# Cleric Optimized For Healing



## mattcolville (Jul 28, 2008)

It seems like, at first level, there's not a lot of options for a Cleric to Heal his teammates.

I made a new cleric and without really thinking about it, just took the suggested powers and feats from the Devoted Cleric build.

But over the course of Combat, I found that I could basically heal 1 person, twice per encounter with Healing Word. I had Healing Strike, but that's pretty useless for a Devoted Cleric who won't have a high STR and therefore won't be able to hit. Beacon of Hope isn't bad, but it's only 5 hp. +5 to all healing powers is nice, but really it's +5 to my two Healing Words, since my Healing Strike isn't going to fire.

We have a big group. Healing 2 people per encounter seems pretty bunk. I wanted to be the guy who concentrated on keeping people alive, but it seems like there is no such character in D&D now, at least at 1st level.

Is there something I'm overlooking?


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## ac_noj (Jul 28, 2008)

Yes, you're overlooking the Melora’s Tide feat. Also, you're level one. You have one Encounter and one Daily power. You'll get more and some of them are very good.
Oh, and Healers Lore works with Beacon of Hope for each ally.


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## underfoot007 (Jul 28, 2008)

Beacon of hope is awesome power, don't forget to add your "healers lore" (add your wis mod) that should be a better number (7-10). clerics in 4e are not portable medic stations that they were in 3.x. everyone must rember to use thier second winds. and at second level you can take cure light wounds.


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## robsenworldaccount (Jul 28, 2008)

Clerics have many ways to heal.  None of which are a viable substitute for teamwork.


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## Lizard (Jul 28, 2008)

mattcolville said:


> Is there something I'm overlooking?




Marketing determined people don't like being the healer.


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## Danceofmasks (Jul 28, 2008)

There are more important "healing" abilities than hit points.
I'm in love with sacred flame. Extra saves are teh awesome.

Also, if other people (such as strikers) are busy attacking, you could walk up and use the heal skill on them to active their second wind.
I mean, it's not particularly efficient action-economy-wise, but hey ... it's an option.


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## ac_noj (Jul 28, 2008)

Lizard said:


> Marketing determined people don't like being the healer.




So true, and frankly they were right. OK so some people do like being pure healers, but they're vastly out-numbered by the people who don't want to be pure healers but get forced into that role when it's avaliable.

The game isn't hardcore enough to require dedicated healers anyway, and in a group of 5 you're better off being flexible than specialised.

I like playing pure healers and even so I think it's better this way.


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## cmbarona (Jul 28, 2008)

Is your Sacred Flame helping at all? I'm playing an Inspiring Warlord myself, and taking a look at the Cleric healing powers, I'm kinda jealous. (Although Healing Strike does look suspiciously out of place.) I still manage to be pretty effective, though, but part of that might be the fact that we're a small group (only 3 of us, sans a Defender; I'm the tank!). How big is your group, anyway? Big enough that you might need to ask your DM to throw a few healing potions your way?


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## Evanta (Jul 28, 2008)

Grab the warlord's Inspiring Word, now you have 3 heals per encounter.


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## Hammerhead (Jul 28, 2008)

The multiclass feat only gives you Inspiring Word 1/day, not per encounter.


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## ac_noj (Jul 28, 2008)

Evanta said:


> Grab the warlord's Inspiring Word, now you have 3 heals per encounter.




Student of Battle gives you one use of Inspiring Word per day, not per encounter.


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## Victim (Jul 28, 2008)

Evanta said:


> Grab the warlord's Inspiring Word, now you have 3 heals per encounter.




Picking that up from the multiclass feat makes it work only once per day.


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## ac_noj (Jul 28, 2008)

*Jinx!*


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## Hammerhead (Jul 28, 2008)

Three at the same time? Awesome!


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## Gloombunny (Jul 28, 2008)

Though it's still not a bad feat - skill training plus an extra emergency heal.  If you have any interest in any of the warlord skills, and you aren't planning on taking another multiclass feat, it's a good pick.


