Healer

'Healers' are rare capes <ref name="II7.10">“I was a support card. Not a lot of people used me because I couldn’t be summoned into a fight,” Kenzie said. “Kind of a bummer.”

Amy had been a support card for that game, I was pretty sure. The effect had been downplayed a lot, but her card had still been popular, because there weren’t that many heals. - Excerpt from Torch 7.10</ref> who can alleviate injuries in others. As no two powers are the same, baring special circumstances, no two heal the same way.

Examples

Panacea
Scapegoat
Lizardtail
Othala
Bonesaw (tinker)
Cask (tinker)
Bitch (canines only)
Eidolon (Depending on the powers he has at a given moment)

Details

Part of the the rarity of healers has to do with how objectively complex the human body is,<ref name=22.4c1>There -can- be very few people with healing abilities. Bonesaw, Scapegoat, Panacea. Others with niches (neurology only, or cardiac systems only), others still with limited capacity (Othala with the ability to grant regeneration).

That’s setting-relevant and a reality when healing is actually something monumentally complex. - Comment by Wildbow on Cell 22.4</ref> how few superpowers can parse human biology and its more delineated physiology.<ref name="19.2 c1">Psycho Gecko:
Wonder what would have happened if she was on her period.

Wildbow:
Nothing. Scapegoat uses his own body as a template. He can’t absorb symptoms to parts he doesn’t have. - Comment by Wildbow on Scourge 19.2</ref>

Generally, healing should be seen as a byproduct in a power meant for something else.<ref>“A healing power,” I said. I watched as Scion reached out for another vial. He held it next to the one he’d already retrieved.
[...]
“There aren’t any healing powers,” the Doctor answered. We continued backing away. “When they crop up, it’s a fluke, pure chance, an extension of another ability with a different focus.” - Excerpt from Venom 29.7</ref>

For contrast, self-healing or regeneration is not unknown in brutes, breakers and changers, but in those cases it also can be seen as a byproduct, specifically, an extension of their personal safeguards.<ref name="I5">In the end, though, scholars in the setting haven’t fully researched and understood the Manton effect and why it exists. So the fact that there’s some confusion on the matter (to the point we may be talking about different effects that are all being (erroneously?) gathered under the same umbrella) is perfectly ok. - Comment by Wildbow in Interlude 5</ref>

Since healing exist in gray areas of power mechanics worrying about power interactions is also a thing.<ref>Scapegoat power Synergies (Wildbow, reddit.com, 2017-05)</ref> Two healers might cancel each other out or exacerbate an issue.

As healers are able to return wounded and disabled capes to the battlefield they are by definition a force multiplier.

Despite their rarity, the uncanny ability for powerful and successful capes to gain access to critical healing creates an air of invincibility. As anything short of death can potentially be remedied, it is much harder for a cape to suffer a career-ending injury so long as they can avoid a fatal blow.<ref>The availability of healing made for an interesting, if ugly, dynamic. Capes like Tattletale, capes like me could be reckless, we’d get our faces slashed open, our backs broken, our throats severed, blinded and burned, and we’d get mended back to a near-pristine condition. Tattletale still had faint scars at the corners of her mouth, regenerated by Brian after his second trigger event, but she’d mended almost to full. I’d had injuries of a much more life-altering scale undone by Panacea and Scapegoat.

If we died, we were dead, no question, unless I gave consideration to Alexandria’s apparent resurrection. But an injury, no matter how grave? That was something that could be remedied, it lent a feeling of invulnerability, an image of invulnerability. So we continued being reckless, and we would continue to be reckless until something finally killed us off. - Excerpt from Crushed 24.3</ref>

History

Background

Similarly to mass-teleporters are always considered a valuable asset.

Story Start

Needed for endbringer incursions.

Gold Morning

Were extremely valuable in reducing fatalities.

References