D&D 5E D&D Unboxing Starter Set Video is on Youtube

[Grazzt]

Yes, oh god, please, yes.

Yes please. This horse is dead and currently at like -1,000 hit points.

 

[Obryn]

Yes please. This horse is dead and currently at like -1,000 hit points.

Okay, but like how many of those can it get back with a Second Wind?

 

[hbarsquared]

He'll be at full hit points in ten days of continul short rests.

Broken!

 

[Psikerlord#]

Taking two short rests in a row is not at all similar to carrying a bag of rats. The fighter character would know that he heals or undoes the damage he just received at a rate of once per hour of short rest. So, take two short rests, or three, or five, until he is full up.

I'm not breaking the rules by playing by the rules, the rules are broken. Railroading PCs is not the answer. Anything they put in the FAQ to limit when you can take a short rest will probably seem contrived and arbitrary, and anyway will be exploitable. So sure, the fighter uses second wind, then they start walking for a bit, until whenever the new FAQ suggestion or rule states that sufficient time has passed, or circumstances have arisen, and the player can decide if he wants to risk using an HD or take another short rest as soon as the criteria are met. If I'm on a budget, and I can avoid wasting money, why are you telling me to waste money? (or cure spells) I can wait a couple minutes before starting another hour-long rest, if I can take another rest for an hour anyway.

Lay on Hands is a certain number of times per day. The cleric healing ability is capped to 50%, which inherently stops it from making Cure Wounds or HD obsolete. Second Wind isn't capped or limited in any way except a flimsy, "when does one rest end and another begin"-way. Which is bad game design. When you have a healing limit for the fighter class, it had better have hard, serious caps on it that aren't open to debate.

Until there's a limit on the number of short rests you can take, or they add some kind of delay between short rests, it is perfectly rational, sensible, and not an exploit in any way, to play the game by the rules.

Why should I cast cure wounds on my party member when he can cure himself now, at no daily cost? Makes no sense, in character or out of character. I enjoy playing games with rules that make sense, that's why aside from this and a handful of other rules in 5th edition, I play it weekly.

If I didn't think the rules made sense overall, I wouldn't play this game. There are two other rules lawyers in my group, and they also similarly dislike arbitrary DM fiat or hand wavey rationalizations for not allowing something so simple.

This wasn't a problem in the October packet, they introduced this later.

^this x1000. Go DDNFan!

 

[Psikerlord#]

@Morrus;

Okay, so your worst case scenario is the Cleric casting their spells more productively?

Oh. The horror.

Worst case scenario is all PCs take 1 level of fighter, and everyone has unlimited free healing. I have a hard time thinking of a more broken mechanic.

 

[Obryn]

@Morrus;Worst case scenario is all PCs take 1 level of fighter, and everyone has unlimited free healing. I have a hard time thinking of a more broken mechanic.

Sacrificing effectiveness at your own class for impractically slow healing sure sounds like a bargain to me.

 

[thunktanker]

Let me draw a diagram since it's so hard for this concept to sink in:

Sequence of events:
Rest A begins, 11:00am
Second Wind A
Rest A ends, 12:00pm
...something, anything happens. I stand up and do something that's not considered to be resting by any reasonable person
Rest B starts, 12:01pm
Second Wind B
Rest B ends, 1:01pm

I think the important missing detail is that there would be a DM present deciding whether that "something" is something that any reasonably person agrees ends a rest. Personally, I don't see standing up or doing push ups as something that ends the rest. Attack an owlbear, saddle the horses and head on into town, saddle the owlbear and attack the horses, cast cure wounds on a wounded owlbearhorse heading on into town--any of that will do for me, and I'd be ok with getting second wind back. As a DM, I'm looking for actions that have a meaningful effect on the game other than to just create an opportunity for a second rest.

But reasonable minds may disagree. It doesn't seem broken to me, but I can see that it is to you. I can respect that. Maybe there will be different language about short rests that we will learn about later. Maybe there will be a FAQ to handle this issue. I'm fine with this being left as a table issue, myself--but hopefully things are resolved adequately for you in the end.

I'm moving on from the debate. I'm sure it's almost time for another preview of something else to think about.

 

[Bugleyman]

So if I'm nauseated by the incessant arguing in this thread, but then I get up and go to the bathroom, come back, and get nauseated again, is that broken?

 

[Ainamacar]

If Second Wind ever became an issue in one of my games I would make the following one-line houserule: Second Wind cannot heal more damage than you've taken since the last time you used Second Wind.

If the fighter uses second wind then punches himself in the face for 3 hp he can use it again to recover up to 3 hp, regardless of any other healing received after the punch. This rule works whether or not short rests expand to fill the maximum possible amount of time. It would be a poor official rule because it technically requires tracking something that is usually pointless to track: in a proper combat a fighter almost always takes more damage than Second Wind can heal anyway, and the most obvious alleged abuses tend to involve having taken no (or very little) damage since last using the ability 5 seconds ago. But as a houserule that clarifies the spirit of the rule and the exact line between acceptable and unacceptable use, it does the job well, enough so that after stating the rule I'd feel comfortable not requiring anyone to track anything.

 

[PinkRose]

1. Why do people still engage with certain people that they know will just continue to complain. I've ignored them and I think it would benefit these entire boards if others did as well.

2. Do we even know if a bonus action can be used out of combat?