Healing, Which Hit Points Cost the Least

The Fighter is down. The Cleric has a spell slot, the Rogue has a potion, and everyone has Hit Point Dice for later. Each of those buys Hit Points at a different price: an action, a Bonus Action, a slot, 50 GP or an hour. SRD 5.2.1 sets every price. Here they are, quoted, with the averages worked out.

The ceiling: healing never goes past your maximum

Your Hit Points can't exceed your Hit Point maximum, so any Hit Points regained in excess of the maximum are lost.

Every heal below gets measured against that line. A big heal on a lightly hurt ally wastes most of it. A Fighter with 22 of 28 HP who takes Cure Wounds (2d8+3) loses about 6 of the 12 points it averages. The same spell on a Fighter at 18 wastes 2.5. Heal late, not early.

Cure Wounds: the most per slot

A creature you touch regains a number of Hit Points equal to 2d8 plus your spellcasting ability modifier.

It costs an action, a level 1 slot and a touch. A Cleric with Wisdom 16 (+3) heals 5 to 19, 12 on average. Each slot level above 1 adds 2d8, so a level 2 slot averages 21.

Healing Word: less, but from 60 feet

A creature of your choice that you can see within range regains Hit Points equal to 2d4 plus your spellcasting ability modifier.

Casting Time: Bonus Action. Range: 60 feet. The same Cleric heals 5 to 11, 8 on average: two thirds of Cure Wounds. The slot buys less healing and keeps the action. The Cleric can still Attack, Dodge or cast a cantrip.

There is a catch:

On a turn, you can expend only one spell slot to cast a spell.

Healing Word plus Guiding Bolt on the same turn is out. Healing Word plus Sacred Flame is fine.

Why a small heal matters at 0 HP

If you reach 0 Hit Points and don't die instantly, you have the Unconscious condition (see "Rules Glossary") until you regain any Hit Points.

One Hit Point stands a creature back up. So the first heal on a downed ally is worth more than its number. It ends the Death Saving Throws and gives back a whole turn.

The number still matters on the next goblin turn. A Goblin Warrior's Scimitar hits for 1d6+2. The odds one ordinary hit drops the ally again:

A Critical Hit (2d6+2) drops a Healing Word target 69% of the time and a potion drinker 80%. A fresh heal is a short leash. Get the ally out of reach on their turn.

Potions of Healing: no slot, 50 GP

As a Bonus Action, you can drink it or administer it to another creature within 5 feet of yourself. The creature that drinks the magical red fluid in this vial regains 2d4 + 2 Hit Points.

Anyone can use one, and it costs a Bonus Action, not an action. The SRD potion table:

The plain potion, at 50 GP, sits on the equipment list. At 7 HP average it costs about 7 GP per Hit Point. Carry two for the Fighter who drops when the Cleric is out of reach.

The Healer's Kit heals nothing

As a Utilize action, you can expend one of its uses to stabilize an Unconscious creature that has 0 Hit Points without needing to make a Wisdom (Medicine) check.

Ten uses for 5 GP. It stops the dying, not the bleeding: a Stable creature still sits at 0 HP. Spare the Dying does the same from 15 feet as a cantrip.

Free healing: Hit Point Dice and Second Wind

For each Hit Point Die you spend in this way, roll the die and add your Constitution modifier to it.

That happens on a Short Rest: an hour, no slot, no gold. A Fighter with Constitution 14 gets d10+2, 7.5 on average per die, and can stop after any roll. A level 3 Fighter has three of them.

Fighters also carry their own:

As a Bonus Action, you can use it to regain Hit Points equal to 1d10 plus your Fighter level.

Second Wind at level 3 averages 8.5, two uses, one back on a Short Rest. That matches Healing Word with no Cleric involved.

Goodberry and Prayer of Healing

Goodberry makes ten berries for a level 1 slot:

A creature can take a Bonus Action to eat one berry. Eating a berry restores 1 Hit Point.

That is 10 HP for the slot, a little under Cure Wounds' 12, but the berries keep for 24 hours and the eater spends the Bonus Action, not the Druid. Hand them out before the fight. The text says the creature eats the berry, so an Unconscious ally can't.

Prayer of Healing takes 10 minutes for up to five creatures:

...gain the benefits of a Short Rest and also regain 2d8 Hit Points.

That is 9 HP average each, 45 across five, plus the Short Rest, all in a ten-minute pause. Each creature gets it once per Long Rest.

Life Clerics: every slot heals more

When a spell you cast with a spell slot restores Hit Points to a creature, that creature regains additional Hit Points on the turn you cast the spell. The additional Hit Points equal 2 plus the spell slot's level.

At level 3, a Life Cleric's level 1 Cure Wounds averages 15 and Healing Word 11. The goblin's chance to drop a Healing Word target in one ordinary hit falls from 20.8% to 1%.

The price list

Heal from 0 with the cheapest thing in reach. Save Cure Wounds for the ally who is low but still standing. Spend Hit Point Dice before slots whenever the fight allows an hour.

The Book of Dice covers the d4 and d8 behind these heals in Part I, The Object.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.