CHANNELED DIVINE HEALTH
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 4
A weird spell, obviously intended to be used offensively and defensively. The problem is it takes up to two rounds to really get rocking, and when you do it only does 4d8+CL (Max 20). When I ran the figures, there was no way to really turn this spell around, so, if you are looking to heal yourself or others, this spell doesn’t make the cut. It has other uses, but not for the criteria of this spell analysis.
CLOSE WOUNDS
- MINIATURES HANDBOOK (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 2, Healer 3
The healing of this spell is pathetic, what makes the spell come alive is the casting time, Immediate, and the range, close. You can stop someone from dying if they drop to -10. Technically there is no damage below -10, so if someone dies from hp damage, you can save them as an immediate action and technically they never died. What really makes this spell stand out is that it qualifies for chain. As a 5th level spell, you max out the healing at 1d4+5, but the healing amount is irrelevant. It’s the immediate chain heal to all your allies that matters.
CONDUIT OF LIFE
- COMPLETE CHAMPION (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 2, Paladin 2
Another spell that doesn’t make the cut, the problem is that the spell requires that you get hit with ANOTHER spell before it’s triggered. Yes, the healing is superior to cure moderate wounds, the range of personal means you can’t put it in a wand or potion, so if you are going to put it on a scroll, just memorize it.
CURE CRITICAL WOUNDS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Adept 4, Apostle of Peace 4, Bard 4, Beloved of Valarian 4, Blackguard 4, Cleric 4, Druid 5, Emissary of Barachiel 4, Healer 4, Healing Domain 4, Hunter of the Dead 4, Kitsu School 4, Knight of the Weave 5, Order of the Gentle Rain 4, Runescarred Berserker 3, Shaman 4, Shugenja 4, Soldier of Light (3.0) 4
Oh Drool. Runescarred Berserker casts this spell at level 3! So you can just… wait. What do you mean he doesn’t actually cast the spell, just puts it into a scar in his skin? It specifically says you can’t cast the spell in any other fashion? Dimmit! Dimmit to heck!
CURE CRITICAL WOUNDS, MASS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 8, Cleric 8, Druid 9, Healer 7, Healing Domain 8
If you are getting your scrolls scribed, make sure it’s by a healer instead of a cleric. Much cheaper.
CURE LIGHT WOUNDS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Adept 1, Apostle of Peace 1, Bard 1, Beloved of Valarian 1, Blackguard 1, Bone Collector (3.0) 1, Champion of Gwynharwyf 1, Cleric 1, Druid 1, Emissary of Barachiel 1, Healer 1, Healing Domain 1, Hunter of the Dead 1, Kitsu School 1, Knight of the Middle Circle 1, Knight of the Weave 1, Merchant Prince 2, Nentyar Hunter 1, Order of the Gentle Rain 1, Paladin 1, Ranger 2, Shaman 1, Shugenja 1, Soldier of Light (3.0) 1
Ah, cure light wounds. The spell that is cast on more first level fighters then any other. When someone asks, ‘hlz plz k thx b’ This is the spell that you want to turn into cause light wounds because you are more then just a walking first aid station. It’s also what you use for mending the bleeding, or when you run out of everything else, you might have just one more CLW. In a wand, it’s one of the cheapest gold to heal magic items out there. Alas, there is little reason to put metamagic feats on it. An empowered CLW is outshined by cure serious wounds. A maximized CLW is outshined by Cure Critical Wounds. It has it’s place, but, alas, it receives no metamagic love.
CURE LIGHT WOUNDS, MASS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 5, Bard 5, Cleric 5, Druid 6, Elysium Domain 5, Healer 4, Healing Domain 5, Shugenja 5
Good spell. Heals your friends, hurts the undead. If you are going to have it scribed on a scroll, make sure a healer does it.
CURE MODERATE WOUNDS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Adept 2, Apostle of Peace 2, Bard 2, Beloved of Valarian 2, Blackguard 2, Champion of Gwynharwyf 3, Cleric 2, Druid 3, Emissary of Barachiel 2, Healer 2, Healing Domain 2, Hunter of the Dead 2, Knight of the Middle Circle 3, Knight of the Weave 3, Nentyar Hunter 2, Paladin 3, Ranger 3, Runescarred Berserker 1, Shade Hunter 2, Shaman 2, Shugenja 2, Soldier of Light (3.0) 2
Mutter mutter mutter … runescarred berserker … mutter mutter…
CURE MODERATE WOUNDS, MASS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 6, Bard 6, Cleric 6, Druid 7, Healer 5
Again, Healer scribes the scroll for the win.
