Be prepared to level up the party this coming week. We can do it at the beginning or the end, but try to do as much of your decision making as possible this week. Regarding the lack of a healer in the party: It's perfectly okay to not have a healer. Seriously, many games don't. The lack of one may even force the party to make the difficult decision to retreat, with interesting story consequences. But if someone took a level of some class with healing power, I doubt anyone else would mind. Y'all correct me if I'm wrong (and I haven't halfway finished my coffee), but at a glance it appears that: A level of Bard would let a player cast Cure Wounds twice between long rests, with Charisma as the spellcasting ability. Druid and Cleric would do the same, using Wisdom. I think it would take 2 levels of Ranger to get the same benefit, using Wisdom. I can introduce a limited amount of support through magical artifacts, shrines dotted through the countryside, etc. if necessary. I'm just not interested in playing a DM-controlled NPC healbot. It's more work for the DM and takes spotlight away from the players. While it's possible for a player to control two characters, it's generally not the best idea because it steals spotlight from the character you really want to play and creates extra work for the player. If it came down to that, I'd rather just nerf the game.
