bless/prayer or cure light/serious? [Archive] - Wizards Community

bless/prayer or cure light/serious? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Dark1ord
10-09-06, 09:18 PM what would be best in general - having a bless spell memorized, or a cure light wounds spell?

and what about prayer in comparison to cure serious wounds?

I lack the mathematical ability to figure this out... I can see many factors, but can't bring it all together. ;)

btw. I'm posting in here because it really is an optimization question - a question of choosing the best thing to memorize (in general)... haven't come across anything of the sort previously.
PhoenixInferno
10-09-06, 09:25 PM Depends. Positive energy cleric or negative energy cleric? If you're negative energy, it might be neccessary to prepare a cure spell. If you're positive energy, you'd be retarded to ever prepare a cure spell, unless you're a Radiant Servant of Pelor and need to have them in your domain slots.
Dark1ord
10-10-06, 04:59 AM yeah sorry I totally left that out. negativ energy cleric in this case (that was the whole meaning of the post lol). thanks for catching that. :D

it's just damn hard to analyze the impact of a +1 to hit compared to having 1d8+5 hitpoints after that. same goes with a +1 to hit, +1 to dmg, and (effectively) +1 to ac compared with 3d8+15 (max) hitpoints afterwards... thing is, not all encounters will benefit from bless/prayer - where most encounters will benefit from extra hitpoints (in so far as we're looking at hitpoints loss, and bless/prayer being a way to alleviate this as well).
nittanytbone
10-11-06, 10:02 AM In general, the more allies you have and the closer the fight is to 1 minute, the more effective bless will be. Bless is also more effective when there is lots of melee combat involved -- if its just spell slinging, bonus to hit doesn't matter so much.

Prayer is also more effective if there are lots of allies and lots of enemies in the area of effect.

So, if its just you and your fighter bodyguard, neither is likely worth it. If its a party of four, plus druid's animal companion, plus familiar, plus 1d3 summoned critters, they look much more attractive.

On a simple level, for the fighter with power attack, +1 to hit is roughly +2 more damage. So if the fight lasts long enough for the fighter to convert a lot of bonuses to hit to damage (more than 1d8+5), then I'd say its efficient.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Dark1ord 10-09-06, 09:18 PM	what would be best in general - having a bless spell memorized, or a cure light wounds spell? and what about prayer in comparison to cure serious wounds? I lack the mathematical ability to figure this out... I can see many factors, but can't bring it all together. ;) btw. I'm posting in here because it really is an optimization question - a question of choosing the best thing to memorize (in general)... haven't come across anything of the sort previously.
PhoenixInferno 10-09-06, 09:25 PM	Depends. Positive energy cleric or negative energy cleric? If you're negative energy, it might be neccessary to prepare a cure spell. If you're positive energy, you'd be retarded to ever prepare a cure spell, unless you're a Radiant Servant of Pelor and need to have them in your domain slots.
Dark1ord 10-10-06, 04:59 AM	yeah sorry I totally left that out. negativ energy cleric in this case (that was the whole meaning of the post lol). thanks for catching that. :D it's just damn hard to analyze the impact of a +1 to hit compared to having 1d8+5 hitpoints after that. same goes with a +1 to hit, +1 to dmg, and (effectively) +1 to ac compared with 3d8+15 (max) hitpoints afterwards... thing is, not all encounters will benefit from bless/prayer - where most encounters will benefit from extra hitpoints (in so far as we're looking at hitpoints loss, and bless/prayer being a way to alleviate this as well).
nittanytbone 10-11-06, 10:02 AM	In general, the more allies you have and the closer the fight is to 1 minute, the more effective bless will be. Bless is also more effective when there is lots of melee combat involved -- if its just spell slinging, bonus to hit doesn't matter so much. Prayer is also more effective if there are lots of allies and lots of enemies in the area of effect. So, if its just you and your fighter bodyguard, neither is likely worth it. If its a party of four, plus druid's animal companion, plus familiar, plus 1d3 summoned critters, they look much more attractive. On a simple level, for the fighter with power attack, +1 to hit is roughly +2 more damage. So if the fight lasts long enough for the fighter to convert a lot of bonuses to hit to damage (more than 1d8+5), then I'd say its efficient.