CURE SERIOUS WOUNDS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Adept 3, Apostle of Peace 3, Bard 3, Beloved of Valarian 3, Blackguard 3, Champion of Gwynharwyf 4, Cleric 3, Druid 4, Emissary of Barachiel 3, Healer 3, Healing Domain 3, Hunter of the Dead 3, Kitsu School 3, Knight of the Weave 4, Nentyar Hunter 3, Order of the Gentle Rain 3, Paladin 4, Ranger 4, Runescarred Berserker 2, Shaman 3, Shugenja 3, Soldier of Light (3.0) 3
I hate you, runescarred berserker. You mock me with your below average level healing. You. Mock. Me.
CURE SERIOUS WOUNDS, MASS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 7, Cleric 7, Druid 8, Healer 6
Chain Healer to desk. Force him to scribe scrolls until his fingers fall off. Make him regenerate new fingers. Rinse. Lather. Repeat.
DARTS OF LIFE
- COMPLETE CHAMPION (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 5
At caster level 9, you can do 10d8 healing at RANGE. Oh my. I just had a healgasm. A mass cure light wounds can do more healing, but only if you have more then 6 targets. You don’t have to spread your healing out over multiple targets, you can focus on one target. Alas, as you go up in level it stays at 10d8. So, for this reason, I’m putting it in the single target section, not the mass heal section. This spell is begging for an empower maybe even a maximize. Alas, it is quickly eclipsed by heal in two more levels, but for 9th and 10th level clerics, it’s hard to do better then this spell.
ENERGETIC HEALING
- BOOK OF EXALTED DEEDS (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 5, Cleric 5, Druid 5
It makes you immune to energy damage and heals you a little bit. For the purpose of our comparison, it doesn’t make the cut, but I should point out that the way it reads, you round down damage. As long as you got one more point of healing level, the spell keeps working. So, in theory, if you had fire resistance 30, you could take 39 points of fire damage and as long as the spell is working, you take no damage and the spell doesn’t discharge. Worth looking at if you are looking at energy defense.
ESTANNA’S STEW
- BOOK OF EXALTED DEEDS (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 2, Druid 2, Paladin 2
It’s create food that you can fling at the undead to injure them, or eat to heal yourself. At max you can heal 5d6+5, but it’s the fact it hangs around for an hour that makes it more useful. Hand it out to the Halfling slinger. If he doesn’t eat it, it’s a missile weapon. Nothing says you can’t fling the entire pot at a lich. Even though you can spread the healing out, because you can give it all to one person, I’m keeping it in the single target section.
FAITH HEALING
- MAGIC OF FAERÛN (3.0)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Blackguard 1, Cleric 1, Paladin 1
Cure light wounds with a built in maximize, assuming everyone follows the same god. Nice. However, for that very reason, nobody would ever make it into a scroll, wand, or potion, unless it was for personal use. Since I’m comparing gold to damage, this spell falls off our list, but it is definitely a spell to memorize.
FORTUNATE FATE
- MAGIC OF FAERÛN (3.0)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 7
An automatic heal if you are ever killed by hit point damage. If there was a spell begging to be extended, its this one. Alas, even extended by a CL 15, you are only going to get 5 hours out of this spell. Regardless, as soon as you can, scribe as many scrolls as you have party members. When you are going up against the boss monster, everyone should have this spell cast on them.
HEAL
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Adept 5, Apostle of Peace 6, Cleric 6, Druid 7, Healer 6, Healing Domain 6, Kitsu School 6, Order of the Gentle Rain 6, Runescarred Berserker 5, Shaman 6, Shugenja 6
DAMN YOU RUNE- wait a sec… Adept? Oh OH! The worm has turned runescarred berserker! The NPC class adept can cast it at 5th! Who needs you RB? Who. Needs. YOU.
HEAL ANIMAL COMPANION
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Druid 5, Ranger 3
Heal at 3rd? Oh, wait. Heal ANIMAL COMPAION. Sigh. Well, I suppose if I have an animal companion, I’d want to keep it around. Have your ranger friend scribe a scroll at CL 9 and keep it in your scroll case for emergencies. How many animal companions have more then 90 hit points anyways?
