Healer/Fighter

E

Eviana

Newbie
This past Saturday was my first event and I had a blast. I was a human healer with a staff. I love the idea of being a healer, but would like to be able to attack a bit too. I am not happy with the staff as a weapon and I want something that gives me more distance to attack from (such as a polearm).
I was wondering how this would all work out, if I am mainly a healer but secondarily a fighter? If this is even possible? Thanks in advance.
-Eviana/Denise
 
Great thing about Alliance - anything is possible (well within reason - no laser guns). So build your character however you wish to. It's important that you enjoy your character more than anything else.

Might I suggest you use the following worksheet to build your character, that way you can see the costs involved and so on:

www.larping.net/larping/ARB.xls
 
I had a scholar with a polearm on my team for a while. She enjoyed it immensely. It liet her fight along next to me using me as a shield, and heal me when she needed to. Fighting alone with a pole arm is tough, but not impossible.
 
markusdark said:
Great thing about Alliance - anything is possible (well within reason - no laser guns). So build your character however you wish to. It's important that you enjoy your character more than anything else.

Might I suggest you use the following worksheet to build your character, that way you can see the costs involved and so on:

http://www.larping.net/larping/ARB.xls
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Thank you for your reply :) I guess my main concern is how I go about casting magic? I know the staff allows me to cast magic during battle, but could I maybe just back off during battle and use a wand?
 
You don't need a wand in order to cast spells. They are cast via the packets in your hand so you can always cast no matter what you have in your hands, as long as your casting hand (the one you're throwing with) is empty (except for the packet).

The thing with a staff though is that you can block with one hand with the staff while cocking back to throw the spell packet with the other. If you block with a polearm in this manner, you still take the damage. However, a polearm has the advantage of being a reach pokey weapon. :)

So you can have a bunch of packets tucked in between your fingers and gripping your polearm and attacking with it. Then just pull one free with your other hand and chuck it (with the incant recited first of course).
 
markusdark said:
You don't need a wand in order to cast spells. They are cast via the packets in your hand so you can always cast no matter what you have in your hands, as long as your casting hand (the one you're throwing with) is empty (except for the packet).

The thing with a staff though is that you can block with one hand with the staff while cocking back to throw the spell packet with the other. If you block with a polearm in this manner, you still take the damage. However, a polearm has the advantage of being a reach pokey weapon. :)

So you can have a bunch of packets tucked in between your fingers and gripping your polearm and attacking with it. Then just pull one free with your other hand and chuck it (with the incant recited first of course).
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Oh, I didn't use any packets playing, I was never given any. I just handed out my slips of paper that had my heals on them to the people I healed. So healers use packets to throw too?
 
Where exactly were you playing out of curiosity?

Spells are delivered via packet, be it hold the packet and touching the target, or throwing the packet at the target.

Spell defenses apply differently dependent on how you choose to deliver your spell to the intended target.

But yes, you can throw earth spells at your target. Earth has many effective battle spells.

Polearm has the advantage of reach, staff the advantage of being able to block with only one hand on.
 
Sunnfire said:
Where exactly were you playing out of curiosity?
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I'd rather not get my chapter in trouble, we had a lot of newbies at the event and the marshals and whatnot did the best they could with us all.

Sunnfire said:
Spells are delivered via packet, be it hold the packet and touching the target, or throwing the packet at the target.

Spell defenses apply differently dependent on how you choose to deliver your spell to the intended target.

But yes, you can throw earth spells at your target. Earth has many effective battle spells.

Polearm has the advantage of reach, staff the advantage of being able to block with only one hand on.
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So from what I understand, you have to use spell packets for healing?
 
Correct, spell packets are used. Players supply their own spell packets, made out of cloth squares, filled with bird seed and tied with ribbon or rubber banded. The tags that are given at logistics basically tell you (and others) what your bird seed spell packets 'are.'
 
I play a templar. I use a longsword and I cast with packets, thrown or touch. I am getting florentine to up the combat skills when I run out of spells. Templars are great for fighting and casting. It is very diverse. But if all you want to do is buy polarms as your only fighting ability than a different route would be better.
 
Lol I can clarify, she came to the SoMN one-day, we were graced by quite a few new people at the last minute (read finishing check in/creation about an hour into game on), which is cool, but unfortunately it looks like we missed one aspect during the quick summary, which happens, our marshals should have caught it, but with 3 or so spells on her card it looks like it slipped past our drag nets. Since I didn't have a specific marshal assigned, I'll go ahead and punish Kevar for this error :mrgreen: .
 
