I have a 2nd level wizard in D&D 5th ed. Looking through the spell lists I can't find any healing spells that a wizard is allowed. There are healing spells in the full list but they are not in the allowed list for a wizard. Am I missing something?
[RPG] Are there really no healing spells available to a wizard
dnd-5ehealingspellswizard
Related Solutions
The vigor spell line in Complete Divine and Spell Compendium is your go-to in 3.5. The line consists of:
- the 1st-level lesser vigor for Fast Healing 1
- the 3rd-level vigor for Fast Healing 2
- the 5th-level greater vigor for Fast Healing 4
They each last 10 rounds (one minute) plus a number of rounds equal to your Caster Level. There are also the 3rd-level mass lesser vigor and 6th-level vigorous circle for group healing, with Fast Healing 1 and 3 respectively.
Lesser vigor, in particular, is a 1st-level spell that is the most efficient HP-by-spell-level option in the game, healing 11 HP at CL 1. Therefore, wands of lesser vigor are pretty standard adventuring gear for folks “in the know:” it’s the most HP for your gold piece you can get.
In Pathfinder, the 1st-level infernal healing spell is nearly equivalent to lesser vigor (it lasts only one minute, rather than one minute plus CL rounds). However, strangely enough, it is [Evil]; this makes it harder to use as “standard adventuring gear,” but for healers who don’t mind the alignment issue, it’s still the best option. There is a celestial healing spell that is [Good], but it has a massively-reduced duration that makes it basically worthless. There is also a greater infernal healing and a greater celestial healing which work like greater vigor (Fast Healing 4), but are 4th-level instead of 5th-level. There are no group-healing options among celestial/infernal healing spells.
The difference in duration means that a wand of greater vigor is more cost-effective than a wand of greater infernal healing, but it costs more up-front, requires a higher-level crafter, and takes longer to heal. The point is largely moot as lesser vigor and infernal healing are both much superior in that regard, though. The duration on both celestial healing and greater celestial healing makes them worthless.
And then there is song of healing for bards, which grants fast healing 2 as a 4th-level spell to up to 3 targets. Considering it costs a 4th-level spell slot and only works in conjunction with a bardic performance, you would be better off just leveraging your Charisma to Use Magic Device some wands of lesser vigor.
Better, but still not good, are the 2nd-level path of glory and its 4th-level greater version. Both let you pick 4 squares when you cast, and add 4 more squares each time you use a swift action to expand it. Allies that end their turn in these squares heal 1 hp (or 5 hp for the greater version). So that works out to 1 (5) hp/round for at least four people, and potentially a lot more. In the best case scenario, this heals 4 (20) hp in the first round, then 8 (40), then 12 (60), and so on. At higher caster levels, that can be enormous—but it’s spread out among many allies. For a party of four, a minimum-CL 3rd path of glory heals 12 hp—that’s 2 hp more than infernal healing, for 6× the cost. Greater path of glory can’t even be gotten in a wand, and a minimum CL 7th scroll of greater path of glory costs almost as much as an entire wand of infernal healing. Best case scenario, it does heal 140 hp—but that’s still a rate of 0.2 hp/gp, where a wand of infernal healing has a rate of 0.73 hp/gp. And that’s if your entire party is hurt, and hurt badly enough to use the full healing.
Path of glory does have a synergy with the celestial totem rage power, which a skald can give to the entire party. A skald also casts bard spells, which path of glory is, so that’s convenient. Healing CL+1 hp/round instead of 1 hp/round is a big deal when you can put it on the whole party. However, the only reason this works is because path of glory isn’t technically “fast healing”—if it were, celestial totem wouldn’t work, because that rage power specifically blocks fast healing for exactly this reason. I imagine many GMs would therefore nix this combo.
Tributes and Legacies for Characters in Olde Greyhawk
I find it hard to understand how a convention like this could come about,
Background on Named Spells
Named spells were first published in books in 1e AD&D.
The original spell list published in Men and Magic (1974, OD&D, TSR, p. 21) had no named spells. All spells titles were descriptive: Sleep, Water Breathing, Pass-Wall, Contact Higher Plane, etc. Greyhawk added 7th through 9th level spells, but named spells were absent even though other spells were being developed / researched / play tested or otherwise tried out. It is worth noting that in the game's formative years, classes, spells, and items were in a state of continual development.
The rules for Magical Spell research were included in page 34 of Men and Magic. Anyone could create a new spell via this means if the time, gold, and effort were put into it. (Balancing new spells was left to a given DM ...)
How did these names spells get into the book? The simple answer is that Gary Gygax played or played with the characters in question before AD&D 1e was published.
The history of Bigby and Mordenkainen or Drawmij you can read on Wikipedia, in interviews with Gary Gygax, or in back issues of Dragon magazine. You will note that not all of the spells attributed to these characters made it into published material.
Why did they choose to name the spells after themselves?
In game, those wizards were on the Council of Eight, the most famous wizards in the Greyhawk campaign setting. In character, it makes role-playing sense that fame and ego could combine to induce those wizards to name spells that they developed after themselves.
OOC, it makes sense that Gary Gygax assigned those names as a tribute to the characters. It is far more likely that the OOC justification is what led to the names.
Example #1: (From the Greyhawk tribute link).
Nystul's Magic Aura. Per Gary Gygax on Dragonsfoot: "Nystul is the surname of a stage magician, Brad Nystul, who suggested the magical aura spell to me. The brothers Mike and ? Nystul played in Len Lakofka's Lendore Island campaign"
Example #2:
How Drawmij's Instant Summons got named and developed. Less rigor than the magical research rules would require was behind it.
By Ward's own account, the spell originated during a session in Gygax's original Greyhawk campaign during which the players were stranded in a dungeon; Ward's character owned a magical item which would have rescued the party, but had left it in an inn before setting out. Ward remarked to Gygax that wizards should have access to a spell which allowed them to recall any item in their possession to their hand; Gygax promptly devised instant summons, which did exactly that.
Example #3: Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer
Rary was a low-level wizard created by Brian Blume and played only until he reached 3rd-level, at which point Blume retired him, having reached his objective, which was to be able to introduce his character as "Medium Rary". Gygax borrowed the name for the spells Rary's Mnemonic Enhancer and Rary's Telepathic Bond. Ironically, the original Rary was never powerful enough to cast either of "his" spells.
Since you ask "what is the in game justification" the answer is either:
- There isn't one (most likely)
or
- The most famous magicians in the World of Greyhawk had big enough egos to want their uniquely researched and developed spells to carry their name forward, as a legacy, long after they were dead. (plausible)
But no wizard would share magical secrets!
I find it hard to understand how a convention like this could come about, considering how stingy Wizards are about sharing spells.
That assumption is not universally applied by all players, and apparently wasn't applied in the Circle of Eight.
it would break the game and make the character overpowered
You might want to show your work in supporting that statement. The wizard is still limited by how many spells he can carry with him, and the chance that his books could be stolen or destroyed.
As to why Gygax chose name spells for his own characters, it appears to be a tribute to a major influence on OD&D wizard magic system: Jack Vance. See a spell called Phandal’s Mantle of Stealth in his story -Turjan of Miir
Best Answer
No, you're not missing anything. Wizards have never had healing abilities in this edition.*
Lacking any more concrete designer reason for this, here's a quote from the DMG (page 283), under the "Creating a Spell" heading:
So, if you want to use healing spells, go for any of the classes with those in their spell list: Bard, Druid, Ranger, Paladin, Cleric, or Artificer. If you want to play a spellcaster that can also heal, there are a number of options available to you, you could multiclass into the above until you get some healing spells (though that would make you "MAD" - Multiple Ability Dependent), you could play a Divine Soul Sorcerer, or you could play a Celestial Warlock.
* so far