HEAL MOUNT
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Paladin 3, Windrider (3.0) 3
Don’t mounts just come back after a month when killed? Ah well, scribe it and stick it in the scroll case.
HEAL, MASS
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 9, Cleric 9, Community Domain 9, Deathbound Domain 9, Elysium Domain 9, Healer 8, Healing Domain 9, Kitsu School 8, Order of the Gentle Rain 8, Shaman 8, Shugenja 8
Now, here we see that we can give our healer a break and chain down a shaman or a shugenja for a while. However, they have a better spell selection and are more likely to escape. I suggest keeping the Healer as your healing scroll scribe of choice. About the spell itself. Wave your hand, everyone gets back up. Any undead nearby? Sock’em with a 150 or so hit points of damage, save for half. If you do have a healer scribe, do ask for an enlarged mass heal, so you can get targets out to 135 feet, just in case.
HEALING CIRCLE
- COMPLETE CHAMPION (3.5)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 5, Nentyar Hunter 5, Shaman 5, Shugenja 5
So you create a field that requires people to be within 30 feet of you that they can use to heal themselves if they use up a standard action. So, this spell makes the fighters waste their attacks to heal themselves so you are free to… Oh. Wait. The spell decreases in healing with every use. So, in theory, you can get 10d8+37 healing out of it total, but the one being healed has to use up five actions to get the full effect. Darts of Life. Just use Darts of Life.
HEALING SPIRIT
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Bard 4, Cleric 4, Druid 4, Paladin 3
A spirit that heals 1d8 a round, 1 round /2 levels. Add extend and it’s on par with darts of life, except that it increases in healing as you go up in level. I’ve seen worse. Even though you can spread out the healing, the amount is some what fixed and can go all on the same target, so it stays in the single target section.
HEALTHFUL REST
- COMPLETE ADVENTURER (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Bard 1, Cleric 1, Druid 1
You double the healing of anyone sleeping This does you no good in the dungeon. We’ll skip over this spell and move on.
HOARD LIFE
- RACES OF THE DRAGON (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Sorcerer 4
Now, the options for self heal are limited when you are a sorcerer. This spell does non-lethal to yourself, you rest up and shake it off, then you got a minimum of 7 hours to heal yourself later for a minimum of 14 hit points. The problem is, You’d never put this spell in a scroll or wand except for personal use. However, if I was a dragon, I would consider putting this in my spell list.
HYDRATE
- SANDSTORM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Bard 2, Cleric 2, Druid 2, Paladin 2, Ranger 2
If I was walking in the desert, I would consider this spell, otherwise, no. Move on.
INSIGNIA OF HEALING
- RACES OF DESTINY (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Bard 3, Cleric 3
Yes, it’s effectively mass cure light wounds at 3rd level. A wand of this spell and an army all wearing the right insignia would be scary. If you set off a charge twice a minute, your army wouldn’t need clerics for the first hour. Don’t worry about being dropped to -4, you’ll be back on your feet in at least 5 rounds.
INVEST HEAVY PROTECTION
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 5
It is half a heal that gives you damage reduction. Why not use mass cure light wounds and imbue healing metamagic feat to do the same thing to more targets? Not recommended, But included for the sake of completeness. The one thing that makes this spell useable is that if you use it on undead, they take extra damage from good aligned weapons. At low levels, you gotta take what you can get.
INVEST LIGHT PROTECTION
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 1
Yawn. Next.
INVEST MODERATE PROTECTION
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 3
Cure light wounds at the same caster level does just as good as this spell. Next.
MAGIC CONVALESCENCE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 2 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Bard 5, Cleric 5, Druid 5
Now, if I was playing magic the gathering, this would be a cool spell. As it stands, unless I’m trying to heal myself and I happen to be standing next to a bunch of spellcasters who are going to be shelling out some serious mojo, this spell sucks. It would suck at 3rd level. Well, at third I could put persistent on it and have it last for 24 hours, but even then I doubt I’d ever use it. Skip this spell.
