The basic issue isn't around healing. It's the simple fact that mechanically there is no downside to resting. Now DMs can create reasons, but at the core Players are encouraged to be at max hps.
The fix is mechanical penalties for resting. If you take for example the 4e action point idea but made it so you started with 5 at the start of the adventure and lost one with each extended rest. It's one simple example you could use a variety of ideas. The key is that resting has a penalty so it becomes an actual choice
Uhm... I don't understand if incomplete healing is wanted because of atmosphere/realism or because people actually like having the extra challenge. I was rather assuming the first, but I'm not sure ...
Anyway, the idea is not really like the spellbook case: that is very DM's initiative-dependent, while this ability damage would just kick in automatically when meeting the trigger.
This is part of that cross purposes I mentioned eariler. The spell book example is mechanically unlike what we are discussing, but it is another example of a drawback that often does not actually happen, and thus doesn't often apply.
What Stalker0 suggested is one of the few things that can bridge this gap, in that it has direct influence on both players and characters in the world.
If you really screw over the
characters (in the game world)--lot of hit point damage, steal their spell books, do significant ability score damage, drain levels, break magic items, and so forth--then the players will have their characters react however they those characters are geared: anguish, determination, fear, irritation, etc. If what they are currently doing is important to them, they'll push on as long as they think they have a chance--and maybe beyond that point.
You do all that exact same stuff to the
players (by monkeying with their characters), and it depends on how invested the players are in those characters, and in what way, how they will react.
For some players, you need to give the
player a reason to push on. For some players, you need to give the
character a reason to push on. Sometimes, you really need both. Sometimes you need a strong reason, and sometimes any old reason will do (more a thin rationale than a reason).
So I wasn't disagreeing with ability score damage, but noting that 1d6 ability score damage when you hit zero hit points is primarily aimed at motivating characters, not players. Because doing that kind of relatively rare, relatively strong hit on a character is like stealing a spellbook. It's apt to prompt the players to nullify the problem, rather than push on in spite of it.
There are exceptions, of course. That's why I mentioned that you need fine control. What motivates Joe to buckle down and have Mr. Fighter press on may be the exact same thing that motivates Jane to have Ms. Wizard go fix the current drawback before pressing on.
I'm primarily coming at this from the "player psychology" perspective. Consider this, even though it is blurring these lines, I think it does illustrate the different well enough. Let's say you want a dragon fight. You aren't going to force it, but you'd like for it to happen. (Nevermind the issue of whether you should or not. Hypothetically, you want it, and your players aren't completely opposed to such things.) You can go one of two ways, or blend them, depending on your group:
- You rachet up the drama of the situation so that the characters are gonna fight that dragon if at all possible. You make them care to fight it, even if they "know" it is a TPK. The tougher you make the dragon, short of it being able to 1-round TPK, the higher the drama and tension.
- You tempt the players to tangle with the dragon by making it tough, but not too tough, and likely to have a dragon's treasure, something else they want, etc. The tougher you make the dragon, the more you discourage the players from doing what you want.
Now with a guy like me, same as with a lot of people, who plays with the same group nearly all the time, and knows them well, I can hit a sweet spot in the middle, where I'm racheting drama but keeping an upper lid on the toughness, so that I get some of the benefits of both. The line is different with every player. But the point is that you can't just pursue one motivation full bore without eventually having a counter-productive motivation on the other side.
Too much focus on the "atmosphere of grit" at the expense of real drawbacks is all focus on character motivation, not player motivation. With most players, there is a point where continuing to pursue the atmosphere is counter-productive to the result you want.
