#Taking no damage is better than healing damage One of my favorite introductory guides is [Treantmonk's guide for God Wizards][1]. He makes two statements about dedicated healers which fit amazingly here. First, out of combat, he talks about the healbot character. >Healbot: Can the wizard fill this role? Not really, but don't worry, you don't want it. The party Gimp gets to use up all his resources "servicing" the party between combats. Sound pleasant? That's why he's the gimp. **In reality, this role is optional in 5e. With short rests and any number of healing abilities, you should get along fine without.** I would note that most adventures also grant the party a good amount of Healing Potions and gold, which can be used to... buy more healing potions. Then, he makes an even stronger statement about healing **in combat**. In a role called "Waste of Space" (yup), he states >The Waste of Space is the guy who thought that a low Charisma Warlock made an excellent "character concept", or maybe he figures that a dedicated healer is an appropriate contributor to a combat environment. The explanation follows: >There are two ways you can live your "pretend" life - "reactively" or "proactively". The God Wizard will alter reality to prevent damage, a healer will try to do "damage control" (pun intended) after the damage has been taken. Simple truth: The mechanics of the game make preventing damage more efficient than healing damage after the fact. ------------------ Now, adding my experience to his text: I have played two tables without a Healbot and also without a Waste of Space (:P) - both went quite fine. On the other hand, a table I'm DM'ing with a Life Cleric has been suffering a lot in Lost Mine of Phandelver - the party spends more time unconscious than actually fighting, and I am being nice to them. Really. In the tables without healbots, I was playing a Wizard quite similar to Treantmonk's concept. Truth is: hitting the Fighter with 19 AC while in disadvantage is hard. At higher levels, I really don't care if my Fighter which was Polymorphed into a Giant Ape is taking damage - he has essentially 157 *temporary* hits points added to his pool, and that's a lot more than most healing spells would provide, even if these temporary hit points come with a lowish AC (12), although the two attacks with +9 to hit with 3d10+6 damage kinda makes up for that. One friend of mine also played a Sorcerer in a similar table and had good results. It seems Twinned Spell Haste and later Twinned Spell Polymorph into Giant Ape is quite strong. Sure, these are limited resources, but so are healing spells and features. Other ways of preventing damage are the Ancestral Guardian Barbarian giving disadvantages to attacks made against enemies it hits (Funny barbarian concept here: https://rpg.stackexchange.com/q/129490/43856) or a Sentinel Polearm Fighter not allowing the enemy to even get close. Either way, most parties are able to get features that allow you to **prevent damage** or **mitigate it**, which is **more efficient than healing**. Then you can heal between combats with potions of healing and short rests. --------------------- Note: this does require some level of tactical playing and optimal building of characters, while playing with a dedicated healer allows the party to play more loosely. But the answer to the question is: Yes, it can, and it can be even more effective than a party with a dedicated healer. [1]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IeOXWvbkmQ3nEyM2P3lS8TU4rsK6QJP0oH7HE_v67QY/edit