PANACEA
- MINIATURES HANDBOOK (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 4, Druid 5, Healer 4
Two words: Lesser Heal. It isn’t the hit points that you cast this spell for, it’s all the conditions it fixes that you use it for. And you get a cure light wound on top of it. Useful for other reasons, but not for the purpose of this comparison. So we’ll skip over this one.
POSITIVE ENERGY AURA
- PLANAR HANDBOOK (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 4
If Darts of Life gave me a healgasm, this spell rocks my self-centered conjuration world! So it would take a bit of metamagic reduction, but you could reduce the cost of Persistent Spell to +5 This spell is range: personal so you can use Persistent Spell on it. So you cast this spell with a metamagic sculpt rod to make it a 20 foot burst, then sudden widen. Now you heal 5 points of damage a round to everyone within 40 feet for the next 24 hours. Then get a Greater floating disk and casually float up and down your city streets, healing everyone who is walking by. Make an announcement that you’ll be zooming up and down the main roads every day at the same time, morning rush hour, noon lunch break, and evening rush hour. For the really high level, cast it multiple times. Heal 25 points of damage a round. Make every undead that is walking around in disguise explode in a burst of white light. Put every other church out of business. Even without that, it’s still potentially 2 points more healing per round then vigorous circle, and two levels lower. Pity it doesn’t last as long or effect you, but this is a continuous area of effect, where as vigorous circle is fire and forget. They have different uses in different situations.
REGENERATE
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK (3.0)
- PLAYER’S HANDBOOK 1 (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Apostle of Peace 7, Celestia Domain 7, Cleric 7, Competition Domain 7, Druid 9, Healer 6, Healing Domain 7, Shaman 7, Shugenja 8
Again, use your chained up Healer to scribe your scrolls. Normally we wouldn’t look at this spell, since it only regrows or reattached body parts. People forget that regenerate also heals. So it’s useful for missing limbs and healing 4d8+whatever. Enough healing that we should keep it on the list for comparison purposes.
REJUVENATING LIGHT
- COMPLETE CHAMPION (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing) [Light]
Level: Cleric 7
If you have the time, a sudden widened extended Metamagic rod Rejuvenating Light can heal more hit points on more people then any other spell. Cast at 20th level, mass heal can only heal 20 people 200 hit points in one round. A widened extended Rejuvenating Light can heal potentially 400 people (depending on size and how close together they stand) 400 hit points in 40 minutes. That’s a grand total of 160,000 hit points healed, vrs the paltry 4,000 of mass heal which is 2 levels higher. Also, Rejuvenating Light is portable because you cast it on an object. Put it on a banner and hold it high as you march on the approaching hoard of Undead. See them take 1d6 a round as the faithful chant praises to your god. Figure out some way to cast Permanency on it and put that on the front gate of your city. Another way to put the churches out of business.
REJUVENATION COCOON
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Druid 5
Druids cast Heal at 6th, so this gives them heal at 5th, but it takes two rounds. Now, you might think that makes this a non-combat spell. Well, you’d be wrong. It encases the target in a cocoon that has a hardness of 10 and 10 hit points a level. So, if you are fighting some mindless beast that just keeps smashing at a target until the target dies, you cast this on the front line fighter when he’s almost dead. He gains damage reduction all 10 and 90 hit points minimum. If your enemy is pounding away at 4 attacks a round, 20 damage a blow, the fighter will emerge healed 90 hit points and the enemy will have wasted two rounds.
RENEWAL PACT
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 7, Pact 7
Permanent until triggered. If it wasn’t for the 500 gp topaz material component, I’d have this up on everyone, every day, all the time. You get hit with any sort of weird condition from blinded to poisoned and BAM, panacea spell kicks in automatically. Alas, this is a study in healing, not recovering from ‘other’ conditions. We’ll be skipping this one.
SEED OF LIFE
- COMPLETE CHAMPION (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 4, Druid 5, Paladin 4
At first glance its like a higher level vigor, but not as useful. But look closer. You can blow it for a random amount of healing. With an extend rod, you have a 4th level spell that you can cast as a 7th level caster for 15d4. Add in sudden empower and sudden maximize and you got yourself 90 healing as a 7th level caster. Even without, it’s still worth looking at, since you can put it in a wand. Plus you give people a choice, a long heal, or a sudden burst. Versatility and adaptability are then hallmarks of a long term survivor.
