Thought I read that Courage Thick as Steel no longer stacks? Or were they mistaken?

 

Heals are much better than the damage shield; they're like a shield for each ally in range, plus they replenish lost health. So with 3 melee characters that 40 vs. 30 is more like 120 vs. 30....

 

I would say they are about equal. Sure healing can raise health but a shield can actually raise your health above it's maximum. It's proactive rather then reactive.

 

Even if it does not stack there are so many good phrases now that you can have plenty of others to pair it with. Flame Lash, Range reload, healing, etc.

Yes, constant healing (from another source like another chanter or a paladin or both) paired with 30pt-dmg-shield every 3 sec is very good: no casting time, no spell uses "wasted" - just a great way to passively gain a ton of "virtual" health. An otherwise very offensive but glassy party turns into a sturdy one. THis setup doesn't prevent death because of high spike damage though (dragon breath and such).