Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 starfire311 Feb 17, 2015 13:18:34	So, I wanted to play a bard that used hisspells for utility, while being a stealthy rogue type character. I am now 3rd level and it seems like I only have 1 spell, healing word. last game all 6 of my spell slots (4 first and 2 second) were used to cast healing word. At least it is a bonus action so I can do something else also, much better than 3rd edition IMO. But it just seems lame that I am stuck spending all my spells on healing. Anyone have any suggestions?  We leveled up after the game session and I picked up Cure Wounds for my as my 4th level spell, to help with my through put, so that maybe I won't have to use all my spells to heal.
#2 Zardnaar Feb 17, 2015 14:05:45	Not really your job and healing word is very inefficeint. If feats are being used try taking the healing feat or convince someone else in the party to take it. Bards are actually not very good healers as they lack spells like prayer of healing and goodberry. Tell the party to multiclass, take the healer feat or whatever to help out with the healing load if they do not do that stop healing them and let them die.
#3 Coredump00 Feb 17, 2015 17:37:23	Just stop healing all the time.  They need to work together to avoid so much damage.
#4 Archon007 Feb 17, 2015 18:24:38	starfire311 wrote:
(Reply to #4) starfire311	Archon007 wrote:
#6 Cantfindaname Feb 17, 2015 20:06:19	Best advice I can give with the information provided is as follows: Do not be afraid to run away. 5e can be pretty deadly. What you encountered was a large force of opponents. Had you retreated, they may have spread out and given your group the chance to pounce on individual foes.   I cannot find the entangled condition, but I assume it is similar to Grappled or Restrained, meaning that movement is zero. I would have suggested that you would have used Bardic Inspiration on the more squishy party members to get them out of harms way (i.e. succeed on saving throw), while casting perhaps 1-2 healing words on those that remained stuck.   Fight opponents ranged when possible, run away when needed, but above all, utilize a tactic that maximizes group efficiency and minimizes early damage.
#7 Eggnogfool Feb 17, 2015 20:39:14	You shouldn't be the healer, and if you are the healer, healing word is basically only for use after one of your group members goes down.  Can prevent way more damage with sleep than you can heal with Word.
#8 Archon007 Feb 17, 2015 20:44:37	starfire311 wrote:
#9 FaustianHero Feb 17, 2015 21:15:13	Being the only one capable of casting a healing spell =/= The Healer.  Just like being the only one capable of addition/subtraction doesn't make you an accountant.   As has been mentioned, your spells to help end the encounter faster will prevent more damage than you can reasonably heal.  Save the word for emergencies, and open up with your bigger spells.
#10 mellored Feb 17, 2015 21:36:09	that's a squishy party. my suggestion is to play the stealthy type, and scout. when you see a druid and 10 plants in their own lair, don't charge in. bluff, minor illusion, or something to get it out of the lair. or attack it from longbow range.
#11 spanglemaker Feb 17, 2015 23:48:25	Your party is not that squishy, but you are the only one with default access to Healing spells, Cure Wounds would have been a better choice, than Healing Word.       Bard- Party Buffer, Party Face (Persuasion, Intimidation, Deception), Secondary Magic User, Stealthy if you've taken Stealth and especially so with Expertise, Skill Monkey   Warlock- (Primary Magic User(Tome) ( loves short rests), Stealthy Scout (Chain), Secondary Fighter (Blade ), Party Face (intimidation, Deception, Persuasion), Stealthy with proficiency, has tricks (Invocations)    Rogue- Primary Stealth, Scouting, Sneak Attacks, Expertise, Skill Monkey, Party Face ( possibly)   Eldritch Knight, Party Tank or Primary Fighter, with a few magic tricks   Monk, Primary Fighter with special tricks   If you are playing AL then remember you can play around with your character from levels 1 to 4, finding out what works.    Advice for the party, encourage folk to spend gold on Healing Potions. Warlock may want to take a level in Bard or take Magic initiate (Bard) (my own character is a Warlock 3, Bard 1 ( Spy), covers party Face, is the only (tome Pact) magic user in the party and a support healer as we have a couple of Paladins, she also covers for stealth and lock picking, as we have no Rogue. She mostly Eldritch Blasts, Scouts with lesser vision via her Owl familiar (Devils Sight means her vision is better than an Owls as far as Darkness is concerned), heals when required but the rest of the party has potions. We work as a team   Good luck and happy adventuring
#12 Archon007 Feb 17, 2015 23:52:53	FaustianHero wrote:
#13 Ashrym Feb 18, 2015 0:01:27	Stop spending spell slots on healing and start spending spell slots on  preventing damage.  Or get someone else in the group working control.  Or avoid direct conflict as much as possible.  At 4th level pick up the healer feat.  Spend gold on healing potions.  Take short rests and spend hit dice on healing.   The issue is either unnecessary healing or unnecessary damage.   The skilled bard with utility magic is an interesting concept that I also enjoy but the group isn't demonstrating other healing resources or damage prevention from the sounds of it, so you have the best class in the group to cover control with the possible exception of the warlock, and the best option for healing.   You might try picking up heroism and using that instead of healing word or cure wounds (and would have been a better choice that picking up cure wounds).  Heroism grants temp hp the refresh each round equal to your CHA modifier and that can easily add up to more hp than an equivalent level healing spell.  It can also be applied to 2 party members using a 2nd-level spell slot now that you are 3rd level, and will leave actions and bonus action both open on subsequent rounds.   Using cutting words for the action and heroism in the concentration slot for ongoing temp hp leaves the bonus action open for healing word if needed and works fairly well at low levels.
#14 Kayal Feb 18, 2015 11:28:23	Zardnaar wrote:
#15 starfire311 Feb 18, 2015 18:54:46	I want to thank everyone for the advice. I think our problem is that we have been playing 4th edition for so long, and we are used to being able to play whatever we enjoyed playing. We need to get back into the DnD mindset of having a dedicated healer. That being said I think I got some good ideas for how I can help shore up the group, I will probably have to scrap my concept altogether, I like the idea of heroism, I had been more focused on utility spells and hoping that healing word would fill the gaps. I will pick up the healer feat that in combination with the inspiring leader feat that I already have should be good. We were already stocked pretty good on healing potions, but using my bonus action to heal, and my normal action to attack with a bow or rapier always seemed like the best option. I can try using sleep, but that spell seems awful to me, every creature in that last fight had over 30 HP, the odds of it effecting even one is slim. an average of 22.5 HP just seems so bad. Also, I ended up going Valor Bard, because it jsut seemed much mroe useful to me to get a little tankier and get an extra attack and spell casting giving a bonus action to attack.
#16 Kostoglot Feb 18, 2015 20:18:41	If every creature in that last encounter had over 30 hp, your DM may be making the encounters too deadly. Math doesn't seem right.   Healing should not be done as damage occurs - this is inefficient, especially at low levels. Generally, you should only use your spells for it to pick back up an ally who is knocked unconscious - doing so means every spell is effective, and any splash damage from the last hit is essentially negated.   Preventing/distributing damage is everyone's responsibility - if the party rushes in, you don't have the resources to save them. No class does. Especially not with bounded accuracy against 10 mobs and a boss.    They chose to play stealthy/utility based characters over tanks - therefore, they need to play like that if they want to be effective. No stand and receive type fighting.
#17 FaustianHero Feb 18, 2015 21:19:47	Perhaps to try another analogy, in a party with 3 wizards and an archer fighter, the archer isn't the party tank.  Just because he probably can take a blow better doesn't mean he should be up there taking blows.  Everyone should be doing their best to kite.   Likewise here, your Bard isn't a healing machine, nor does he have to be.  As others have said, pitch in a heal where it's needed, but the party needs to play with the understanding that they're light on healing, and that's not your fault.
#18 Ashrym Feb 19, 2015 0:40:05	Kayal wrote:
#19 Kayal Feb 19, 2015 4:27:35	Kostoglot wrote:
#20 gecko85 Feb 19, 2015 10:24:23	* Sleep is good when there's a large number of weaker minions (Kobolds, for example), so good to have around. Don't waste it in the boss fight, though, as it won't do anything. And *always* scale it if you have the slots (use it in a higher level slot).   * Faerie Fire is good for giving your pary advantage. The more they can hit, the faster the combat is over.   * Dissonant Whispers is good if the rest of your party is fighting a particularly strong foe. On a failed save, the foe will take some damage from the spell, but more importantly will run away...provoking opportunity attacks from any party members in combat range.   * Heat Metal is also good against a single powerful foe.    * Re: Healing Word vs Cure Wounds...I prefer Healing Word for my ranged fighting bard, but then we have a cleric in the party so I'm not the dedicated healer. Even though HW heals less than CW, I can help out a party member from afar while continuing to sling arrows. Most of our healing comes after combat is finished, from the cleric and from short rests (where Song of Rest comes in very handy).