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## jtcaban (Dec 16, 2008)

*Veterans Armor*

Use that Veteran's Armor from the Adventurer's Vault to blow an AP and get another round of the Beacon of Hope.  Healing for everyone!


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## Eccles (Dec 16, 2008)

Use that feat to get Beronar's Salve Channel Divinity power? 

Gives you another encounter heal power (which only triggers when your ally drops, but you can't have everything!)


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## brehobit (Dec 16, 2008)

Dude, clerics are huge healers at low levels.  

Cleric wis 18, chr 13.  

Beacon of hope heals pretty much everyone 9 points.
Healing word after Beacon of hope is Healing surge +4+5+d6.  For a target with 32 hit points (say a 1st level dwarven fighter) that's 8 (healing surge value)+9+3.5 or 20.5 points of healing from the healing word.  So in one round you could get him from the negatives to 2-3 points away from max.  Sure, it involves your daily, but it works really well.  And you got to weaken a bunch of baddies.  

The only 2/encounter is limiting, no doubt.  But you have utilities you can take as you move up levels to add more.

The only thing I dislike about clerical healing is that healer's lore doesn't scale with level very well.  How about WIS*2 and WIS*3 at the different tiers or something?  At 30th level a warlord's inspiring word is just about as good as the cleric's healing word (8 hit points difference isn't all that much when you have 180 hit points).


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## Cadfan (Dec 16, 2008)

Why is no one mentioning Radiant Strike?  Its at will, people.  At will.

Here's how our cleric rolled at level 1.

2/encounter, healing word, heals surge+1d6+4.

1/day, beacon of hope, heals 9 in a radius, improves healing word (you were adding your wisdom modifier to the healing from beacon of hope, right?  its a clerical healing power)

at will, radiant strike- at level 1, it added two temporary hit points every time the cleric succeeded on an attack.  This essentially reduces damage by two the next time an enemy hits.  Its functionally equivalent to healing if you target your allies wisely.  This may seem small, but its at will and it really adds up.  And it improves rapidly as you level, eventually becoming really, really effective.

in emergencies, heal checks- they put people back on their feet when their down and you need to trigger their second wind

So, OP- how many people are in your group?  If its 5, including the cleric, you should be doing alright.  Remember, part of the responsibility for healing is on the individual in 4e.  Everyone has Second Wind, and they should be using it.  Also make sure that the rest of your group is playing wisely.  Its possible that you don't feel like you have enough healing because your group is too reckless.  Look and see if the defender characters are protecting the strikers, and so forth.

Finally, the most common reason that groups find themselves lacking enough healing is that they don't have enough melee combatants.  How many of your groups total characters fight in melee?  If its only two out of five or so, you may have a problem simply because those two characters can't take the punishment, and can't stop enemies from slipping past them.


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## MatthewJHanson (Dec 16, 2008)

Cadfan said:


> Why is no one mentioning Radiant Strike?




They are, they're just pronouncing it "Sacred Flame."


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## MatthewJHanson (Dec 16, 2008)

For my healing cleric, I use Strength and Wisdom as the two primary stats. Yet, that means that I lose some bonus hit points from having a lower Charisma, but there are a lot of powers that heal after a Strength based attack (Healing Strike being just the first.)


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## DracoSuave (Dec 16, 2008)

MatthewJHanson said:


> They are, they're just pronouncing it "Sacred Flame."




Yeah, I was thinking... is he suggesting a multiclass into paladin?  And is he thinking of Bolstering Strike?  And why?


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## DracoSuave (Dec 16, 2008)

MatthewJHanson said:


> For my healing cleric, I use Strength and Wisdom as the two primary stats. Yet, that means that I lose some bonus hit points from having a lower Charisma, but there are a lot of powers that heal after a Strength based attack (Healing Strike being just the first.)




And those powers get those bonus hps right back view Healer's Lore anyways from your Wisdom.


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## Larrin (Dec 16, 2008)

DracoSuave said:


> And those powers get those bonus hps right back view Healer's Lore anyways from your Wisdom.




Except for sacred flame which doesn't have the healing keyword


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