D&D 5E How to turn D&D into a Video Game

guachi · Nov 14, 2017

Take a spell like Healing Spirit that, as a 2nd level spell, can heal 35 HP per target (or more).

Each level above 2nd heals 35 more per target. Does D&D really need a 3rd level spell that can heal a few hundred points of damage?

Always be at full HP no matter the fight, I suppose. Challenge? We don't need no stinking challenge in our game.

Sacrosanct · Nov 14, 2017

It's 1d6 per target. Not 35. And +1d6 for each higher slot.

schnee · Nov 14, 2017

guachi · Nov 15, 2017

Sacrosanct said:
It's 1d6 per target. Not 35. And +1d6 for each higher slot.

It's 1d6 per target for up to 10 rounds. Ergo, it's 10d6 healing (average 35) for as many target as can move through the healing spot.

Math, how does it work?

Sunseeker · Nov 15, 2017

There are lots of D&D-based video games.

DEFCON 1 · Nov 15, 2017

guachi said:
It's 1d6 per target for up to 10 rounds. Ergo, it's 10d6 healing (average 35) for as many target as can move through the healing spot.

Math, how does it work?

Yeah, great. 35 points over the length of the spell, but only 3.5 per round. Which means those other 31.5 points get wasted when you heal those 3.5 points and then get slaughtered by your opponent for 48 knocking you unconscious and unable to move into the spot for the rest of its duration.

Sacrosanct · Nov 15, 2017

guachi said:
It's 1d6 per target for up to 10 rounds. Ergo, it's 10d6 healing (average 35) for as many target as can move through the healing spot.

Math, how does it work?

First, if you can’t keep insults to yourself, you should probably not reply at all. Secondly, see DEFCON’s response because that was the context of which I was replying. That is, the last part of of what you stated being at full HP all the time, which obviously isn’t true when you factor in what you left out: it’s spread out over ten rounds. So unless PCs never take more than 1d6 damage per round, that claim is simply false. Also, does the totem even move, or do PCs have to keep running back to it? (I already know the answer), which severely hinders combat tactics.

The context of how the spell works matters, and it doesn’t do what you claimed it does in the way you presented it.

Prakriti · Nov 15, 2017

@guachi has a point, and Jeremy Crawford has responded to concerns saying that the spell might be changed as a result.

For comparison, Prayer of Healing, another 2nd-level healing spell, heals 2d8 + ability modifier over 10 minutes, while Healing Spirit heals 10d6 over 1 minute. That's a huge difference, and obviously not how the developers expected the spell to perform.

schnee · Nov 15, 2017

Yeah, it is a bit over the top on first read.

I'm also of the mind to see how it will work in-game, but from what I can tell here, it was meant to be a question of action economy and risk of moving around in combat, when you could risk attacks of opportunity, or it could be shut down with a Bonfire cantrip, flaming oil, or many other things.

Out of combat it's ridiculous. I wonder if they play-test widely enough, especially with 'black hat' optimizers that will purposefully break everything they possibly can. (That's silly. Of course they didn't. :heh:

)

I'm wondering how people will be house-ruling it in the meantime?

Anything I'm thinking of makes it only applicable in one situation or the other.