Eviana said:
This past Saturday was my first event and I had a blast. I was a human healer with a staff. I love the idea of being a healer, but would like to be able to attack a bit too. I am not happy with the staff as a weapon and I want something that gives me more distance to attack from (such as a polearm).
I was wondering how this would all work out, if I am mainly a healer but secondarily a fighter? If this is even possible? Thanks in advance.
-Eviana/Denise
Click to expand...


Remember that since it is your first time pcing, you are allowed a free forge (you can completely change your character around, for free once) so if you are not happy with the staff you can change it to a polearm but this is only allowed once before your next event.
 
My PC is a Celestial Scholar who fights with a polearm, and I love the style. It can be a little difficult if you end up facing multiple opponents all by your lonesome, but with a group to stand behind you have a lot of tools at your disposal. Meleeing opponents over the shoulders and shields of your team, throwing spells and casting from a wand are all options you have for combat that allow you to contribute while also keeping pre-casts on your team as necessary.
 
I know you're getting a lot of advice but I hope you'll take mine as well. If you do the earth magic / polearm thing you won't actually have a wand. That's fine because to use a wand you would have to drop your polearm, grab your wand, then chuck your packet. I think it's a pain although other's disagree and drop their weapons all over the place.

With normal spells, you can hold the polearm in one hand and chuck the spell with the other. Or touch the packet to your target if it's healing a friendly. Just don't let an enemy hit the polearm when you're holding it with one hand or you take damage.

Eviana said:
Thank you for your reply :) I guess my main concern is how I go about casting magic? I know the staff allows me to cast magic during battle, but could I maybe just back off during battle and use a wand?
Click to expand...
 
James Trotta said:
I know you're getting a lot of advice but I hope you'll take mine as well. If you do the earth magic / polearm thing you won't actually have a wand. That's fine because to use a wand you would have to drop your polearm, grab your wand, then chuck your packet. I think it's a pain although other's disagree and drop their weapons all over the place.

With normal spells, you can hold the polearm in one hand and chuck the spell with the other. Or touch the packet to your target if it's healing a friendly. Just don't let an enemy hit the polearm when you're holding it with one hand or you take damage.

Eviana said:
Thank you for your reply :) I guess my main concern is how I go about casting magic? I know the staff allows me to cast magic during battle, but could I maybe just back off during battle and use a wand?
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That and wands are celestial only and have nothing to do with healing/healers.
 
Eviana said:
I'd rather not get my chapter in trouble, we had a lot of newbies at the event and the marshals and whatnot did the best they could with us all.
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Don't worry about that. If chapters got in trouble for overlooking some stuff for new players who aren't familiar with the system, well they'd all have sore knuckles from the rulers. ;)

In order to heal someone by touching them, you are to use a packet and touch the packet to the person. You can also throw your healing spells so that if someone is dropped behind enemy lines or somewhere you can't get to, you can throw the spell and hit them with it and give them the heal that way. The main thing you want to remember when casting a spell is to say the full incantation for the spell before throwing it.

The other thing to remember is that if you touch cast a spell to someone, they can have the option of refusing to take the spell - and you will use it up in the process. Although I can't imagine why someone would refuse a healing spell, it can happen with damage spells. This is to prevent people from reaching out during combat and trying to touch/grab people with their hands.
 
I was actually asking so I could direct you to their new player contact, or direct them to you.

Mistakes are not a problem, its intentional breaking of the rules that is a problem.

I would not expect a new player to not make some mistakes, the system is complex, and people that have been playing for 20 years still make plenty of mistakes.

You might want to try NPCing an event and trying out some various fighting styles to see if that will fit what your looking for. That way you can use your once ever free reset to go down the path you want for your character.
 
Take some time, in game, to talk to other healers. There is a lot to learn about the skills on your card which go beyond the rule book. For example, in what order is it best to do your First Aid (which out of game utterances, representing what your examination reveals during First Aid, are best)? Find out about spell shields and casting healing spells at your friends who are down behind enemy lines. Talk with healers about using spells offensively as well as for healing. Find out about the value of various protectives, blade spells, etc. There is more to being a healer than CUREing WOUNDS of various levels of damage. It is an interesting and exciting occupation.

Remember that there are some spell levels which have less to do with healing and more to do with defense or attack. Ask about binding. When a new monster comes on the scene, observe how they react to various Earth spell attacks. Whether you are a front line healer, a back area healer, a backpacker, a fighting healer ... all have different approaches to interacting with the available spells and which spells you will always memorize (your "utility' spells) and which you will take for special occassions (you might see undead more often during certain times of the year, or you might have some idea that a specific kind of baddy is expected to show up the next day)...

Other areas to explore? Spells versus Potions for healing -- when it is best to use each (I am a potions maker and a healer, so this is a special interest of mine).

Talk with others, try different things out, and have fun.
 
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