"This role can be very rewarding, but it's sometimes a thankless one as well." Ever tried being the DM?

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of Cure Wounds

I feel like every time I type "How to " Dungeon Dudes posted a video on it 3 hours beforehand.

My favorite healer was a combat medic, human rogue. Alternate human, take the Healer feat for the medkit heals. Rogue up to level two for bonus action disengage and dash, to be running around the battlefield patching people up. And expertise in medicine. And then for those first two levels you just keep screaming "I swear to WHATEVER GODS ARE LISTENING, you better not FUCKING DIE ON ME" Until a celestial patron takes notice. Take the rest of my levels in Celestial Warlock.

Made a healer dipped in divination wizard. The owl familiar can deliver touch heals at range, and the Portent can prevent crucial damage or conditions.

You wanna know why no one wants to play support/healer? You never thank them! Where is the thank for the 5th level cure wounds that I wanted to use on another spell? How about the fairie fire that helped you land all those blows? How about the Haste that saved your life? ALWAYS thank your supports people, they do so much for you. This applies to video games too.

Gotta say, that feeling of gifting people a bunch of HP after a fight to hear them say “I’m at full”, is all worth it.

I was very sad that Sorcerer wasn’t mentioned. With the combination of the sorcerer and cleric spell list, twin spell to double up your spells, distance spell to get your support spells out farther. They are extremely effective healers.

Never forget the wizard's healing spell: Polymorph.

I'm playing a human Divine Soul Sorcerer with Wizard ritual casting and the healer feats. I focus mainly on spot healing and battlefield control. My party still has no idea what class I am, because I haven't told them out of character. They think I'm a weird custom class, despite assurances from both me and the DM that I'm not. It's great :-D

Glad you all prefaced a few things about healing: - Blowing all your resources on healing is inefficient. - Don't top off like a video game. You're more of a combat medic than an mmo healer. - Things like damage prevention, temp hp, etc are all good ways to keep going without needing a heal. - Your character should be good at other things than healing and you wanna contribute to fights in other ways. Whether its battlefield control, flat out damage, etc. There's a reason some Clerics roll up in heavy armor and martial weapons.

This is a hefty video, so here's some bookmarks for the key points. In addition, see below for two quick rules corrections: 3:15 Is a Healer Needed? 5:29 How healing in D&D 5e is not like healing in video games 6:21 Healing Mechanics, Hit Dice, and Short Rests 10:40 Comparing Cure Wounds and Healing Word 14:47 Inspiring Leader, Aid, and Dispel Magic 20:30 Healing Spirit 24:45 Polymorph 27:01 Classes for a Healer 27:50 Bards 30:01 Clerics 31:58 Druids 35:10 Paladins and Other Classes Corrections: #1 We incorrectly stated in this video that Mass Cure Wounds is a 3rd level spell. It is actually a 5th level spell, which makes it *even worse*. #2 We also said that Inspiring Leader grants temporary HP based on the target's Hit Dice, which is incorrect. It grants hit points based on your level.

I hope to see a "how to play support in dnd", that's one of my favorite roles when playing

GOD I wish parties I was in were more attentive to hit dice. As soon as a combat's over when we're low on spell slots the healers *always* start trying to manually heal injured members. Like, save your slots man D: (i also feel this pain x2 because I'm running a warlock so I never have spell slots anyway cause no one wants to short rest)

"If you cast Healing Word on the Fighter and before their turn comes around the orc comes up to them and hits them with a greataxe and knocks them down again, that was a complete waste of Healing Word." - Uhhhhhh, no it wasn't? You spent a 1st level bonus action spell to cost the orc it's action and prevent the two guaranteed failed death saves if that would have occurred if that greataxe collided with the Fighter while they were down instead. You probably just saved your fighter's life.

Kelly sold me by saying: you get a Unicorn

Grave domain clerics can prevent enemy crits and if they heal someone that is at 0 hp no roll is required as the maximum of the spell is gained. Not to mention a 30ft range spare the dying.

Life domain cleric one of my favorite tricks when the DM thought he had us on the ropes was to channel divinity and bring back up much HP as I could to the party then cast mass HW. Super easy way to cure 3+ people for a good amount of hit points. Also don't forget to cast death ward on yourself every morning!!

One thing that was missed being mentioned that any character can take during character creation or downtime training is the optional rule utility of having proficiency in Cook's Utensils from XGTE. *Prepare Meals.* As part of a short rest, you can prepare a tasty meal that helps your companions regain their strength. You and up to five creatures of your choice regain 1 extra hit point per Hit Die spent during a short rest, provided you have access to your cook’s utensils and sufficient food. Although it doesn't provide too much mechanically, it is something that even completely magicless characters can do to help their teammates top off their hit points. Especially in those later levels where you will have more Hit Dice to spend. And being the team cook is a simple and effective method to add some roleplay elements; Whether you are playing a Barbarian that feasts to celebrate victorious battles, or a Monk fussing over whether everyone is maintaining their bodies with balanced meals.

Tip: don't forget that heals/buffs work on NPCs, too. Saw an old man with a broken leg? Cast cure on him! See some laborers? Cast Enhance Strength! Ignore party complaints of not "saving" spell slots and instead become the most popular philanthropist in any town.

Thank you so much, I have been wanting to play the "Video game healer" and it just doesn't work, because ... Math. I think this is going to help our table a ton.

Human cleric: Feat: Ritual Caster (Wizard): Find Familiar: Owl. Cast 'guidance', 'resistance' or 'cure wounds' through the familiar to any injured party member with 100 ft. Don't worry about the owl getting attacks of opportunity because of their ability 'flyby'.

My Ranger teams up with the Bard to handle all the healing needs. Bard as the full caster has Healing Word, Greater Restoration, Mass Cure Wounds, Regeneration, and Raise Dead, while I have Cure Wounds and Lesser Restoration, so I handle the quick mid-combat pickups and early-mode debuffs, while they can handle the more grievous emergency stuff and burst healing. The rogue also helps out with their Healer's Kit and Healer feat.

Best healer involves not taking the damage in the first place and therefore RAAAAAAGGGGEEEE!!!

I wish people understood that when I play a healer my job isnt to keep them at full hp

Thank you for your insight. Much appreciated. I'm playing a cleric. I started to figure out that Aid is a very useful spell. I learned a lot of what my class should and should not be doing.

One of my faves lately is Warlock Pact of the Celestial. The free d6 per level, and withing 30' range! Big heal, and no touch!

Divine Sorcerer- Twin Spell Heal, Twin Spell Greater Restoration, Twin Spell Revivify

Aid spell (especially in higher level slots) is one of the most unappreciated spells out there.

Joining my first campaign as a cleric this week, this video (and subsequently, your series in general) has been so helpful. Thanks so much my dudes 🤙

i feel like celestial warlock and divine soul sorcerer got missed out in this vid, they can pack a punch and heal due to having cleric and og class spells available

Grave Domain Cleric is also a really good healer if you want to look at it from the perspective of "No one in the party is going to die before I do" and "I'm going to debuff the enemy so that my allies can have an easier time". 1st level has the class feat "Circle of Mortality" which says any healing done to a creature at 0 hp, automatically uses the highest value. In addition, you get spare the dying for free and can cast it as a bonus action with a range of 30 feet. Domain spells you get are 1st: Bane, False Life 3rd: Gentle Repose, Ray of Enfeeblement 5th: Revivify, Vampiric Touch 7th: Blight, Death Ward 9th: Antilife Shell, Raise Dead A few options in the domain spells for dealing with enemies or ensuring that your allies can't die (like I said, not so much gonna keep the party topped up but no one is dying before the grave cleric does without their say so). Channel Divinity: Path to the Grave (A.K.A. Rogue's best friend) Choose a creature, until the end of your next turn, next time you or an ally attacks said creature, that creature is vulnerable to *ALL* of the damage from that attack, then the curse ends. Y'all were saying that being a healer you need to be able to contribute to the fight, I'd challenge you to find a better way for a healer to contribute some damage than giving your rogue or double smite stacking paladin double their damage rolled for free (The channel divinity has *NO* saving throw attached to it, it just happens when you say so) 6th level: Sentinel at Death's Door - As a reaction, if you or a creature within 30 feet of you gets crit, you can say nope, and turn it into a normal hit, also cancelling any effects triggered on a critical hit, a number of times equal to your wisdom modifier. 8th level: Potent spellcasting - Wisdom modifier for cleric cantrip damage. 17th level: Keeper of souls - When a creature dies within 60 feet of you, you or a creature within 60 feet of you regains hp equal to the dead creatures hit dice. Once used, can't be used until the start of your next turn (also note that it doesn't take a reaction, again, according to the ability it just happens when you say so). Grave Domain might not have been made to be the most amazing healer ever, but given the number of ways you can say no to death, reduce enemy damage output, add your own damage to the encounter, and still be able to pick up your generic healing spells if you want to, I'd say that the Grave Domain is a great choice to be the parties healer.

Just a note: Prayer of Healing has a 10 minute casting time, not 1 minute!

My cleric's approach to healing is "they can't hurt you if they're dead!" as he's surrounded by spirit guardians/weapon, and casting inflict wounds.

Doing the raw math the best healer in the game is still the life cleric, but the divine soul sorcerer is 2nd. Hell Id even say divine soul sorcerer is the bet support class in the game. Imagine not only polymorphing the dying fighter BUT also the dying paladin

I wish my Tomb of Annihilation group would listen to this advice.

I honestly would place the Divine Soul Sorcerer above the Druid as far as healers go. You get all the utility/buff spells from two of the largest spell lists in the game as well as access to 95% of the best healing spells. For my favorite healer build I prefer Life Cleric 2/ Divine Soul Sorcerer 18. Great armor, expansive spell choices, and lots of metamagic goodness.

Playing a Cleric in Out of the Abyss tomorrow, perfect timing

I love the middle names you dudes get every episode. it makes me smile. thanks :)

Just started playing a divine soul sorcerer recently. Excited to play around with a clerics spells on a sorcerers chassis!

Just so you know, I'm stealing your triage nurse metaphor

I put off watching this video, but it's truly a go-to any healing character would be well-served watching.

Just what I was looking for! About to start a life cleric, and this was very helpful. Nice job guys!

I was just about to make a cleric too! just found your channel and it's amazing! thanks for all the videos!!

Summon Animals: "You summon fey spirits that take the form of beasts ... " fey creatures, not animals, and upon "death" they just return to their realm, so not really "undruidy" :)

a few things, Greater Restoration can remove a curse as well, the Inspiring Leader feat gives temp hp equal to your lvl + Cha modifier and requires a 13 in Cha before to can take it

Man it’s like you guys always know what vid I need! Trying to create a Divine Soul Eladrin Sorcerer (innate Fey magic, flashes brief colors when calling on different emotions for spells) and struggling with the balance of cleric heals / sorcerer damage. Thanks for helping to clarify some of the different healing spells to help prioritize and make some decisions! Off to watch your Sorcerer vid again too!

Wow! Great video! Starting a new campaign and this was very timely since we don't have a dedicated healer- gave me lots of ideas~ thanks for the wonderful content guys!

Mass cure wounds is level 5 Mass healing word is level 3 and does 1d4+ability mod

I am quite enjoying college of glamour bard for healing my party, especially at lower levels. Mantle of inspiration's temporary hit points has saved my party quite a few times as a mere bonus action (plus gives me the chance to roleplay my main action to be so magnificent, it saves the day). Also the chance for people to also use their reaction to relocate if they're in a bad position can be spectacular. Add the Mantle of Majesty's use of command to the spells for preventing an enemy dealing damage and you get situations where you can crowd-control your way to victory. You know you're living the bard life when you healing word an ally up, then pose so dramatically that the whole party are inspired to move with renewed vigour...

As always great video though guys. You're almost at your 100K mark and you got there pretty freaking quick

You guys are awesome. I’m building a Harengon Druid Healer right now. Thank you for all the ideas!

ayy just when I was looking for something to watch, perfect timing

L1 life cleric by family demands leaving the church to be a wandering musician.

so one of the best thing about having seen dungeons of drakkenheim is getting all the references in your other vids

Awesome video. I was thinking a few weeks ago on not only how to become a dedicated healer, but also the challenge of not doing any damage in battles yet still become an effective contributor to the party.

I've used a Combat Medic build that is basically a human variant FIghter: Battle Master [ranged weapon] with the Hermit background, the Rally, Maneuvering Attack & Pushing Attack Maneuvers, a Healer's Kit and the Healer feat. They can get someone out of taking death saving throws with one hit point gains from their healing kit, decent once per long rest heals per use of Healer's Kit, Rally can bolster with a few extra temporary hit points, they can brew healing potions & antivenom, and use Pushing Attack to knock enemies which are in adjacent squares away from fallen allies to stave off double-fails on death-saving throws, or allow them to book it with Maneuvering Attack.

I started playing a Divine Soul Sorcerer some months ago, who then took levels in Celestial Warlock for story reasons. They’re actually a really nice healer and blaster caster combo, I’ve found. My planned 14/6 split lets me get 7th/3rd level spells, which should cover pretty much every healing spell I’ll need, and I’ll have 7d6 Healing Light die to spend too. It’s a really unconventional build, but after this vid I think I can pick up Inspiring Leader to really help out, after I get CHA to 20. I also think this particular build is the weirdest wizard, considering they started with Ritual Caster and are kinda nerdy.

I like your look on preventive healer. Actually love support or heals chas myself, and often found myself in many clutch moments where I felt like my slots get used quite fast. So this has been pretty useful for me. :)

You guys are awesome! My druid just levelled up and this has given me a lot to think about. With a party of 10 I think we have a lot covered, but our fighter did almost die a little while ago so lots to consider. 😄

Life Transference from Xanathar's is an amazing spell for lots of healing. The Cleric can take it, but also surprisingly the wizard can take it as well. You take 4d8 necrotic damage but heal someone for double what you did to yourself. While that may seem like a drawback and it definitely is, but mostly back-line spellcasters will have this. It heals for 8-48 with an average of 32 which is a lot for only a third level spell. Additionally if you are a life cleric you add the extra heals and with the level 6 ability you heal yourself as well. My players have pulled this out in some dire situations and have turned combats 180 with a spell like this, great spell !

Grave Cleric = Best Cleric. Sentinel at Deaths Door. 'Nuff Said.

Great video! I haven’t played a healer in D&D but I do play a Healer at my local Live Action Role Play (larp) and very early on it was a struggle because I couldn’t get the numbers out. Now mid way through progression I’ve tapped into more crowd control and buff spells and boy does it make a difference. You guys nailed it, it’s not necessarily about healing big numbers but it’s also about support and DAMAGE MITIGATION!

You have given me at many great ideas the how wet turn feel party's attitude around tree regarding the "healer"

Best way to heal is to just play a barbarian so the healing potions last longer

How to have the party always have a healer: make a healer NPC for a campaign or one shot that betrays them in the end. That way players will subconsciously lean towards healing within the party as opposed to relying on an NPC the GM has them tag along with

You guys rock. My favorite D&D channel!!.

100% agree with your healing theory. As a US Army combat medic: often times the best battlefield medicine in more bullets.

I played AD&D back in the late "70s, early "80s. I am finding it fascinating on how the game has evolved. We did play one campaign were one of two clerics was a dedicated healer. She made it clear at the beginning that is what she wanted. She played her character well, rarely engaged in combat, but instead kept the party healed and protected, using spells proactively. She definitely was a fun asset to the party.

For the inefficiency one, I would like to point out that attacks can miss, healing spells can't

I am learning tons from Dungeon Dudes about how to play this game intelligently. You are clear on your own stances but you also provide discussions amongst yourselves enough that the viewers never gets the pigeonholed version. Quality approved!

Thanks for this video! So useful as I'm about to play a cleric for the first time in a week! I'm playing an arcana cantrip monkey cleric :'D This was really useful for me to try to figure out how to play a cleric

I always love being the healer/support teammate. Bard and Cleric were pretty much my calling. :)

Will we be seeing a video for tanks in the future? I know that you can't tank traditionally like in a MMORPG, but it could make a good video.

Thank you for making these guides, Dudes :D

thank you so much for this advises, I am a newbie and I'm starting with a light domain cleric (that's for my lore) and I'm running out too fast of healing spells, but it's good to see that I can do even more with all of the spells I have. We have a paladin too, and he takes all the damage he can and I'm trying to find ways to stop or reduce the amout of damage the monsters or enemies can do to us, but didn't think about protecting them before the battles, and thanks to you I can see so much more posibilities, 'cuz, as you say, I don't have to heal someone that doesn't have recieve damage at all. Well, now I'll talk with the other party members to help me help them, we are: a paladin, a warlock, a fighter, a monk, a wizard, a ranger, an NPC barbarian, and me, a cleric. We used to have other 2 rangers but they left. Well, thank you so much for open my eyes to see this :)

You guys should do in depth videos on the sub archetypes of each class. Like hexblade warlocks etc it would be very helpful and provide you with plenty of videos

One thing you have to think about when playing a celestial warlock as a healer is that cure wounds is actually really good cause you heal extra hit points when you upcast.

I'm playing party healer, but, for the first time i'm not doing it as a cleric. Most of this video talks about things that I'm already doing. I'm glad I'm doing it correctly. There were also a few new ideas for me, too. Looking at you Polymorph and Inspiring Leader. Great video, guys. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for the video. It was really helpful.

Super beneficial for me to learn this stuff. I'm already playing the life cleric. I just didn't know how to optimize. Thank you! 😊

IMO, Healing word has 2 primary functions for 2 completely different types of builds: 1. Dedicated healer - it's an 'oh crap I can't get to him this turn' way of saving someone and/or hopefully buffering their HP to keep them up (much like what you guys mentioned - primarily for raising someone) 2. Non-Dedicated healer - It's a great way to self-heal or provide backup healing for those that tend to be using their actions for dealing damage/control/etc. but still want to be able to reach everyone on the field with the occasional heal, or hit themselves with it (like a mediocre lay on hands). I know that every character I build with access to it takes it, because it's too good of an 'oh crap' spell.

Great video, thanks for all the insight!

Thank you for those tips and thoughts on how to improve my gameplay. A thankful Tiefling Trickery Cleric

i play a first level life domain cleric and rest divine soul sorcerer. gives alot flexibility and casting cure wounds at 30 ft is always nice

In my group, we call healing spirit the Conga Line of Healing

I'm a rogue thief with the healer feat in my main campaign, so some recognition for the feat is much appreciated. Being able to stab a fool on a main action while healing as a bonus action (using a healing kit is using an item so a thief can do it in a bonus action) feels extremely good

This video has been amazing advice for my shepard druid in OOTA. I play a deep gnome who uses pebbles to cast spells and all my summons are piles of pebbles. I focus healing specials and strategies that you have given me and allowing our paladin to heal himself or cure madness. We have been flying through the camapign successfully. You guys help me make my all time favorite character. Thank you dudes

Life Cleric 1/Dream or Shepherd Druid 3. Or Life Cleric 1/Lore Bard that takes Goodberry and Healing Spirit. Grabbing the feats Healer and Inspiring Leader for extra healing.

Healers in video games and similar: You get healed! You get healed! You get healed! Everybody gets healed! Healers in 5e: Here's a vaccine so you don't die.

I'm happy that I talked with my healer before our campaign started. I play a wizard and we talked that I will take whatever group survivibility spells I have access to so our cleric can also cast a good chunk of their spell slots as blasty damage

Thank you for mentioning the MMO play style. I am running into that outlook all the time up here. Many simply do not understand why D&D is not more like their MMO... like really.

Ha! Meanwhile I'm playing a paladin of redemption taking damage for my party (mostly for our squishy elven bard) and then heal myself. Usually the bard and my paladin team up to heal the entire party.

The Healer Feat gets no love.

I'm playing a mountain dwarf forge cleric with wisdom being my 4th lowest stat. STR and CON were boosted above it from racial and I put the one 18 I rolled into CHR. We play with a bonus 1st level feat, which I choose to be Inspiring Leader (thus the high CHR) and I have been casting Aid before every adventure. I managed to get Adamantine Plate and by dipping 1 level into fighter for the Defensive Fighting Style, I have a 24 AC at level 7. I'm giving our front line fighters and our rogue 11 temp hps plus the 10 from Aid, while the others still get the 11 from Inspiring Leader. I have rarely cast Cure Wounds in combat, instead using spell slots for Spiritual Weapon or Spiritual Guardians. The proactive approach has been doing wonders for our party going through Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Great video guys - keep the wonderful advice coming.

This is a really helpful video. Thanks. :)

There's supposed to be a way to help other party members heal using the Medicine skill, but those mechanics aren't really called out in the PHB. Strangely, it's clearer how a poisoned or diseased character can recover on their own (the Recuperating Downtime activity) than how the Medicine skill might at least give Advantage on Constitution saves against disease or long-term poison. Can it be done as part of a short rest? A long rest? What's the DC for the Medicine check? Can Medicine ever help with spending hit die on a rest? How? Not saying the skill is useless, just pointing out that the mechanic needs to be defined if non-magical heals are going to be used. I came across this while theorycrafting how to make a somewhat effective Healer just using a background. Acolyte, Soldier, or Hermit with the Medicine skill, buy a healer's kit, proficiency with Herbalism and buy the Herbalism kit. You should be able at that point to stabilize a dying character withou a roll, diagnose disease or poisoning (discuss mechanics with DM) at advantage, help treat and give advantage on saves against poison or disease, have advantage to treat a limited set of wounds that keep damaging every turn without a Medicine check, and brew a steady stream of half-priced potions of healing for the Party. That might be enough to help get the party to 4th level and then take the Healer feat. It certainly doesn't hurt.

I cast Aid after every long rest.

Good video to prep me for my first ever cleric. This Fairy is going places!

Long time viewer, first time commenter. Love your videos on 5e, I look forward to them every week. Im usually DMing 5e, and its gotten to the point where I almost want to assign your videos as homework for my group! I am getting a chance to play a druid in a game right now though, and I have to echo what y'all said about Healing Spirit. Ive only used it twice, but both times it was to heal my party when we did not have access to a short rest! Sooo clutch in those moments!