Leonine Roar

Much like a good backup weapon, it’s important to have some backup healing up your sleeve that goes beyond the obvious abilities, magic items and party healer. 

Here’s a selection of some of the best skill powers in the game to help you with just that.  This article focuses on skill powers for backup healing because every single character potentially has access to them, regardless of class or race, just by training in them via class skill list or background selections.

Training in either Endurance and Heal is already a natural advantage when it comes to things like surviving harsh elements, weathering and treating the ravages of disease, and getting your fallen allies up and right back into the fray.

Want to further enhance your and your party’s toughness and healing reserves?  Choose one or more of these excellent skill powers:

Endurance Skill Powers

Third Wind may be the best backup healing skill power of them all and is my personal favorite – especially for my revenant avenger!  Third Wind brings a Second Wind-style feel to it, including the ability for others to have you spend the healing surge without it costing you your action, very much like the Heal skill’s First Aid: Grand Second Wind feature. 

It really is like having a backup second wind with you, and that’s a lifesaver if you drop and drop twice in those especially tough combats we all have once in a while.  Excellent for high-challenge encounters and campaigns where the dying condition starts becoming your best friend quickly.  

Invigorating Presence enhances your second wind, so while it isn’t technically backup healing, it does essentially inject a bunch of free potions of vigor into all of your comrades’ bloodstream due to your indisputable greatness.  I’ve played a dragonborn bard in a 4e Forgotten Realms game, and am playing in a Nentir Vale campaign alongside a half-elf bard now, so temporary hit points are something I value.

Reactive Surge may not be fancy, but it is straightforward and helpful healing once you take a shot that really hurts.  Think of it like having something like your second wind available both off-turn (at a pretty opportune time) and on your turn – except that it nicely doesn’t cost you your second wind.

Heal Skill Powers

Physician’s Care is right up there with Third Wind as far as its usefulness, and some would argue even more so, since you playing doctor is an encounter power.  Not as dramatic as Third Wind, but certainly extremely versatile.  I see PCs in all my playgroups, of a wide variety of roles and classes, grab this one. 

Healer’s Gift, on the other hand, has more of that potential Third Wind drama while otherwise being similar to Physician’s Care.  Once again, another option to get your comrade out of that rather unhealthy dying state.

Swift Recovery and Time Out borrow a page from Invigorating Presence, enhancing second wind in some way, though they only function on allies and thus aren’t as versatile as Physician’s Care or Healer’s Gift.  Still, one of your friends spending no action to use their second wind or having it restored is essentially faster or deeper stores of healing.

Finally, Miraculous Treatment is one of those rare abilities where you regain hit points as if you spent a healing surge.  Once again, you’re only able to look out for your buddies on this one.  Still, it’s surge-free and surge-strength healing, and that’s huge.

Your Backup Heals

Which of the above skill powers are already some of your backup healing all-stars?  Are there any others that are reasonably close in style and make your A-list?

Further Reading

Looking for more?  Be sure to stay tuned to this series for an upcoming deeper dive on the best non-consumable magic items as backup healing options. 

Until then, you’ll find some handy consumables that heal or just plain help any adventuring party in The Big 3 Potions.  You’ll also find additional simple magic items that make adventurers’ travels and everyday lives easier in Treasure, Wish Lists and Low-Level Magic Items.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Design, Mechanics & Efficiencies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.