards, Beguilers, Factotums, Rangers, Rogues and Spellthieves can use wands of CLW (though I'm not sure about the last one, to be honest).
So can Duskblades, Sorcerers, Warmages, Wizards with the Arcane Disciple feat.
And UMD is cross-class-able, even though it might require a couple feats to execute properly.
Psychic Warriors and Psions (Egoist specifically, but Expanded Knowledge makes Empathetic Transfer avaialbe for everyone) can use Vigor/Empathetic Transfer to fill the healing role.

[holywhippet]

Do Bards fall if they become Lawful?

Not quite as in the sense of a fallen paladin who is no longer lawful good. A fallen paladin loses all of their paladin special abilities because their god is ticked off with them. A bard who becomes lawful still has all of their special abilities, they can just no longer take more levels in bard as long as they are lawful.

Bards can cast healing spells, but their number of spells per day isn't that great. They don't have heal as a class skill either. That being said, bards become more useful the larger the party becomes thanks to their bard song. Their bardic knowledge can be pretty useful as well.

[Icewalker]

Just so you know, I'd be pretty vehement in saying that burning down a forest is an evil act. Yeah.

Honestly, if you want to play a character with no alignment restrictions, you play chaotic neutral (the guy who does whatever the hell he feels like).

[Glyde]

Priest of Eldath says: Nobody deserves to die. Nobody.


You are obligated to heal everyone you can, at least stabilize them. It's a double edged sword, though >_>

[AmberVael]

I'm going to agree with Wordmiser here and cast my vote for Archivist (Heroes of Horror, page 82, in case you need the source).
Essentially a divine wizard, with a focus on knowledge. They have no moral restrictions, and can learn any divine spell from a scroll and add it to their prayerbook. Thus they have full healing capabilities.

If you're not into that, you could *shudder* delve into Complete Psionic, in which there are some healing powers. Not great, not even (in my perspective) good, but if you went into the Sangehirn PrC (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/psm/20040625c) you might be able to make a healing based psionicist.

[NEO|Phyte]

I'd say the easiest way would be to take one part cleric, one part Ideal, one part Healing domain, and one part Domain Spontaneity alternate class feature (Yay for PHBII).

Even the puppy kicking CE cleric can heal spontaneously with this mix. Why he would do so, however, is a mystery. (If they die, they can't suffer any more!)
Additionally, Heal is better than Mass CMW, Regenerate is better than Mass CSW, and Mass Heal is all-around awesome.

[Wordmiser]

If you're not into that, you could *shudder* delve into Complete Psionic, in which there are some healing powers. Not great, not even (in my perspective) good, but if you went into the Sangehirn PrC you might be able to make a healing based psionicist.Also in that book, the Ardent has the Life Mantle which you can take regardless of alignment.

...Or you could just learn the Powers as a Psion through Expanded Knowledge in order to reduce that book's taint on your game as much as possible.

[AmberVael]

...Or you could just learn the Powers as a Psion through Expanded Knowledge in order to reduce that book's taint on your game as much as possible.
That's how I normally go about it- and would suggest doing it.

[Xuincherguixe]

Some sort of arcane healer would be nice. But, short of searching through lots of books or homebrew classes, an Evil Character shouldn't be a problem.

You may not be able to spontaneously convert spells to healing, but you still have them. You could also play your Cleric not as someone particularly devout, but as someone with an agenda. The evil god is happy with the arrangement as the character also advances the evil god's agenda.

It might help if it was a minor god. He might not be able to afford to make too many demands of his priests. A major one though still might not care as long as they aren't getting in the way of it's schemes.

Neutral gods also shouldn't be a problem, and are less likely to have attitude problems.

[kpenguin]

I think there's a healer class in the Miniatures Handbook.

[Hallavast]

Be a positive energy using chaotic neutral cleric. Problem solved.

[Wordmiser]

I think there's a healer class in the Miniatures Handbook. It requires a Good alignment and you lose all class abilities if you fall (which can be done simply by not healing a good-aligned creature).

