It can be incredibly satisfying to keep the party alive despite their best efforts. And here are five subclasses that do exactly that.
Keeping a D&D party alive can be extremely satisfying. And sure, you can talk all you want about how characters are beefier and harder to kill in 5.5E, but that doesn’t change the fact that you can’t roll over a 3 and the Paladin keeps insisting on running into the middle of enemies and getting isolated from the rest of the party “because it’s what my character would do.”
That’s where characters focused on party support come into play. You can do a lot to keep the party alive, whether it’s healing their wounds or protecting them from incoming harm, or even giving them the tools to get out of the trouble they’ve gotten into. It can be extremely satisfying to play the person keeping everyone alive despite themselves. It’s not for everyone, but if it is for you, here are five subclasses worth considering.
Life Domain Cleric
This is probably the ur-example: a Cleric dedicated to healing the party. The Life Domain Cleric has all the tools you need to heal your party in and out of combat. Any time they cast a healing spell with a spell slot, they add bonus healing, and they get pretty much all the good healing spells as bonus spells, always prepared.
If you want to be a classic D&D Healer, the Life Cleric is the way to go. They make it much easier to keep the party alive because they can keep everyone topped up at full HP without even having to spend a ton of resources.
Warrior Of Mercy
You don’t have to be entirely dedicated to healing to keep the party alive, though. The Monk subclass, Warrior of Mercy, is proof positive that you can still do big damage while also helping to keep the party alive with your healing powers. In fact, they’re one of the few classes that get to heal and do damage with the same breath.
Any time they unleash a Flurry of Blows, punching enemies with extra attacks, they can employ a ‘Hand of Healing’, allowing them to punch one of their friends with healing energy. On top of that, at higher levels, they can remove status effects and even bring the recently dead back to life. Even if the party dies, this Monk can keep them alive.
Celestial Patron Warlock
The Celestial Patron Warlock is another fine example of both healing and doing big damage. Because Warlocks are already primed to deal a bunch of damage just by being Warlocks. But Warlocks with a Celestial Patron gain the ability to also help their friends, starting with a pool of d6s that can be used to heal allies (or themselves) as a Bonus Action, completely incidental to whatever else they might do with their action.
At higher levels, sure, they gain more damage, dealing extra radiant damage and dealing out celestial vengeance with aplomb. But they also gain the ability to grant temporary hit points (or preventative healing if you will) to the party, even as they punish the party’s enemies.
Barbarian Path of the World Tree
Even Barbarians can help keep the party alive. No really! The Path of the World Tree gives a Barbarian the ability to replenish an ally’s vital essence, giving them temporary hit points while the Barbarian Rages away at the enemy. At higher levels, they can teleport allies to safer positions or teleport enemies and bind them in place.
Sometimes, to keep the party alive, you have to make it so the enemies can’t even get to the party to attack them. And that’s one thing the World Tree Barbarian does surprisingly well.
Oath of Devotion Paladin
Then there’s the “classic Paladin,” the Oath of Devotion Paladin. Dedicated to the ideals of honor and justice, they are devoted to good; to protecting the innocent, to serving the public trust, and never harming an employee of Omni Consumer Products, providing succor to those in need.
To that end, they provide a lot of protection to their allies. Their list of bonus spells means a Devotion Paladin always has a spell that can buff an ally in need, ready to go. Additionally, they can protect allies from being Charmed, and can even smite an enemy so hard that it gives their allies half-cover from all attacks while within their aura.
What are some of your favorite subclasses when making stealth-focused characters?
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Source: Bell of Lost Souls
