Topic: Healers & Lay Healers as Fun PCs

[sunwolf]

General inquiry for any version of RM
Have you ever had a PC (not NPC) Healer or Lay Healer as your character or in a game you ran, and how did you make them fun to play since they have so much of their capabilities wrapped up in Healing?

[Sable Wyvern]

RMSS Healers have absurdly cheap Body Development, excellent Self Control costs and, as hybrids, access to a very wide range of spells beyond their base lists. RM2 healers are similar although, as I recall, they're pure Channeling, so they don't have access to Open and Closed Mentalism.

I had a healer in my current game who dropped a decent number of talent points into also being a solid second-line combatant with a polearm. They were originally looking to add in a bunch of athletic and self-control skills, but in the end went with a wide range of Open and Closed lists instead, making themselves extremely mobile and versatile.

Keeping six base lists maxed out is no great DP expense for any pure or hybrid spell user; there should be enough DP left over to take a character in any direction the player wants.

[Athelstaine]

I had a player in a previous game play a healer, with the majority of his backgrounds/talents in combat stuff. He played the character like it was an immortal from the Highlander tv series/movies. All things aside, I was surprised at how viable he was in combat, so much so I made one in a different gm's game. It was fun.

[Sable Wyvern]

I had a player in a previous game play a healer, with the majority of his backgrounds/talents in combat stuff. He played the character like it was an immortal from the Highlander tv series/movies. All things aside, I was surprised at how viable he was in combat, so much so I made one in a different gm's game. It was fun.

Good body development, instantaneous stun removal and subconscious healing of bleeding go a long way towards keeping you chugging along a good while in combat.

[Ecthelion]

I have played both a Lay Healer and a Healer with RMSS rules. Beregond, the Lay Healer, was a lot of fun to play. With good OB, good hit points and a chain armor he was always a capable front line fighter. And on top of this come his healing and general spell casting abilities. Narvonil, the healer, was also fun to play, but not so much as the Lay Healer. The reason probably is that he was not really good at anything but healing. I invested into combat skills and he could stand in the front line, but he could not do much more than parry, except against very weak opponents.

Since IMO both professions don't have good offensive spells at their disposal and I personally don't like to stand aside with my characters during combat, only waiting for another character to get wounded, I'd suggest to invest into the combat-related skills for a healer, so that he can participate in combat. The Lay Healer IMO is a very good choice for such a character build.

[Peter R]

The Lay Healer is one of my favourite professions and I am playing one now.

The channeling healer is VERY healing-centric as the channeling closed lists are all healing and their base lists are also all healing. The lay healer by contrast has interesting and varied open and closed lists and then healing base lists.

My lay healer uses a spear as it is a hugely flexible weapon being similar to just about everything. I didn't start with any armour skills and told the party I was a healer so they were more than willing to protect me. As I have been leveling up I have been training in plate armour. At 4th level I am a fully active member of the team. My adrenal moves Strength and Speed give me a range of attacks. I fight from the second rank using the reach of the spear. The group appreciate the healing and in a few more levels I will get my first few attacking spells. I am nearly trained enough to wear AT17 breast plate.

In a different game the entire party were told they had to be healers. The game was based around a mission sent  from a monastry to take a plague cure to a nearby city. In the first encounter our entire escort was wiped out so we were on our own. It was a great mini campaign and it was interesting to see all the different takes on a healer.

[Hurin]

I've built a few healers over the years, always as NPC healers for the party, but always too with an eye to making them fun to play.

I think healers are even more viable in RMU, for the most part. The main improvements that RMU offers (over RM2) are:
--Spells: Healers have many more powerpoints available for spells and can cast spells of their own level or below without preparation, which makes a healer much more fun to play: there are far fewer rounds spent doing nothing but spell preparation, and many more rounds in which you can cast spells.
--Weapon Costs: In RMU, both Healers and Lay Healers can now actually afford to buy two ranks per level in a weapon. The weapon skill costs have been reduced from 9/20 or 8/20 to 5/7 and 6/8, which makes a Healer/Lay Healer a much more viable combatant. Really, you could take two ranks/level in a melee weapon, use spells for your ranged combat, and be a very capable combatant altogether.

The only downer for healers in RMU is the Footwork skill, which costs so much for healers (9/12 originally, though I think down to 7/10 now) that it means you really can't move at all in combat without taking significant penalties, and thus really cripples any attempts to make a healer a viable melee combatant in RMU. This is the main reason we have just removed the Footwork skill altogether from our RMU games.

[Voriig Kye]

I have played Healers and Lay Healers for some adventures, and I have a player who chooses Healer every other campaign.

Lay Healers are good in chain armor, and can do many interesting things with Mentalism closed lists. Mine was very focused on Telekinesis, even attacking with Hurling. Gas Manipulation was also useful.

With Healers, the trick is to focus on non-healing skills, since you can always heal with spells. I had an elven healer who specialized in lores of all kinds, he always "had read a book about...".
To compensate the PPs sink of transferring, we tend to buy the Spatial Skills talent so Healers can cast on others by touch.
My player had a healer who was an expert martial artist (using Combat Companion, which makes every profession good fun during combats), and another one was a pacifist chemist.

Healer spell options are better in RMFRP than in RMC since they are Mentalism hybrids.

[Hurin]

My player had a healer who was an expert martial artist (using Combat Companion, which makes every profession good fun during combats), and another one was a pacifist chemist.

Just an aside: did you mean the Arms Companion? I think I have every ICE book ever, and can't find any Combat Companion; or is it an ERA module?

Cheers

[Peter R]

Combat Companion is a RMC companion.

[Hurin]

Ah, thanks Peter!

[Voriig Kye]

Just an aside: did you mean the Arms Companion? I think I have every ICE book ever, and can't find any Combat Companion; or is it an ERA module?

It's both!

This is an excellent book. Even if you play RMFRP, there are a lot of ideas that apply.
My players love this book so much, it is the most common complain during the RMU playtest, the lack of combat styles.

Since most of those who have it can't live without it, and ICE is no longer able to offer it, I got permission to include the content into a special ERA module we released a while back.

[Hurin]

Cool, thanks for the lowdown. I would like to see a version of the combat styles in RMU too! They sound interesting.

[Nightblade42]

Cool, thanks for the lowdown. I would like to see a version of the combat styles in RMU too! They sound interesting.

I find they're great for fleshing out cultures.  If each of the cultures on your world has their own combat style(s); then those cultures are even more unique.  That's why I've always been a huge fan of Arms/Combat Companion.

Nightblade ->--