#21 starfire311 Feb 19, 2015 18:35:30	Once again, thanks for all the replies, it is interesting to read what people think.   The big one that has struck me, that I try to use my heals when a person is getting low to prevent them from dropping. Seeing as how I do the least damage in the group, me dropping all of my spells to prevent others from losing an action seemed like a good idea. In previous editions it always seemed like once you started losing actions to uncoscious party members the encounter gets exponentially more difficult.  Along those same lines, everyone int eh party ahs healing potions, but since they all do more damage to me it seems more economical for me to be healing them rather than them spending actions to heal themselves, especially since my heal only uses a bonus action.  Maybe the DM did make the encounter too hard, the lair ability was wrecking us, if it weren't for that I would not have ahd to use all my healing spells. My biggest problem is that when I look at my spells, it just seems like the best option is using them as a bonus action to prevent my party from dropping.
#22 mellored Feb 19, 2015 21:02:21	you do want to use your spells to prevent the party from droping. but, you get much better results casting tasha's hidious laughter to prevent damage, then healing word after the fact.
#23 FaustianHero Feb 19, 2015 22:32:44	Vicious Mockery really depends on the monsters.  Against 11 creatures, not very effective.  In my game we fought 4 gnolls with 3 attacks each and our Tomelock was using Vicious Mockery, but it was a drop of water in the sea.  Was better for him to just full on EB.  For you, using your bigger disable spells might've been a better option.
#24 Kayal Feb 20, 2015 2:47:22	FaustianHero wrote:
#25 mellored Feb 20, 2015 5:05:58	Kayal wrote:
#26 Kayal Feb 20, 2015 9:52:03	mellored wrote:
#27 mellored Feb 20, 2015 10:03:32	Kayal wrote:
#28 FaustianHero Feb 20, 2015 10:31:16	It can sure make a rogue sad though.  They have flashbacks to all the mockery they got in 3.x.
#29 Eggnogfool Feb 20, 2015 11:37:19	mellored wrote:
#30 Kayal Feb 20, 2015 13:47:06	mellored wrote:
#31 mellored Feb 20, 2015 14:13:29	being the best cantrip out of 1 isn't a big achievement. I found my bard using a sling more often. Except against a buellete, which has really low Wis, and was a solo creature.
#32 Kostoglot Feb 20, 2015 23:54:29	The problem with trying to use Healing Word as a preventive measure is that it simply isn't strong enough - 1d4/SL + Mod is at best maybe 1 hit (which is a good use!), but on a decent damage roll... may not make any difference except that you've expended a spell slot for the day. If a hit for 10 is common, even a 2nd level Cure Wounds is at best a *very* short term stopgap for a single ally. Absolutely you should try to keep party members from going unconscious to preserve action economy - however, weak healing is not generally the most effective way to do so. This does change, for example, if you splash a level of Life Cleric and pick up Aura of Vitality... it's just that right now, your numbers aren't really significant enough to do much.
#33 BRJN Feb 21, 2015 16:37:56	Everybody in the party needs to buy a Longbow and arrows then Heal Potions.  (The Warlock could be cheap and take the long-range Eldritch Blast enabler instead.) The Monk and Rogue should gang up on one enemy.  Be sure to enable Sneak Attack.  Flurry of Blows behaves like Triple Attack.  Bless (so nobody misses) is a good thing. What does the Eldritch Knight do in a fight? Next time you face that lair, bring fire arrows.  The place (and the inhabitants) sounds pretty flammable.
#34 Kayal Feb 21, 2015 17:42:56	mellored wrote:
(Reply to #34) Ashrym	Kayal wrote:
#36 Kayal Feb 22, 2015 13:31:22	Ashrym wrote: