Heal-bot DM PC

[Burley]

So, I'm gonna start running a campaign tomorrow and the party is gonna be... a little weak. All the players are brand spankin' new to tabletop gaming and there's only three of them (for now). I've got one interested in Swordmage and one interested in Drow Dark-pact Warlock.

I need a healbot. I don't want to make their encounters easier, so, I'm looking to do as much buffing/debuffing as possible, and, yes, I want to sacrifice damage. Also, thematically, it'll be a pixie. It's a Navi sort of thing, until it (hopefully) gets killed when a new player rolls in.

I don't need a build, necessarily. But, I'd love feats/powers/class feature recommendations to help keep this group's first characters kickin'.

Thanks, all.

[Akodo Makama]

Don't think "DMPC", think "Companion Character".

The rules for these are found in the DMG2. They are more like monsters that fight alongside the players than they are full PC characters. That means you don't have to worry about class, feats, etc. They just have descriptions, HP, defenses, and 1-3 powers. So they're a lot easier to build, a lot easier to run, and won't take the spotlight away from the players.

[Kurald Galain]

Lazylord fits the concept well. The character doesn't do squat, but hands out free attacks (and healing words) to everyone else.

"Hey! Listen! Hit that guy!" (commander's strike)

[UrsusMimas]

Give them a NPC who is a pacifist. (S)he has one of the Healing Word type leader powers. (S)he cannot be targeted by anyone during a fight but if the group all get knocked out or killed then so does (s)he. This way you don't have to change encounter balance any. Maybe give them a knowledge skill or two so that they can be useful out of battle also.

[Kimera757]

I like the idea of a pacifist companion. Basically generate a companion cleric, then select the non-damage powers and perhaps up the healing a bit via a trait.

I think the companion should be the target of attacks. They have healing surges to spend, and it gives the defender another fragile target to protect. Players can and should feel worry when their healbot is threatened.

The healbot can't use items (so no treasure shenanigans) and should never drive the plot, acting simply to support the PCs. As a result, the companion's religion and other personality attributes should not be important to the campaign. If they refuse to heal a follower of an opposed religion, then you don't have an NPC but a DMPC, and that's something to avoid.

[Tvtyrant]

I have done this one before and it doesn't help as much as you would think. The pacifist Cleric can only heal so much, while reckless players can find infinite ways to injure themselves.

[ScrivenerofDoom]

Just stat it up as a monster. Give it a minor action healing power that, say, can be used three times in an encounter and then maybe a standard action that grants an ally a melee basic attack and, if the ally hits, the ally regains 5 hit points or gains 10 temporary hit points or grants a saving throw (or all three but choose one).

[Echobeats]

So, here's an idea. I was building one of these last year and I did what Kurald Galain said above, which was to make a Lazylord. It was also a Pixie, as per your idea. So I thought that to avoid hogging the limelight, he would just sit on someone's shoulder and give out free attacks, never moving into a separate square.

Then I realised I could take it further and refluff the Pixie as a possessing spirit, which can't leave its ally's square except to go and possess another ally. It wouldn't take over the ally completely, just kind of hitch a ride in its body and be a voice in its head giving it hints on how to attack.

Sadly I never got to play this. But it could be fun. Especially if a helpful NPC has recently died and you want a way for them to continue to be helpful.

[Beta Centauri]

Don't give them a healer at all. A healer was necessary in past (and apparently future) editions, but it's not necessary in 4th Edition, as long as the players don't play as if they had a healer. They'll have to be more careful with their HP and make character build choices that they might not otherwise make.

I, for one, would not want to survive a battle just because the GM threw me a bone via an NPC. At least with a potion of healing, they get to decide when they use it, and have to be tactical about it. So, make more potions available.

Finally, if you aren't prepared to kill the characters, then you need to have a failure mode that is something other than death. If you're not interested in modifying the encounters (which 4th Edition makes very easy - easier than making and running a GMPC) you're probably not interested in looking for non-death (non-capture, non-retreat) ways for the players to lose, but it's something to keep in mind for the future: either be prepared to lose the characters, or don't leave any chance of the characters being lost.

[Yakk]

Agreed, don't do a heal bot. 4e works fine without it, and DM PCs divide DM attention and damage PC spotlight time.

Use the DM side of the table.

With 3 PCs, a 300 XP budget can make reasonable encounters.

If you really, really need larger encounters and cannot use minions, or you want to run a pre-published adventure, try this:

Drop monster HP in half, and budget for a 450 XP party. 450 XP is the budget for a full normal party, so pre-built adventures will work. At half HP, monsters will drop quickly (it is pretty exciting in play in my experience).

Going the heal bot route in 4e is, in my opinion, a bad idea.