Avric with a Blade, Viable decision?

By TKNO, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

Hey guys! I've been wrestling with a decision for a while and wanted to know what you all thought of it.

My group is made of three players and one overlord. I'm running Avric as a disciple, another player is running Grisbane as a breserker, and the final is running Jane Fairwood as a wildlander. I've primarily worked on healing, but the group often finds itself in combat that is hard to handle with just a warrior and a ranger, so I try to plink away with my mace.

I've expressed interest with my team in acquiring a sword as to better help with the combat. I'm not planning to stop healing my allies or anything like that, I just want a better chance of doing damage to the large scale creatures such as dragons. Grisbane's player is cool with it, but Jane's is expressing some very reasonable doubt considering that the mace has the ability to stun monsters, which has saved us a couple of times in the past. I can equipt a different weapon each turn, so I could still switch back to the mace, but I might choose the wrong time to enter slaughter mode.

What do you guys think? Should I just keep with the mace and leave the sword out of mind, or should I go for it for the damage output that it could give me?

Also, any good Avric strategies? I would like to futher my abilitiy with him, considering I am going through campaign with him. I currently have Armor of Faith, Cleansing Touch, Leather Armor, and the Relic Shield.

TL;DR: Is a sword for Disciple a viable option? Also, Avric Strategies.

Avric is pretty meaty with 12 hps, so it's not unreasonable to think he can enter the fray from time to time to help chop away at some monsters. I just finished a campaign and Avric was a mini-tank, ultimately equipped with the Dawnblade, a heavy shield and Stamina Ring, he was healing and killing just as well as the Champion. Considering he can buff himself up with Divine Fury and Armor of Faith every time he heals himself, his Blessed Strike skill is there for making attacks and reaping a healing benefit from it, so don't be too worried. Avric heals alot, and it usually doesn't cost him an action so you might as well use some other actions to take a swipe at some monsters. Take a look at the Steel Sword, as it lets you reroll a power die every time you attack, which is pretty useful to get those extra surges.