Purpose of Faith Healing

[WhiteLily]

I find myself scratching my head at the Cleric's Faith Healing Advantage.

Why take it? It requires at least 1 level of Power Investiture, so you're going to spend 43 points on at at minimum.

For those same 43 points, you could have PI 4 and take the spells: Regeneration, Major Healing, and Cure Disease.

You would end up with very similar healing abilities and have 3 extra points of PI for spells.

To me, I think this ability would be great if it was a Holy Warrior ability that keyed off of Holiness. Paladins have always had a lay on hands ability to heal, and the DFRPG Holy Warrior currently lacks that.

[Anders]

Healing spells and the Healing advantage all accrue penalties if used more than once on the same subject. Using many different abilities allows you to sidestep those penalties. And I think Holy Warriors and Clerics can take all Holy abilities, not just those listed on their own template.

[WhiteLily]

33 character points seems like an awful expensive way to sidestep the -3 penalties for healing the same person more than once a day.

[Anders]

I agree. It's probably not the most useful way to spend those points.

[WhiteLily]

Exactly.

I could absolutely see taking this ability as a Holy Warrior if it was keyed to Holiness instead of PI.

There's another thread on "What to do when you have a party with no cleric?" so giving the Holy Warrior back his/her traditional lay on hands ability seems to help address that problem.

[Celjabba]

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

Exactly.

I could absolutely see taking this ability as a Holy Warrior if it was keyed to Holiness instead of PI.

There's another thread on "What to do when you have a party with no cleric?" so giving the Holy Warrior back his/her traditional lay on hands ability seems to help address that problem.

For holy warrior :

You may also buy all of those described for clerics – but where they
mention Power Investiture, substitute Holiness.

So, there is the Lay on hands for holy warrior.

And a cleric start with PI 3, so the prerequisite is always met for clerics, who cannot start with PI 0 (or 1 or 2). the cost is 33, not 43.
Obviously, still more than 3 to get the matching spells. (4 to grab great healing) (actually more if you want to raise the spells skill level to match the native IQ+PI of faith Healing.)

[Imbicatus]

Yes, Holy Warriors can take all holy abilities on the cleric template as well as on the HW template. But spells are always cheaper in points than their power equivalents.

[Celjabba]

As for other advantages for cleric:
-it add more heals per target per day
-Major Healing is restricted to 8hp, faith healing isn't
-it can repair crippled limb instantly, not in a month(restoration/regeneration)
-it is much faster than cure disease (10 minutes) or great healing (1 minute). If you need to heal a lot of hp in one shot or stop a disease or heal a crippled limb during a fight, you can with faith healing. Not with spells.

Yes, it is expensive. But for a dedicated cleric healer, it can be a valuable supplement to the spells.

[WhiteLily]

Celjabba:

Oh, wow! Thanks for clueing my into the HW being able to take all the Cleric abilities. That's neato!

[Kalzazz]

It can fix dismembered?