Healer - Revision history

Umbire the Phantom: /* Early game */ small deet

2026-04-19T21:56:02Z

‎Early game: small deet

Umbire the Phantom: /* Early game */ pothole

2026-04-19T21:55:23Z

‎Early game: pothole

Netzhack: /* Encyclopedia entry */ line breaks

2026-03-12T21:37:26Z

‎Encyclopedia entry: line breaks

CamelCasedSnivy: /* Special rules */ added healer knife bonus

2026-03-04T21:27:10Z

‎Special rules: added healer knife bonus

Umbire the Phantom: per my talk page

2026-01-14T22:25:02Z

per my talk page

Umbire the Phantom: word choice

2026-01-13T13:37:27Z

word choice

Umbire the Phantom: /* Attributes */ pasto

2026-01-13T13:13:14Z

‎Attributes: pasto

Umbire the Phantom: dupe upcoming note about starting energy to attributes section, tailor original note to be more strategically-inclined

2026-01-13T13:11:52Z

dupe upcoming note about starting energy to attributes section, tailor original note to be more strategically-inclined

Umbire the Phantom: /* Attributes */ table-ify HP/pw

2026-01-13T13:05:53Z

‎Attributes: table-ify HP/pw

Tomsod: /* Attributes */ hp/pw

2025-12-22T05:43:10Z

‎Attributes: hp/pw

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 ===Early game===
-Although Healers have excellent [[HP]] growth, their initially poor fighting skills make the very early game quite difficult for most players; the Healer's starting scalpel is equivalent to a rustproof, half-weight [[orcish dagger]], and is not a particularly good weapon. Fortunately, the starting equipment includes several combat aids: the stethoscope is a good way to read an enemy's HP and gauge whether to fight or retreat; the wand of sleep is helpful both offensively and defensively; and the healing potions can make up for otherwise lethal mistakes. Healers are also the role best suited for the [[pacifist]] [[conduct]] play by far.
+Although Healers have excellent [[HP]] growth and do not have to fear [[poison]], their initially poor fighting skills make the very early game quite difficult for most players; the Healer's starting scalpel is equivalent to a rustproof, half-weight [[orcish dagger]], and is not a particularly good weapon. Fortunately, the starting equipment includes several combat aids: the stethoscope is a good way to read an enemy's HP and gauge whether to fight or retreat; the wand of sleep is helpful both offensively and defensively; and the healing potions can make up for otherwise lethal mistakes. Healers are also the role best suited for the [[pacifist]] [[conduct]] play by far.
 The starting money can be used to buy solid [[weapon]]s and [[armor]] if you find an early shop that sells them. For early Healers not attempting the protection racket or the [[atheist]] conduct, one possible strategy is to fight until damaged to the critical HP threshold, then [[pray]]&mdash;[[Trouble#Critical HP|critically low HP]] is a major trouble, success will fully restore HP and boost maximum HP; this can be done as early as turn 101, depending on when the hero starts their game. Another strategy is to immediately quaff the starting [[potions of extra healing]], which will boost maximum HP by 2 (or 5 for blessed potions).

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 * [[Knives]] are easily trained with the starting scalpel and can be advanced to Expert, making them the only ranged weapon that Healers can multishot 3 of. However, the base damage for a knife is low, and knives are unlikely to be generated in large quantities; monsters such as [[soldier]]s, [[barrow wight]]s, [[Mordor orc]]s, and [[orc-captain]]s can all carry knives, but appear far enough into the dungeon that assembling a reasonable stack can be time-consuming.
-* [[Dart]]s are far more plentiful, can be [[poisoned]] by [[dipping]] them into a [[potion of sickness]], and Healers can advance them to Expert, but they have the same low base damage as knives and are breakable.
+* [[Dart]]s are far more plentiful, can [[Poisoned weapon|be poisoned]] by [[dipping]] them into a [[potion of sickness]], and Healers can advance them to Expert, but they have the same low base damage as knives and are breakable.
 * Daggers are similarly plentiful, re-usable and deal slightly more damage&mdash;they are also heavier, cannot be poisoned, and Healers are capped at Skilled.
 * The aklys can be tethered and thrown as a re-usable weapon, though it can fail to return or slip loose of its tether upon returning. An aklys can reliably be found early in the [[Gnomish Mines]] in the hands of one of the resident gnomes&mdash;Healers can reach Skilled in [[club]]s, and it can be trained up quickly since it doubles as a melee weapon.

