[RPG] Roles remaining for a cleric who dislikes healing

clericdnd-5ehealing

In an upcoming D&D 5e campaign I'm considering playing a life cleric to 10th level with a group of four other players. We haven't been told the campaign we're playing and I don't yet know the other player's choice of characters and classes.

As an interesting role playing experience I'm considering playing a life cleric gnome whose flaw is they have become fed up with everyone asking for the smallest of heals, and abusing their divinities gifts – therefore the character only intends to heal those who they feel really need/deserve it.

I'm proposing a rule that my character will only heal party members who are below 1/2 health (open to change) or in desperate need; however, I do not intend to be enforcing this rule stubbornly and without reason. An example of this role playing from the character will be: "scratched your arm, aye? Shrug it off". This will hopefully prevent the character becoming a walking ambulance.

I'm fairly confident both the DM and fellow players will be accepting of this rule and trait, however, I'm concerned it may cause the character to become under-powered as the campaign progresses. This is because the only other role I can envision a life cleric fulfilling is a tank, and I don't believe a gnome would achieve that very effectively.

I would like to know what paths/roles are available to maintain the character is mechanically potent/useful while maintaining an adverseness to continuous healing.

Best Answer

A little background, I have only played Clerics that use Healing Word if a PC is at 0 HP. Not at 0? No heals for you. So I know your character concept is viable.

Avoid damage, instead of healing it

A Cleric is well-equipped to fill a number of combat roles. It depends on spell selection, and the concentration game (i.e. what spell should I be concentrating on at this very moment?). Below are some roles you can fill rather than being the "healer"1.

Support

Avoid damage by buffing your allies. A well-placed Protection from X, is an efficient way to spend your spell slots instead of healing. Bless, Shield of Faith, and a whole list of "buff" spells are available to the Cleric pretty early on, so grab those and start mitigating the damage done to your allies.2

Controller

Avoid damage by preventing the opponent from dealing it. You can go about this two ways, you can either:

  1. Debuff your enemies with spells like Blindness/Deafness and Bane. These spells won't prevent the enemy from attacking, but they'll help in them not hitting, which is what really matters.
  2. Divide your enemies and prevent their Actions. When faced with 5 Bugbears, wouldn't you rather face 4 instead? Spells like Command, Hold X, and other "crowd control" spells are invaluable in dividing the number of enemies into more manageable levels, plus you get them at early levels.

1 Which, by the way, is a really inefficient way to spend your spell slots. In DnD, you do not want to act like the healers in World of Warcraft who stand around and heal the tank when he takes damage.
2 For more reading on spell selection, combat roles, and support, I suggest you read: Treantmonk's guide to wizards 5e. It talks about the Wizard class, but as a support role, so the general idea for your character concept is there.