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D&D 4th Edition RulesAsk questions about 4th-Edition rules and the like in here. General discussion about 4E or any other game belongs in General RPG Discussion, above.
I asked the same sort of question and got the responses in the thread below. From the fluff, it makes out like the recipient should be able to hear the warlord, ie be conscious, but I figured that made the warlord a pretty poor healer, and the warlord in my group generally doesn't speak at all anyway.
Thanks. I agree with the poster in that thread. It works in the RAW (heal unconscious characters), but seems odd. One character falls to a spear, and lays bleeding at -5 hit points. The warlord can on his turn use Inspiring Word to bring this character (with at least one remaining healing surge and within 5 squares) to 0 + surge value + 1d6 Hit Points as a minor action!
It must be that the character is only unconscious mechanically, but narratively I can think of it as the character obviously was just conscious enough to be bolstered by the shout-out (By Thor's Hammer!!! GET UP BOY!) to snap back from the brink.
The alternative mechanics would require the party to have to take an extended rest each time a party member goes into negative hit points. This is a very compelling reason for their to always be a leader/healer about, and I prefer to keep the game moving really.
Last edited by vic20; 11th October 2008 at 05:07 AM..
Reason: two negatives don't make a double?
Like most other powers in 4e, if you look at it in terms of the game narrative, it makes perfect sense.
"Unconsciousness" is a mechanical term that could entail any number of narrative descriptions.
"With a mighty swing of his tree-like club, the ogre knocked Nyreth the Nimble to the ground. He lay there bleeding, barely clinging to consciousness. All of a sudden, the voice of his comrade Rindale rang in his head, 'Nyreth! Throw off your wounds! We need your help!' With a renewed resolve, Nyreth managed to find the inner strength to hold onto consciousness just a few minutes longer."
So, yeah. The status "Unconscious" just entails a list of game effects. It doesn't necessarily mean the character is ... well, unconscious in real-world terms.
Like most other powers in 4e, if you look at it in terms of the game narrative, it makes perfect sense.
"Unconsciousness" is a mechanical term that could entail any number of narrative descriptions.
"With a mighty swing of his tree-like club, the ogre knocked Nyreth the Nimble to the ground. He lay there bleeding, barely clinging to consciousness. All of a sudden, the voice of his comrade Rindale rang in his head, 'Nyreth! Throw off your wounds! We need your help!' With a renewed resolve, Nyreth managed to find the inner strength to hold onto consciousness just a few minutes longer."
So, yeah. The status "Unconscious" just entails a list of game effects. It doesn't necessarily mean the character is ... well, unconscious in real-world terms.
-O
There's also a long list of evidence of people who are actually unconscious still being able to hear. In both fiction and the real world.
You could also take this as the demeanor of the Warlord and the respect he engenders having an influence on the character:
As your consciousness fades and you feel your life ebbing away, you think of <the Warlord>, that noble warrior and tactical genius that has seen you through so many conflicts in the past. You think about how you might be letting him down if you were to die right here in this moment, still so far from your party's goals. Hanging from a final thread of conscious thought you realize that you cannot allow yourself to fall here, no matter how much you might hurt, because you cannot bring yourself to disappoint <the warlord>.
More of an inspiring presence, really, but other than flavor text there's nothing to say that the healing word has to actually be words.
Urgh. I think I'll bookmark this thread under "Reasons why 4E bothers me." I'm not disagreeing with anyone's interpretations of the rules, but allowing a Martial character to "Inspire" someone (with "Words") from negative HP to positive HP just bugs me. The number of Narrativisms/SODs necessary to play this game just keep piling up.
Sorry for any kind of thread jack. Feel free to ignore me.
__________________ I don't "tell stories" when I play D&D. I adventure. Afterward, when the gold is counted and the bodies piled high, we may tell stories about how it all went down. Or not.
Ahem .. I was just throwing in a random movie quote.
I sorta agree with you, though.
See, when healing magic is used, you could always say, "hey it's magic!"
Warlord tells some unconscious dude to get back up from 25 feet away is just abit silly.
However, I treat 4e like a board game, so .. if I want realism I'll play a game wherein a single hit = possible death.
That's realistic.
__________________ The Passion of Lovers is for Death
Yet strangely, talking someone who is out of the fight back into the fight is such a movie cliche, even in sword+sorcery movies, that I figured that its inclusion is natural and makes sense given the heroic fantasy world they're trying to portray.
Meh, I'm sure it annoys pretty much every person that values realism very high.
It sure as hell annoys me to the .
You gotta figure there's a difference between UNCONSCIOUS and SLEEPING. When you're in a coma, you don't wake up to loud noises.
Anyways for a counterexample, I just think of this great quote from the movie The Abyss :"Wake up bitch !!!!!!!!!!!!*SLAP*" and it works. (great scene, lame movie)
Urgh. I think I'll bookmark this thread under "Reasons why 4E bothers me." I'm not disagreeing with anyone's interpretations of the rules, but allowing a Martial character to "Inspire" someone (with "Words") from negative HP to positive HP just bugs me. The number of Narrativisms/SODs necessary to play this game just keep piling up.
Sorry for any kind of thread jack. Feel free to ignore me.
The same mechanic is when an team is losing and its supporters start to cheer and root even harder, giving the team an new boost and ultimately winning or scoring..
Hitpoints is not mere wounds, it is fatigue, inspiration and much much more..
The name is just an collection and to simplefy the mechanics for knowing how well you're character is doing..
Remember, the fluff in the top of the power can be changed by each player as they like and at a whim.
The warlord could describe it as summoning an invisible purple elephant that awakes the wounded character from the brink of death with its trumpet blasts if he likes - as long as what he describes has the same gameish effects.
And the reverse holds true also, of course. It does not matter how the warlord does describe his powers - the same things will happen whether the character is healed by something the warlord describes as cheerleading, applying a poultice, or using the above purple elephant (whose name is Gorga, btw).
Last edited by Tuft; 12th October 2008 at 01:32 PM..
The number of Narrativisms/SODs necessary to play this game just keep piling up.
Narrativism for the win!!!
Seriously, how many people have stayed on the bedside of a comatose lover/friend/family member, talking to them...
And of course, in fiction, this is sure to result on said character "returning to life"! (how/if it works on real life is a question I leave to neurologists)
D&D being a kind of collaborative fiction (IMHO), this works perfectly for me.
In the words of Miles Vorkosigan: "I don't dare die, there's this fierce lady who's promised to kill me if I do".
__________________ "I am King of the Romans and above the rules of grammar!" - Sigismund, Roman Emperor and my new hero
"Craft and profession skills are a tax on people who believe characterization and back-story are important." - Obryn
"It's been interesting to see how the discourse on 4e vs. 3e has shaped up. This is the first time in D&D's history that you have a number of publishers whose best economic interests lie in stopping people from moving to the new edition. I imagine that the venomous rage has been in part fed by people who serve as opinion leaders for some portions of the audience." - Mike Mearls
Last edited by Amphimir Míriel; 12th October 2008 at 05:31 PM..
Urgh. I think I'll bookmark this thread under "Reasons why 4E bothers me." I'm not disagreeing with anyone's interpretations of the rules, but allowing a Martial character to "Inspire" someone (with "Words") from negative HP to positive HP just bugs me. The number of Narrativisms/SODs necessary to play this game just keep piling up.
Sorry for any kind of thread jack. Feel free to ignore me.
Yeah! Games that require people to have an imagination bother me, too.
Everytime I fall to negative HP or unconcious, the only things that get me up are magic, too. Why shouldn't the same be true in fantasy?
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