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 ==Encyclopedia entry==
-{{encyclopedia|
+{{encyclopedia|I swear by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation -- to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others.  I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous.  [...]
 {{right-align|[ Hippocrates' Oath, translated by Francis Adams ]}}
-PHYSICIAN, n.  One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our
+PHYSICIAN, n.  One upon whom we set our hopes when ill and our dogs when well.
 {{right-align|[ The Devil's Dictionary, by Ambrose Bierce ]}}
 }}

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 * A Healer can more reliably apply a stethoscope to themself while [[engulfed]] by a [[whirly]] monster.{{refsrc|src/apply.c|307|nethack=3.6.7}}
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|a3f0b54aea1670cfd6cf51b39837c65696570e71}}, Healers gain experience points by casting the {{spell of|healing}} or {{spell of|extra healing}} spells on pets. The amount of experience points is equal to the number of HP the pet was healed for (so it doesn't give any experience if the pet was at full HP).}}
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|a3f0b54aea1670cfd6cf51b39837c65696570e71}}, Healers gain experience points by casting the {{spell of|healing}} or {{spell of|extra healing}} spells on pets. The amount of experience points is equal to the number of HP the pet was healed for (so it doesn't give any experience if the pet was at full HP).
 ==Rank titles==

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 The means and standard deviations were calculated via simulation, whose source code can be found on [[Talk:Role#Initial attribute simulation code|the role article's talk page]], and assumes that all given roles are played as humans&mdash;non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums.
-The following table summarizes the starting [[HP]] and [[energy]] values for each race of Healer, as well as their bonuses upon gaining an experience level:
+Human Healers start with 13 [[HP]] and 3-6 [[Pw]], while gnomish Healers start with 12 HP and 4-7 Pw.
 {{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|Per {{commit|33556788c38b2853e8af8b26852fd1348981986b}}, Healers and other roles that start with a level 1 spell will always have a minimum of 5 power in order to enable casting it.}}

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 ==Strategy==
-While Healers are strong [[spellcaster]]s and especially proficient with [[healing spells]], they are one of the [[Role difficulty|trickier and more difficult roles]] in the game, due to starting with a weak weapon, minimal armor and low [[strength]]&mdash;they also cannot raise their skill in any spell school outside of healing.
+While Healers are strong [[spellcaster]]s and especially proficient with [[healing spells]], they are one of the [[Role difficulty|trickier and more difficult roles]] in the game: they start with a weak weapon, minimal armor and low [[strength]], and also cannot train their skill in any spell school outside of healing.
 ===Character creation===
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 At experience level 3, Healers can reliably cast [[stone to flesh]], which converts [[boulder]]s into [[huge chunks of meat]]. This can remove annoying boulders blocking passageways, and alleviates the threat of starvation, allowing players to act slower and more cautiously&mdash;it also typically results in being "[[oversatiated]]", which is still displayed on the status line as "Satiated". While oversatiated, it is best to avoid eating anything at all until your nutrition returns to normal in order to avoid choking (unless you are wearing an [[amulet of life saving]] or {{of|amulet|magical breathing}}). Stone to flesh can also convert [[rock]]s into [[meatball]]s to tame [[carnivorous]] [[domestic]] pets and train their [[apport]].
-{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|As mentioned earlier, {{commit|33556788c38b2853e8af8b26852fd1348981986b}} ensures that Healers will always have a minimum of 5 power to cast healing with, in turn making it likelier that they can survive attempted protection rackets and the early game in general.}}
+{{upcoming|NetHack 3.7.0|As mentioned further above, {{commit|33556788c38b2853e8af8b26852fd1348981986b}} ensures that Healers will always have a minimum of 5 power to cast healing with, in turn making it likelier that they can survive attempted protection rackets and the early game in general.}}
 ===Mid game===

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 The means and standard deviations were calculated via simulation, whose source code can be found on [[Talk:Role#Initial attribute simulation code|the role article's talk page]], and assumes that all given roles are played as humans&mdash;non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums.
-Human Healers start with 13 [[HP]] and 3-6 [[Pw]] at random, while gnomes have 12 HP and 4-7 Pw.
+The following table summarizes the starting [[HP]] and [[energy]] values for each race of Barbarian, as well as their bonuses upon gaining an experience level:
 ==Skills==

← Older revision		Revision as of 05:43, 22 December 2025
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	The means and standard deviations were calculated via simulation, whose source code can be found on [[Talk:Role#Initial attribute simulation code\|the role article's talk page]], and assumes that all given roles are played as humans—non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums.		The means and standard deviations were calculated via simulation, whose source code can be found on [[Talk:Role#Initial attribute simulation code\|the role article's talk page]], and assumes that all given roles are played as humans—non-human races will have different attribute means as a result of different attribute maximums.
		+
		+	Human Healers start with 13 [[HP]] and 3-6 [[Pw]] at random, while gnomes have 12 HP and 4-7 Pw.

	==Skills==		==Skills==