Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Kolpo2 Apr 12, 2015 18:54:38	A bard get's some heal spells, he can also use arcane secret to take a heal spell from another class. Would that be enough top make the bard the main and only healer of a party? Or would this drastically increase difficulty?
#2 jaappleton Apr 12, 2015 19:19:53	Remember: You don't have to stay at max HP. You just have to stay above zero.
#3 transcendantviewer Apr 12, 2015 20:01:30	I've got a player just starting out that wants to do the same thing, it's a viable option, especially with the magical secrets that Bards get. And not only that, but that spell Heroism is a pretty good damage soak when you stick it on the Barbarian. You get your Cha high enough, they almost can't die at early levels. Now you've got a wall while you heal up the others. And as a recommendation, I would say splurge on the Healer Feat. Plus, if you're going College of Lore, you're going to have plenty of spells coming in from virtually any class you want, so at higher levels, you can grab yourself Wish as a safety net if things start going badly.
#4 mellored Apr 12, 2015 21:16:39	you don't need a healer in 5e. so yes.
#5 FunkySpunk Apr 12, 2015 21:18:33	Yes, and they can be pretty good at it. They can be MUCH better at it with a 13 WIS and one level of Life Cleric (and a level of Druid for Goodberry if you really want to heal a lot).    Added benefit: that Cleric level gets you Medium and Heavy armor proficiency. Enjoy!
(Reply to #5) transcendantviewer	FunkySpunk wrote:
#7 Coredump00 Apr 12, 2015 22:10:32	Healing Feat and Healers Kit will work wonders....
#8 mellored Apr 13, 2015 5:19:36	Coredump00 wrote:
#9 Mommy_was_an_Orc Apr 13, 2015 6:12:51	Aura of Vitality with a Lore Bard at 6th or Valor Bard at 10th goes a really long way to providing a lot of healing.
#10 SterlingRat Apr 13, 2015 6:33:29	My paladin can function as the party healer, so yeah... Bard will be fine. You will be able to resurrect normally at Level 9 (Raise Dead) but could get Revivify ealier with Secrets if that's a problem, which it really shouldn't be. Although... like others have said, "Party Healer" isn't as big an issue now that a night's rest can heal just about anything that doesn't kill you. "Back in the day" when a night's rest might only get two or three HP, Party Healer was very important. Now... not so much.
#11 QwertyAzerty Apr 13, 2015 6:55:07	The way 5e works, monster usually do more damage in a round, then a healer can sustain (even a life cleric) (in a average group, yes in a group of barbarian who rage and reduce all damage by half, or in a group of fighter/paladin who cover each other with protection fighting style, a cleric might be able to sustainably heal the damage) so the important "healing" action is to bring player from 0 to 1.   The most effective ."healer" IMO are those preventing damage, so the sorcerer who fireball all the little kobolds, avoiding those 10 1d6+2 attacks with advantage. the bard who use vicious mockery giving disavantage on the big brute monster (like to a bugbear or to a assassin type monster) next attack, the paladin with his aura allowing to add his Charisma modifier to all saving throws etc...   Since bard, cleric, druid and paladin can all bring a caracter from 0 back to 1 HP they are all viable healer, but there true strenght will be to see how much damage they can prevent the party taking.   The bard, between vicious mockery and inspiring word can reduce transform stronger hitter (like those assassin type monster dealing special sneak attack and extra damage on a hit) into 0 damage.
#12 jaappleton Apr 13, 2015 8:02:54	As others have said, preventing damage during battle is more important than healing.
#13 Patron1972 Apr 13, 2015 8:08:34	Kolpo2 wrote:
#14 Kayal Apr 13, 2015 11:32:44	I'm playing a Lord Bard who is acting as as the party's "main healer" and he seems to be doing well enough.
#15 xirr2000 Apr 13, 2015 11:41:10	jaappleton wrote:
#16 WizardV Apr 13, 2015 14:39:22	The group answer seems to be an overwhelming yes.   The only thing I'd like to add is that I can recommend the healer feat at level 1. 1d6+5 is basically a full life bar for many classes and you can use it when people go unconscious to negate all the extra damage that they took when they fell over as well as almost full heal them. By level 4 when you can ABI Charisma and the difference between 1d6+4+n and Cha+n starts to become smaller Inspiring Leader is a more compelling option. If you're playing AL you can do retraining up to 4 to swap from Healer to Inspiring Leader at 4 when you get your ABI. If you take both feats, and have healing word for when 2 people drop a Bard is world class healer that will trivialize most official content.
#17 Kayal Apr 14, 2015 11:02:22	WizardV wrote:
#18 WizardV Apr 14, 2015 22:25:18	You can certainly do worse than Half-Elf but I'd rather have the feat than 17 starting Cha instead of 16. My point in the post was the nuanced change in relative power of Inspiring Leader versus Healer in the starting levels which you don't comment on. If you're a Half-Elf and level 4 already then my advice of taking Inspiring Leader is only more true because of the increased Charisma.   In AL especially most games are in the 1-5 bracket. People starting new games are often in the 1-5 bracket. My advice was intended for that range.
#19 Veleria Apr 15, 2015 3:05:18	Make sure to learn Healing Word. Its the most important healing spell with a range of 60 and used as a bonus action, it allows you to get a party member up from being knocked out across the battlefield and still let you use a cantrip or weapon attack to keep the battle momentum moving forward.
#20 Kayal Apr 15, 2015 13:22:06	WizardV wrote:
#21 Ashrym Apr 15, 2015 14:44:16	Kolpo2 wrote:
#22 Kolpo2 Apr 16, 2015 6:16:10	For race sounds gnome also good, advantage on the 3 mental saving throwns sounds great. The downsite is that +2 int isn't that good for a bard. The 2 dwarf sub races increase surviability a lot but I have a hard time imagining a dwarf bard.
#23 mellored Apr 16, 2015 6:27:28	Kolpo2 wrote: