Purpose of Faith Healing

[WhiteLily]

If by dismembered, you mean that the character's appendage suffered more than twice the number of hit points required to cripple a limb through a means other than cutting or explosion, than yes. Because, in those cases, the limb is still attached but considered "destroyed" and not functional.

If the limb was severed due to cutting damage, then Faith Healing can not restore it.

[Kallatari]

Originally Posted by 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.

A final missed benefit from that list is that Faith Healing is not magic. It is not dependent on the mana level (or Sanctity for cleric magic), and thus the cleric can always use it. There is nothing that can stop it from working.

[Mathis]

Can a healer heal themself with faith healing without minusses from "physician heal thyself"

[InexplicableVic]

Faith Healing is pretty awesome. It's actually worth all 33 points. Yes, you pretty much need to choose between that and turning, initially. But it's a lot easier to build up points for extra Power Investiture, etc., than saving up 33 points for Faith Healing.

It really shines if you have SM+1 PCs, where healing spells cost double (Faith Healing does not). And it also is great when you have players with 20+ or 30+ hp. Examples:

Ulf Sigurdson needs to heal "Mild" Bruce McTavish, a SM+1 Barbarian who has 30 hp normally, but is now down to 0 hp. In this example, Ulf has Power Investiture 6. So:

• Minor Healing: Base cost of 6 FP, which doubles because Bruce is SM+1, a discount of 1 for Skill 15+, costs him 11 FP net. Bruce heals 18 hp (6 multiplied by 3 for HP 30+). That's the most he can do with Minor Healing, and it's expensive.
  
• Major Healing: Base cost of 5 FP, which doubles because Bruce is SM+1, a discount of 1 for Skill 15+, costs him 9 FP net. Bruce heals 30 hp (10 multiplied by 3 for HP 30+). Again, this is the most he can do with Major Healing, and while it's still quite expensive, it heals Bruce fully and is more efficient.
  
• Faith Healing: Base cost of 5 FP, no reductions or multiplications, and Bruce heals 30 HP (10 multiplied by 3 for HP 30+). If Bruce were at -30 hp and had just survived a death check, in one second just by touching Bruce, he can heal him up to full--60 hp--by spending 10 FP.

This is more dramatic if Ulf does not have PI 6, and has, say, only PI 3. In that case he's limited as to how much he can heal with Minor Healing or Major Healing. But with Faith Healing, you can heal "any number of HP." It is not limited by PI.

It also allows for the healing of crippled (but not severed) limbs, as well as curing disease. And as someone pointed out, it's not affected by Sanctity levels. That can really come into play in a big way.

"Physician, Heal Thyself" does not apply, as that specifically applies to healing spells; Faith Healing is not a spell. That also makes it quite powerful.

Finally, it is -3 per successful use in the same day on the same subject, not per try. That is also a major distinction. Has Ulf Sigurdson used Faith Healing three times in one day on a fellow delver? You bet he has. With IQ 14 and PI 6, it's not that risky (roll under 20, then 17, then 14). As long as he doesn't critically fail, it's fine.

In the current campaign I'm playing in, Ulf's Faith Healing has been amazingly powerful and helpful. It's tough to spend 33 points on that to start, but it's even tougher to accumulate 33 points in play and save them up for that purpose.

[Celjabba]

After listing all the advantages, two downside to Faith Healing :

-there is nothing in DFRPG that say you can use it on yourself.
"You can heal others"
And referencing the build in Gurps:DF, you cannot, it doesn't have the affect-self enhancement.

-it only work on being whose behaviour is consistent with your god’s
interests.
Other players character are usually assumed to be ok, since they help you in your quest.

[WhiteLily]

I think it an error that Faith Healing and Turning are not listed on the Holy Warrior's Template as abilities you can select at start.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by WhiteLily

I think it an error that Faith Healing and Turning are not listed on the Holy Warrior's Template as abilities you can select at start.

They're in there.

p. 25, on the template itself: "A further 50 points chosen from a mix of Holy abilities (pp. 26-27) and:".

p. 26, where that points: "The Holy abilities below are typical of holy warriors. You may also buy all of those described for clerics – but where they mention Power Investiture, substitute Holiness."

Too much repetition gets silly!

[Harald387]

Originally Posted by Mathis

Can a healer heal themself with faith healing without minusses from "physician heal thyself"

Shameless plug: while Faith Healing can't be used on oneself ("heal others" is pretty specific), Hand of Asgard for the Nordlond setting offers an ability that counteracts the self-healing penalties as well as over 20 other Holy abilities for use by both Clerics and Holy Warriors.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Kromm

They're in there.

...

Too much repetition gets silly!

Kromm too is a slave to the word count.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Anders

Kromm too is a slave to the word count.

Especially in this case.