[Tequila Sunrise]

You could ask your DM to extend healing to the primary arcane casters, even at the druid's rate. A lot of DMs are touchy about big sacred cows like that, but you never know till you ask right?

[Mewtarthio]

Your alignment really shouldn't shift around all that much. If you're the kind of person who could decide to randomly kill his travelling buddies and take their stuff, you're probably Chaotic Evil. If you then go home and give money to orphans, you're Chaotic Evil with a soft spot for orphans (just as Belkar is Chaotic Evil with a soft spot for cats).

[Kantolin]

Your alignment really shouldn't shift around all that much. If you're the kind of person who could decide to randomly kill his travelling buddies and take their stuff, you're probably Chaotic Evil.

I second this.

If the 'problem' is that you want to, if you feel like it, run around killing orphans on a whim without having your abilities be negated by the radical alignment shift, then just put 'chaotic evil' on your sheet and go nuts as a cleric of a CE diety.

[Randel]

How to be a healer regardless of alignment

Step 1: get 750 gp
Step 2: buy a Healing Belt from Magic Item Compendium (pg 110)
Step 3: now you can heal 2d8 hp of damage 3 times a day.
Step 4: buy more belts if more healing is necessary
Step 5: ???
Step 6: Profit!

[Telonius]

Have a group full of Warforged and play an Artificer. You'll be using Repair spells instead of Healing spells.

[Fighteer]

Your alignment really shouldn't shift around all that much. If you're the kind of person who could decide to randomly kill his travelling buddies and take their stuff, you're probably Chaotic Evil. If you then go home and give money to orphans, you're Chaotic Evil with a soft spot for orphans (just as Belkar is Chaotic Evil with a soft spot for cats).
I third this.

The character described by the OP was never LG to begin with. If you are concerned that your fellow adventurers may turn out to be a bunch of amoral jerks, then you either have to deal with the inevitable alignment conflict from a roleplaying standpoint (and have a backup plan in case you fall from your deity's good graces), or you need to rethink the concept and go CN/CE in the first place.

The idea of a cleric who switches alignments on a whim is antithetical to the very concept of the class. In fact, there is no such thing as "switching alignments on a whim" in D&D canon. You don't just wake up one day and decide to be Chaotic Evil, then spontaneously redeem yourself over the weekend. Unless you're playing in a completely hack & slash game, of course, in which case alignment is probably a meaningless concept.

[Fixer]

Am I the only person who noticed that a Wand of CLW is very inferior to a Wand of Lesser Vigor when it comes to long-term healing? The first wand heals 2-9hp per casting, averaging 5.5. The second wand can heal 11hp per casting. Same cost, double benefit.

Only in combat does the Wand of CLW really stand out, but even then the Lesser Vigor wand can help stabilize a character without anyone else taking an action (as the wounded character would be considered to have received magical healing and automatically stabilize).

[Person_Man]

I think there's a healer class in the Miniatures Handbook.

Correct. However, its generally considered one of the weakest classes in the the game. Although the spell progression is the best of any base class in the game, the Healer uses memorized spells from an extremely limited spell list, and it shares the Favored Soul's duel caster stat requirement. So it's worse at healing then a generic Cleric. It also has 10/20 BAB and its limited to light armor. It's Celestial Unicorn Animal Companion that improves with levels and has the share spells ability is awesome, but you don't get it until 8th level, and it doesn't balance out the other garbage of the class.

However, if your DM is open to a few house rules (allowing it to be a spontaneous caster, allowing it to have a more reasonable spell list) its a pretty solid class.

Another option is to be a member of any class with UMD or Cure Light Wounds on its spell list. Buy a few Wands of Cure Light Wounds, and you're set.

Or you can convince everyone in your party to be undead, and take a few levels of any class that can use negative energy every round (Dread Necromancer, Setting Sun Ninja, etc).