Quick Answer: Healing Word -- Encounter Power?

Bodhiwolff · Aug 16, 2009

So, my players will be here in a little over an hour, and I *just* saw something that tweaked my brain. I thought I'd ask Enworld for an answer.

Take, as our example, the cleric's power "Healing Word". We've been treating it like a "double" encounter power. You get two copies of it, to show that you *could* cast it twice per encounter, but then once they've been cast we demand a short rest to replenish them.

However ... after glancing at the actual wording of the "Healing Word" entry in the PHB this morning, just for something to do, I think we've been doing it wrong. Or at least potentially doing it wrong ...

Is it supposed to be more like a magic item's "encounter" power, in that you could cast it twice per actual encounter, and it replenishes itself automatically without a short rest?

Or is it simply an encounter power that you have two "copies" of, and once they're gone, you need a short rest to replenish them?

My players will be anxious to know your answers!

Asmor · Aug 16, 2009

A short rest is required to regain any and all encounter-based resources, including Healing Word.

Nikosandros · Aug 16, 2009

Bodhiwolff said:
Or is it simply an encounter power that you have two "copies" of, and once they're gone, you need a short rest to replenish them?

This one. It can be used twice in a single encounter and it comes back after a short rest, like all other encounter powers.

CapnZapp · Aug 16, 2009

An encounter doesn't actually end until there is a short rest, so the alternative doesn't really make sense.

The only way to replenish an encounter power is by taking a short rest. That's by definition. No short rest; no encounters coming back. Simple

This isn't any different for magic items. The only difference is with item daily powers, which there is a limit on how many you can use per encounter, regardless of how many you have.

Dannager · Aug 16, 2009

CapnZapp said:
An encounter doesn't actually end until there is a short rest, so the alternative doesn't really make sense.

The only way to replenish an encounter power is by taking a short rest. That's by definition. No short rest; no encounters coming back. Simple

This isn't any different for magic items. The only difference is with item daily powers, which there is a limit on how many you can use per encounter, regardless of how many you have.

No, item daily powers have a limit on how many you can use per day, not per encounter. If you're epic tier and you want to use all three of your starting daily item power uses in the first encounter, you absolutely can.

CapnZapp · Aug 17, 2009

That does not change the fact that you can use all of your encounters, every encounter.

The limit on item dailies per encounter would in your example be three.

Sure, that limit changes with various factors, but only in a few cases will you be able to use all your daily item powers in one and the same encounter.

Regardless, my reply was directed towards the OP. Writing "replenishes itself automatically without a short rest" suggests a fundamental misunderstanding of the game rules - only at-wills (and in one way, healing surge items, I guess) adhere to something like that.

On Puget Sound · Aug 18, 2009

If you choose not to take a short rest, or if your short rest is interrupted after an encounter is "over", then it's not really over. In a scenario with a ticking clock or an enemy with reinforcements this could happen.