STABILIZE
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Paladin 2, Cleric 2
Heals one point of damage to all living creatures, allied or not. That’s the downside. On the upside, it does one point of damage to undead. Here is a spell that is BEGGING to have explosive spell added to it. Here’s the problem. “Explosive Spell can be applied only to spells that allow Reflex saves…” People read the first part that says, “On a failed Reflex save, an explosive spell ejects any creature…” and assume it adds a reflex save. The spell has to start with a reflex save before you can make it explosive. So Explosive cannot be added to this spell (and it can’t be added to Locate City either. I wish people would stop talking about the Locate City Bomb.) Regardless, you can pack many people into a 50 foot burst. Sudden widen it and you can get 300 or so people in one shot. That’s a lot for a second level spell.
TREE HEALING
- PLAYER’S GUIDE TO FAERÛN (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Initiate of Nature 5
Okay, I have no idea how you become an Initiate of nature, but rejuvenation cocoon is the same level and works much faster. Still, maybe you’re a weird druid and don’t want a house. Maybe you’re an Adept and you figure out how to get this spell, who knows. It heals your level an hour. So, at 20th level, you can heal 480 hit points in a day.
UNDYING VIGOR OF THE DRAGONLORDS
- DRAGON MAGIC (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Sorcerer 5
Much better than Hoard Life, it works on the living and undead equally. Cast the spell and ditch a 9th level spell and you heal 14d6. Alas, it’s sorcerer only. And I mean sorcerer only, not spontaneous caster only. Alas, I can’t see anyone making a scroll for this spell except for personal use. So we’ll skip over it.
VIGOR
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 3, Druid 3
Ah, vigor. What a wonderful spell. If you have the time, it’s a superior form of healing. Now, it should be pointed out, the maximum time you have to heal is 25 rounds, period. You can extend the spell’s duration, but you can’t increase the maximum time allowed. So the 4th level extended version of this spell should last for 34 rounds, but only lasts for 25. Sorry. Still 50 points of healing in two and a half minutes. Is nothing to sneeze at.
VIGOR, GREATER
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 5, Druid 5
Same as Vigor except that the max is 35 rounds.
VIGOR, LESSER
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 1, Druid 1
Same as vigor, but only 15 rounds.
VIGOR, MASS LESSER
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 3, Druid 3
Ah, someone wanted to make this a Persistent spell. After all, it has a range of 20 ft, so you should be able to make it last 24 hours. The range doesn’t change. Here’s where the problem is, the targets can leave the range and the spell keeps working. If the targets of the spell can leave the range, then it’s not fixed. However, offical wizards of the coast FAQ specifically states that this spell works with Persistent spell. I'm not so hot on the idea, as I think it flies in the face of what Persistent is supposed to be. Me, if I wanted to have a continuous healing field up all the time, I'd take a look at Rejuvenating Light. Otherwise, still a good spell. 25 hit points of healing to 1 target/ 2 levels. While it outpaces both mass cure light and mass cure moderate, it doesn’t get as many targets, nor does it act as an offensive weapon against undead.
VIGOROUS CIRCLE
- COMPLETE DIVINE (3.5)
- SPELL COMPENDIUM (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 6, Druid 6
It does good up until you can start casting mass heal, then it falls to the wayside. At most it can heal 120 hit points over 4 minutes, but it should not be discounted. Extend brings new life to this spell so that if you have the time to heal, it’s better then many other options at the same level.
WARDING GEMS
- BOOK OF EXALTED DEEDS (3.5)
Conjuration (Healing)
Level: Cleric 5
Okay, so, at 15th level, I can have 2,500 gp in 5 gems orbiting my head that I can, as a free action, burn to give myself healing, in 10 hp chunks. This just sucks, except that it’s a free action and maybe you like having gems orbiting your head. (One of these days I want to make a PC and see how many different things I can have flying around my head.) I suppose it has it’s use. Although, as I read it, I see that it’s ranged. So you can use this on other people. And while it reads, the gems fly from your hand, I suppose you could cast it on gems at range and have them fly to you. Furthermore, it says ANY gem worth more then 500 gp. I can see a situation where you might wish to destroy an evil magic item that happens to be a gemstone. I can’t see why you couldn’t turn it into a warding gem, then burn it for 10 hp of healing and watch it crumble into dust. Something to consider.