How to Play RPG With No Healers in Your Party

Collaborative storytelling is impressive, but we are playing a game to have fun, and if that means pillaging, getting in fights with random NPCs, and fighting all authorities, so be it. But when you get in trouble a lot, the healer becomes one of the most important members of the party and must be in the background, protected at all costs. But what if you aren’t sure someone can heal you? Today we will discuss a different kind of challenge, and discuss how to play an RPG with no healers at your party.

Positioning, Positioning, Positioning

Most characters will throw themselves into dangerous situations, counting on the healer’s aid. But if you play RPG with no healers in your party, how can you survive the blows and damage you usually sustain? Well, our first suggestion is: get out of there! 
If there’s no healing available, you should avoid getting free hits and fight smarter, not harder. In a tactical game like most fantasy RPGs this means getting your positioning right. Get your tanks and melee combatants to spread the damage around and focus on defeating enemies in a way that lowers the risk. This not only increases your chances of survival but can also add a new tactical dimension to your games (if the players are into it).

Raise a Flask to Living

If there isn’t someone who can touch a bleeding character and close their wounds, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s no healing available. Of course, there are settings and TTRPG systems where healing is not easily available, but in most of them, there are healing potions, elixirs, salves, nanotech, and so on. 

“I drink a potion” must be one of the most said phrases in all of TTRPG history. You can’t say it’s hard to play RPG with no healers if everyone in the party is a minor healer and can care for the overall health of their companions. Spread around the means to heal and see your players understand how hard it is to care for each other in the battle.

Hire the Ones that Can While You Play RPG With No Healers

Money does not solve everything, but it solves a lot in most settings. If your adventuring party cannot heal an arrow wound, regrow a lost arm, or bring someone back to life, there’s probably someone who can. But it usually isn’t free of charge; you will have to pay for it with money, valuables, or a specific amount. 

So you can play RPG with no healers among the PCs if there are contractors that do the healing for you. This is very interesting because it gives your game another dimension of goals and it makes for great quest hooks. 

Another option is for the party to hire a healer NPC, that follows them around making sure no one dies. Of course, this character can still hold grudges, have their own enemies, and even be a mole inside the party, working for the villain. Use these possibilities as you wish. 

Make It Hardcore

What if none of the alternative healing options works? If your players keep dying in combat or dungeon delving, maybe that’s not really bad. You can use this to run a high lethality campaign and make every death count grimly and impactful. Think Darkest Dungeon, Call of Cthulhu, and other games where characters’ deaths are part of everyday life. 

Talk to your players about creating several characters and making each death count, that’s especially interesting in horror or dark fantasy settings. So, if nobody wants to heal, maybe characters should die more frequently, and this can lead to an exciting high-stakes campaign. It’s easy to play RPG with no healers in the party this way, your group will just have to make peace with some characters being lost along the way. 
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