As for Patriarch917’s comment about switching to 4th Edition, yes, the need for a cleric is even less, but you still need a paladin or a warlord at hand or a steady supply of potions, since Second Wind only works once an encounter, and those healing surges get sucked up between encounters pretty quick. If the party can’t take the full rest, they could run out of resources quickly enough. But like a druid or shaman in 3.5, other classes can reduce the trauma of missing a cleric.

I’ve found that not having access to healing has made our Iron Heroes campaign a lot more fun. Of course, we can heal in between battles with reserve points, so we don’t need to spend a lot of time resting up. But when you’re facing an ogre, a half-dozen centaurs and that many gnolls all at once, with absolutely no healing to speak of.. it certainly makes things a lot more dramatic. We have an NPC healer with us now, but she kind of hates everyone, so it’s hardly healing on-demand.

Plus they use their sneak/hide to turn everything into an ambush, so they take much less damage than you’d imagine.

It’s brutal. Several characters have nearly died. Luckily we’ve got a pair of druids, or we’d have been wiped out on several occasions. My rogue has been dropping cash on healing potions to keep himself alive.

It’s playable, but just barely.

If you have a resourceful or clever group, that might be a lot of fun. I ran a 2nd Edition game once for four guys who all played male human fighters, and it was a complete disaster. YMMV.

WotC has an article on using the new death & dying rules (but not the healing surges, etc.) with v.3.5: http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/drdd/20080201a. You have to sign up for D&D Insider to see it, but it’s still free…

1. Ask someone to be the cleric.
One player reluctantly volunteered to give up his fighter and go cleric. Fortituously, he became that player’s all-time favourite character. I think he ended up a lich.

2. Have a healer NPC follow the party.
The healer ought to be quiet and avoid taking any of the glory. You might even make him a ghost. This is the best solution when there are a very small number of players.

I’m currently running a 3.5 Freeport campaign with 6 players. From the beginning, I’ve told them that party balance is their responsibility. I remind them of this everytime they make new characters, which is a frequent occurrence (lazy play, a story for another time).

Two sessions ago, the party consisted of a cleric, a corsair (Green Ronin pirate class), dragon shaman, a fighter/rogue/ranger, a sorceror, and warlock, all 5th level. The party got involved in an assassination plot that was a rouse and ended up losing four party members. Between sessions, the affected players rolled new characters. Unfortunately, they didn’t heed my warning.

It wasn’t until they were knee-deep into the next dungeon that the PCs realized how woefully unprepared they were. The party now consisted of a corsair, a fighter, a fighter/rogue/ranger, a monk, a paladin, and a scout. After a couple of combat encounters and a couple of traps, the players are cursing themselves for not consulting with each other.

Walt