The former, of course.

Nothing says healing magic like black sorcery forcing flesh to sew itself together while the [s]victim[/s] wounded ally [s]shrieks and writhes in agony[/s] watches the cleric lovingly tend to their wounds. Sure, they may have an objective for finding true healing magic that doesn't make people faint and despise them later, but you gotta make do with what you have.

That, and they can tank swords and arrows.
Or, at least, that's the concept... I run into a bit of trouble creating this character so I take frequent breaks from it.