ok, it seems like a lot of people dislike healing surges because you get your hit points back instantly? You've never had in-combat healing in your games when playing 1E, 2E, 3E, 3.5E or Pathfinder? Players just sucked it up until they beat the bad guys or dropped below 0? And, your only choice after a combat where you were knocked down to near 0 hit points was to rest & recover naturally at 1 hit point/night, d3 hit points/night or 1hp/level per night? There was no magical healing right after a combat?
I've been playing D&D since the late 70s with lots of players and with lots of and the players always exhausted whatever healing they had available ASAP. Once the combat was over, it was time to do as much healing as possible because you don't know if another wave is coming the next round or the next turn or the next hour.
I had a 2 1/2 year long campaign in 3.5E where I felt I wasn't doing my job as a DM at higher levels if the PC cleric, the NPC cleric ally or the PC Psion weren't casting/manifesting "Revivify" at least once or twice per combat (or more), as well as casting spells like "Heal" or the Mass Cure spells (Cure Light Wounds, Mass, Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass, etc), and eventually things like Mass Heal and Miracle. Or, how about a Quickened Revivify followed by a Heal? Go from negative hit points and dying to full (or near full for the tanks) with only a standard action and a minor action by the party cleric. And, for PCs that maybe were not quite within healing range on their turn, they sometimes had a healing potion to use.
And, the prior edition games I was involved with before made extensive use of in-combat healing, as well as healing up ASAP after combat, when available. Sure, maybe some times at very low levels in 1E, you'd have to wait a few days in game for the party cleric to re-memorize and re-cast "Cure Light Wounds" enough times. But, you didn't have a ton of hit points in the first place.
To me, it's just not a big deal that classes besides the cleric can perform healing, and can also heal in combat and after combat. I don't see that big a difference between a cleric invoking his deity to heal and a Warlord using his or her Charisma to heal somebody through inspiration, or a Shaman healing through her connections to Nature. In previous editions, other classes besides the cleric could heal (druid, ranger, paladin), just not as effectively as a cleric. I don't think it's that huge of a change to upgrade the healing of some classes to put it on par with the cleric.
Oh, and when I'm narrating a game, be it 4E or previous editions, I have always described a player as taking damage when they take damage, especially from big hits. I don't see a big difference between a 4E PC taking a hit and then getting to use a healing surge later that combat, and a 3E PC taking a hit and then being hit with healing magic from an ally.
As I stated way earlier in this thread, I don't love healing surges overall (too plentiful, I think, is my problem). However, I think it's great that it's cut way down on the 15 minute adventuring day. Instead of 1 combat per day that was standard in most previous editions, you can have 4-5-6 combats in a day.
I've been playing D&D since the late 70s with lots of players and with lots of and the players always exhausted whatever healing they had available ASAP. Once the combat was over, it was time to do as much healing as possible because you don't know if another wave is coming the next round or the next turn or the next hour.
I had a 2 1/2 year long campaign in 3.5E where I felt I wasn't doing my job as a DM at higher levels if the PC cleric, the NPC cleric ally or the PC Psion weren't casting/manifesting "Revivify" at least once or twice per combat (or more), as well as casting spells like "Heal" or the Mass Cure spells (Cure Light Wounds, Mass, Cure Moderate Wounds, Mass, etc), and eventually things like Mass Heal and Miracle. Or, how about a Quickened Revivify followed by a Heal? Go from negative hit points and dying to full (or near full for the tanks) with only a standard action and a minor action by the party cleric. And, for PCs that maybe were not quite within healing range on their turn, they sometimes had a healing potion to use.
And, the prior edition games I was involved with before made extensive use of in-combat healing, as well as healing up ASAP after combat, when available. Sure, maybe some times at very low levels in 1E, you'd have to wait a few days in game for the party cleric to re-memorize and re-cast "Cure Light Wounds" enough times. But, you didn't have a ton of hit points in the first place.
To me, it's just not a big deal that classes besides the cleric can perform healing, and can also heal in combat and after combat. I don't see that big a difference between a cleric invoking his deity to heal and a Warlord using his or her Charisma to heal somebody through inspiration, or a Shaman healing through her connections to Nature. In previous editions, other classes besides the cleric could heal (druid, ranger, paladin), just not as effectively as a cleric. I don't think it's that huge of a change to upgrade the healing of some classes to put it on par with the cleric.
Oh, and when I'm narrating a game, be it 4E or previous editions, I have always described a player as taking damage when they take damage, especially from big hits. I don't see a big difference between a 4E PC taking a hit and then getting to use a healing surge later that combat, and a 3E PC taking a hit and then being hit with healing magic from an ally.
As I stated way earlier in this thread, I don't love healing surges overall (too plentiful, I think, is my problem). However, I think it's great that it's cut way down on the 15 minute adventuring day. Instead of 1 combat per day that was standard in most previous editions, you can have 4-5-6 combats in a day.
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