While I agree that afflictions on Pretenders can put a damper on a new player and I believe that some option for affliction removal of a Pretender should be inherently apart of the game on a holy aspect that should be considered and balanced out, these are the issues with your post.

The consideration of such features/desires should not be the focus for the reason of the 'newbies'. The game should not cater to the newer players that are unfamiliar with the various aspects of the game and define it's balance on their ignorance of all the effects.

An Option would be perfectly acceptable (or better yet a Tutorial) depending on how hard it would be to code (You could even put in "Unkillable Gods" in there, for the newbies who get their fun ruined by their god 'dying' because of incompetence or newness).

Last but not least, there is already a Mod out now by Alex that gives all pretenders Recuperation that, in effect does as you mention. It is called Healing Gods and is availiable at IW and Sunray's Library.