From the review:
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Previously characters would have relied on their cleric for healing. What then has become of this class ? Flicking through I found Cure Light Wounds. It's a level two power they can use only Once Per Day no matter how powerful the character becomes, and it heals.... 1/4 of a characters total HP. The tenth level fighter in the above example must be laughing - "I can do that without your help ten times a day thank you very much !". So what else has the cleric got to help his friends ? Well, he has a Once Per Encounter power called Healing Word which allows the target to use an additional healing surge in combat with an extra 1D6 HP on top. But if you think about this its not much help outside of combat as you can only use it during an encounter. Besides which the other characters are all too busy healing themselves to worry about needing a cleric. Finally I thought maybe the cleric might be good at the Healing skill instead of using magic. Well, he is but it doesn't heal any HP. Maybe if the cleric deliberately starts a fight with his companions he can use his Healing Word ability again ?
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What's wrong in this section... Hm.
First - it's true that having 10 healing surges makes a fighter very durable, and if that stretches your suspension of disbelief too far, fair enough.
However, a counterpoint: healing surges by and large provide an absolute limit on how much healing a character can receive. The
only healing beyond (surge value) x (amount per surge) a character can receive is from healing powers, when they add +1d6 to the value of a surge, or do healing without consuming a surge.
How much healing can a 3.5e 10th level cleric heal?
In 4e, most healing powers consume a surge from the recipient. Cure Light Wounds doesn't, so it's actually not bad, because it's extra healing the fighter would never be able to have access to.
Second - "encounter" powers can be recharged by 5 minutes of rest, and don't require you to be in a fight. So after a brutal encounter, the party could rest 10 or 15 minutes to allow the cleric to recast Healing Word, to give party members greater benefit from the healing surges used up. The alternative is just to use their healing surges at the end of the encounter, for the flat value given.
Third - "Besides which the other characters are all too busy healing themselves to worry about needing a cleric." Not really so. They can use Second Wind once per encounter, that's true. But using it means giving up their attack that round. They risk a monster possibly smashing them again for the same amount of damage. So maybe that means on their turn they're going to withdraw from the fight briefly to use it... or they're going to want to fight on, and ask their cleric for healing without taking up their action.
I don't think anyone
really likes giving up their offensive action in order to heal themselves.
All in all, the 2/encounter healing powers
are very helpful.