Druids should heal - Maybe Bards

[WhiteLily]

I don't get why DFRPG elected to not have any heal spells on the Druid list except Cure Disease. Fantasy druids in D&D have always been able to heal.

People post, "My party has no cleric, what do I do?" D&D elected to expand the healing roles by allowing Bards to heal as well.

DFRPG went the other direction by not only refusing to extend healing to Bards, but also taking healing from Druids who traditionally can do it.

Ultimately it comes down to an argument over what is more fun, and I think players tend to find it a drag if they have to wait multiple game days convalescing to recover lost HPs.

[ericbsmith]

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

People post, "My party has no cleric, what do I do?"

Healing Potions. Lots of Healing Potions.

Another option, if the GM is really worried about it, is to grant the group a Holy Relic that allows them to heal so long as they please the god of the relic.

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

I don't get why DFRPG elected to not have any heal spells on the Druid list except Cure Disease. Fantasy druids in D&D have always been able to heal.

DFRPG went the other direction by not only refusing to extend healing to Bards, but also taking healing from Druids who traditionally can do it.

It's your game, if you want you can add healing spells to the Druid or Bard spell list. GURPS Magic has the prerequisites for spell-based healing, which you can get from the free Spell Prerequisite Charts if you don't have GURPS Magic (though the Basic Set has most of the healing spells as well).

[Imbicatus]

I run Golarion (Pathfinder) in DFRPG, and my house rules allow healing to multiple templates:
1: Druids gain access to every healing spell at one higher level of PI than Clerics
2: Bards can learn healing college spells using the prerequisites I. Gurps Magic/Basic as ericbsmith stated above
3: Martial Artists can take a Chi based Faith healing. It has no divine component, but the being being healed must have Chi (basically be alive).
4: I use Gurps Magic: the least of spells, and anyone can use the Use Magic least spell to use Cleric only healing items like wands.

[Polkageist]

Definitely, my game lacks a cleric and I've been liberal with both purchasing and discovering healing potions (and analogues) throughout the world. Works well.

There are a few thready ways around the fact that only clerics get out of the box access to healing spells.

First is that dipping into other professions is pretty easy, so a druid or bard could pick up a level or to of clerical investment to access those spells, as well as others.

Alchemy is a skill focus that can allow quick(ish) and easy(ish) access to potion making. Given a pretty reasonable amount of downtime healing potions can be produced at a pretty good discount. Herb lore (Druid!) gives an even bigger discount and is reasonable to allow usage in the field.

[Dalin]

I'm all for druidic healing. I started a similar thread last year: Druidic healing. Since then, I've always offered healing spells to druids if the party lacks a cleric. (I would be happy to allow it with a cleric, too, but nobody has asked.) I'm also very free with healing magic items and I don't reserve them to clerics only.

I hadn't thought about bards before, but it's an interesting idea. I might implement it as a song of regeneration or something like that. Though I suppose that would be over-powered without any FP costs. Could one implement a song with FP? Kind-of a hybrid spell/song. The fluff would be that the Bard is actively channeling mana through the song into the subjects. The more healing required, the more exhausting the channeling is. The thing I like about a song is that it makes it clearly a bard thing and it takes time. A caster might still be best for rapidly boosting individual HP in combat, but the bard might get the edge when everyone is convalescing around the campfire.

[Imbicatus]

A bard song could work as well. You could build it as an affliction that grants regeneration, or as enhancements on healing, but that is going deep into core Gurps, and it’s going to be very expensive in points vs adding the healing college to Bardic Talent.

[Celjabba]

In DFRPG, Holy warrior can also heal (not as much as a cleric, of course), with Faith healing (and contingency casting).

Druid have access to herb lore for half-price healing potions.

But it is easy enough to add a couple healing spells to the druid or bard list, if that's what you want.
No special knowledge required, just modify the choices in Spells.

If no-one at a table want to play a cleric, but you have a druid/bard player, it certainly is an alternative to hiring a healbot in town.

A DF druid fun tactic for out-of-combat healing was Plant form Other + heal plant ... Not available in DFRPG, but if you have access to Gurps magic, it is easy to slot them back in.

[Edges]

I allowed a player to build a bard song (using GURPS Basic, not DFRPG) that gave Regeneration (1 HP / Hour). It was a nice supplement to spells and potions w/o having the bard steal anyone's spotlight.

[Michael Thayne]

Originally Posted by Imbicatus

I run Golarion (Pathfinder) in DFRPG, and my house rules allow healing to multiple templates:
1: Druids gain access to every healing spell at one higher level of PI than Clerics
2: Bards can learn healing college spells using the prerequisites I. Gurps Magic/Basic as ericbsmith stated above
3: Martial Artists can take a Chi based Faith healing. It has no divine component, but the being being healed must have Chi (basically be alive).
4: I use Gurps Magic: the least of spells, and anyone can use the Use Magic least spell to use Cleric only healing items like wands.

I've contemplated doing this, but the conversion seems like a lot of work. Would love to see your notes.

[WhiteLily]

He's not the only one running Golarion.

Paizo puts out wonderful stuff. My dream of the perfect fantasy product would be them writing for the DFRPG rules.