What would u be?

[SoulCatcher78]

Do they have Magical healers in the Dresdenverse? Harry makes it sound like Healing Magic is next to impossible.

It's pretty damn rare.  The only instance we have of it on the page is healing done by one of the Queens of the Summer Court, and she's operating with a power source that's way off the scale.

What about Lea?  Didn't she do some healing too?

Okay, so so far we're talking about a highly-placed noblewoman of the Winter Court, and one of the Summer Ladies herself.

Neither of those are player character concepts.  They're NPCs.

Darn!  NPCs get all the cool toys *to throw the game completely out of balance* and we get Tylenol and Ace Bandages

[Slife]

Do they have Magical healers in the Dresdenverse? Harry makes it sound like Healing Magic is next to impossible.

It's pretty damn rare.  The only instance we have of it on the page is healing done by one of the Queens of the Summer Court, and she's operating with a power source that's way off the scale.

What about Lea?  Didn't she do some healing too?

Okay, so so far we're talking about a highly-placed noblewoman of the Winter Court, and one of the Summer Ladies herself.

Neither of those are player character concepts.  They're NPCs.

Oh, and whoever has the Shroud of Turin at the moment. 

Or a relic of comparable power.  Scriptural references follow:
2nd Kings 13:
"20 Elisha died and was buried.
      Now Moabite raiders used to enter the country every spring.
21 Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man's body into Elisha's tomb. When the body touched Elisha's bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet."

Acts 19:
"11 God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, 12 so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them."

On a more Dresden-related note, blood rites page 251, Lord Raith heals himself (yes, he's a vampire lord, but he's been weakened significantly [trying to avoid spoilers]):

Then Raith's flesh began to glow.  His shirt was in shreds, and he tore it from him with a negligent gesture.  His skin became suffused with a pale light once more, and I saw his body rippling weirdly around an ungainly hole left of his navel. He was healing. I stared at him tiredly for a minute, then bent over and picked up my sword. He laughed at me. "Dresden. ..."

Thomas pulls the same trick in a later book, iirc.

[Kaos Wizard]

Although we haven't seen examples of healing magic in the Dresdenverse, it dosn't mean it dosn't exist. It might be like a lot of other RPGs where healing magic is essentially "faith magic" and used by priests of clerics. I might allow a healer type character in a game if I thought the player could pull it off. They'd have to be a devout worshipper with strong faith, personality wise they would be like Michael when it comes to the strength of their faith. Considering that Michael's level of true faith is a rare thing in the modern world, it would explain why there aren't healers running all over the planet and why Harry hasn't run into a lot of healing Magic. Honestly I keep waiting for Michael to pull a little "lay on hands" in one of the books.
Besides the players in my games would probably revolt if I didn't allow a healer. I tend to deal out a lot damage to the PCs.

[glmagus]

I'd prefer to play, maybe not a Knight, but a character similar to the Knights of the Cross. Perhaps, though, a character with a different faith.

[iago]

Although we haven't seen examples of healing magic in the Dresdenverse, it dosn't mean it dosn't exist. It might be like a lot of other RPGs where healing magic is essentially "faith magic" and used by priests of clerics. I might allow a healer type character in a game if I thought the player could pull it off. They'd have to be a devout worshipper with strong faith, personality wise they would be like Michael when it comes to the strength of their faith. Considering that Michael's level of true faith is a rare thing in the modern world, it would explain why there aren't healers running all over the planet and why Harry hasn't run into a lot of healing Magic. Honestly I keep waiting for Michael to pull a little "lay on hands" in one of the books.
Besides the players in my games would probably revolt if I didn't allow a healer. I tend to deal out a lot damage to the PCs.

Then you'll have to go outside of the canon to provide such a character.  That's all.  Nothing stopping you, when it comes down to it.

But even *Hank McCoy*, a wizard of the Senior Council, was only able to give Harry something to ease the pain, and *maybe* lightly nudge the healing process, when Harry got his hand fried.  It's not within the scope of human magic, at a minimum -- possibly because resculpting human flesh requires an atomic-level understanding of biology, or just that it's hard not to accidentally strip the muscle off of the bone.  Whatever the case, there's just no foundation for it.

[glmagus]

Besides, the lack of a cleric type character makes the entire game a little more intersting. You actually have to focus on surviving rather than just waiting for your mates to get you resurrected.

