Cure Wounds Spell

Playtesting revealed that 5e Clerics really struggle with one of their signature abilities - healing. 5e did away with burst healing present in 3e and Pathfinder and replaced the Healing Surge abilities in 4e with the 2e approach that requires clerics to use their spell slots for healing. Since 5e removed Wands of Cure Light Wounds and made potions of healing much harder to obtain and reduced their effectiveness, Clerics really have to conserve their spells for healing and have to hope their heals land with effectiveness or the party could perish in combat. This takes clerics out of the role of active participant and makes them more of a utility class that conserves spell slots and actions for racing in to heal the rest of the party mid-battle. To provide some relief to this situation, Clerics (and only Clerics) can use the following rule whenever they cast the Cure Wounds spell:

When casting Cure Wounds using a spell slot above 1st level, the cleric rolls only 1d8. All other dice the spell would otherwise allow are instead treated as if an 5 were rolled on that die. The spell otherwise operates as normal. Thus a Cleric casting Cure Wounds using a 4th level slot normally rolls 4d8 + Wis modifier. Using this rule, the Cleric rolls only 1d8 and treats all the other rolls as if he had rolled an 5. This means that a Cure Wounds spell cast with a 4th level slot does 1d8 + 15 + Wis modifier. Any bonus healing done because of Life domain or other reason is added to this roll.

This rule applies only to Clerics and only when casting the Cure Wounds or Mass Cure Wounds spell using a spell slot beyond 1st level. Non-clerics, clerics casting other healing-type spells (like Heal, for example) and healing brought about by potions or magic items are not affected by this rule. Clerics casting a Cure Wounds spell using a first level slot must roll the single 1d8 to which they are entitled and may not use this optional rule.

This rule change makes Cleric healing more effective and gives the cleric a reasonable indication of what spell level he should use to effectively heal a comrade. This will in turn allow a Cleric more leeway to cast other spells to aid the party.

The above rule was removed Nov 1 2022.