So You Want to Play: A Healer

Tending to the sick, wounded and feeble of mind are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what it means to be a healer. From the Dungeons & Dragons stereotype of the cleric, curing diseases and wounds with magic all the way up to the modern physician, there is a broad and wonderful world out there for the player that wants to follow the medical path. There is much more to being a a healer than just healing the sick.

Science and Magic - Healing

In a fantasy setting, healers are found in all walks of life. They can be religious figures, like priests, clerics, shaman and witch doctors, but they can also be simple herbalists, alchemists, or apothecaries. Most games have a class you can play that has some sort of built in ability to heal. Even if your game doesn’t, there is a lot you can do to still build your character into the iconic profession.

Role Playing a Healer

Even if you don’t have a class in your game for specifically playing a healer, there is a lot of things you can do to build up the role play of the healing arts. Once again, you can look to the modern world for roles that doctors play to get an idea of the types of things that you can bring a fantasy flair. There are plenty of things to heal beyond the body. There is also the mind and spirit, and in a fantasy world, those can be much more common injuries.

Work on spending time establishing an air of kindliness. A good bed-side manner goes a long way. Remember, a good healer heals the whole person, not just the wound.

Cultivating the Healing Profession

Whether they are using primitive herbs while studying the four humors or the latest pharmaceuticals while, well basically studying the four humors, healers are always on the cutting edge of science. In a fantasy setting that also means studying the effects of all kinds of magic, even if you don’t use it yourself. This might mean developing a good relationship with the story tellers running your game in order to make sure of the things your character may or may not know.

On the battlefield, healers can use bandages, herbs, medicines or magic to aid their friends. Back in their labs, they can mix all kinds of potions, elixirs and draughts to bring comfort to the ill. Perhaps you have less honorable intentions, twisting and turning the healing arts in perverse ways that were never intended, like creating powerful poisons.

If your game goes in that direction, you might even get the chance to investigate a grizzly murder or diagnose a terrible epidemic. Keep your options open, because there is a whole wide world out there.

Gear you Should Carry

There is a pretty big difference between role playing a healer and actually being a medical professional, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be ready to help with the minor things. Get yourself at least a basic first aid kit and carry it on you. At the very least you should have some bandages and some sanitizer. A good pair of tweezers for pulling out splinters comes in handy too.

You can also get into the mode by carrying some potion bottles. Fill them with different flavors of Kool-Aide, Sports drinks or just Water with food coloring in it to give them the enchanting appeal of magical spirits. Even if your game doesn’t have that sort of thing, most of those potions never really worked all through out history anyway. Remember, even delicious Dr Pepper started out as a cure all elixir.

If you want to cultivate a classic look, go for flowing robes or lab coats. Of course, you can also mix it up a little, creating a medieval lab coat or a modern medical gown.

Remember, to have fun with it. That is the whole point, after all. 

Do you have any suggestions for people of the healing persuasion?