[Fineous]

But even *Hank McCoy*, a wizard of the Senior Council, was only able to give Harry something to ease the pain, and *maybe* lightly nudge the healing process, when Harry got his hand fried.  It's not within the scope of human magic, at a minimum -- possibly because resculpting human flesh requires an atomic-level understanding of biology, or just that it's hard not to accidentally strip the muscle off of the bone.  Whatever the case, there's just no foundation for it.

Personally I figure it has more to do with the knowledge involved.  Wizards spend all their time learning Wizardry.  They don't have time to learn to be doctors too.  And in order to treat a wound, I would think that you would have to have, at the least, some pretty specific medical knowledge.  D&D gets around this through Divine Intervention.  Healing usually comes down to that in most games.

[CBeilby]

But even *Hank McCoy*, a wizard of the Senior Council...

Are you sure you're thinking about the Dresden Files, Fred, and not Darkest Hours?

[iago]

You may be right, Fineous, but my take on it, at least, is that it's one thing to be a doctor, and quite another thing to build parts of the human body from scratch.

There's a *reason* summoned demons are given bodies of ectoplasm.  It's a lot easier, and you don't have to worry so much about getting the internal organs right.

[iago]

But even *Hank McCoy*, a wizard of the Senior Council...

Are you sure you're thinking about the Dresden Files, Fred, and not Darkest Hours?

HA! HA!

Yes, I meant EBENEZAR McCoy.

Good catch.

Last I checked, Ebenezar's pretty hairy, but not in a blue way.

[Fineous]

Yea, that was kinda my point.  I don't think there is enough time to become knowledgeable about those two totally disparate disciplines.  I suppose it MIGHT be possible, but only for a supergenius who never goes out and spends all his/her time studying.

[skegmonkey]

I dont see why it wouldnt be possible for someone to learn healing magaic as we have already seen examples of people with no magic ability learning one particular spell. Billy and the werewolves for example i reckon it would be pretty hard to learn to reshape your body and organs to another species so why wouldnt it be possible to reshape human organs.

Here is just one example of how i think it could work. Lets say that a dedicated surgeon or paramedic had some latent supernatural ability but was not picked up by the council or other bodies. Through their dedication one night they have tried everything they can to save some poor kid they know what needs to happen but they have neither time/resources to pull it off and then through dedication/faith they pull it off.

I would steer away from it being necassary to be a devout worshipper or anything as thats too limiting in PC developement as is displayed in the books you can have faith in things other than god. Harry's faith is in magic wheras micheals is in god, a healers could simply be in life. WHat i would be against is if someone playing this type of PC all of a sudden picked up a shotgun and started blasted away with no regard to peoples lives then i would impose damage to the abilities for a while.

Anyhoo thats just my 2 cents and it sounds like a nice charecter idea to me.

[SoulCatcher78]

I think Harry (and wizards in general) heal faster than the avg human (as evidenced by their longer life spans).  It might have nothing or everything to do with their connection to magic or just a genetic abnormality.

I do like the idea about the wild talent healing though (rather than a specific skill to be learned).

[Valiar Marcus]

Although we haven't seen examples of healing magic in the Dresdenverse, it dosn't mean it dosn't exist...

Then you'll have to go outside of the canon to provide such a character.  That's all.  Nothing stopping you, when it comes down to it.

But even *Hank McCoy*, a wizard of the Senior Council, was only able to give Harry something to ease the pain, and *maybe* lightly nudge the healing process, when Harry got his hand fried.  It's not within the scope of human magic, at a minimum -- possibly because resculpting human flesh requires an atomic-level understanding of biology, or just that it's hard not to accidentally strip the muscle off of the bone.  Whatever the case, there's just no foundation for it.

It might not be healing exactly, but Kumori did do the life-support necromantic "Hey, you, yeah you, the spirit, where you think you're going?  Get back in that body!" thing for that gunshot victim in Dead Beat...

[jtaylor]

Maybe the reason wizards are so bad at healing because they don't do necromancy. To throw in a d&d refrence, all of the healing spells are from the necromancy school. Think about it, if you can maniuplate the tissue on a dead body into movement, you should be able to manipulate the tissue in a living body into knitting back together.