DMs - How do you treat Healing Word?

[vlysses]

I have observed much discussion about the supposedly overpowered nature of Healing Word, because of its range and bonus action deployment. What I don't understand: in a melee fight with multiple foes, it's super likely that, in the order of play, a foe comes between the healer and the healed, who has very few HP, and is still slumped on the ground, so easy to hit, with advantage even.

Do people play it is such a way that monsters don't notice that the target has been healed and only realise that when he/she stands up, or do they give him another whack, which would instantly put the target back to zero, defeating the purpose of HW (although I acknowledge that it would at the very least delay the onset of death saves by a round).

But in any case, because of this, I don't quite see the danger of the game descending into whackamole mode... Or am I missing something?

PS: I understand that positioning play a role, etc, but usually, players fight against a larger number of foes, so someone is always bound to stand near the dropped player, esp if HW is cast right after the drop. And monsters often have multiattack, so they could easily knock back out the target, and continue fighting the other players...?

 

[Raith5]

Its a nice tactical option with the risks you note. I have only used it when I or another party member can interpose themselves to try to hit the opponents as well - that is the heroic part of the spell that I like. I think they got the balance between HW and cure wounds right.

 

[5ekyu]

I saw a recent video about the OP healing word whack a mole and responded to it on youtube - negatively.

There are a lot of things at play and imo it was very overblown.

Npcs will react as they should - most of the time focus will remain on active threats but it will vary a lot.

Generally though, the WAM "problem" of not liking folks able to get right back up os actually a difference in expectations and has nothing to do with HW.

At 1hp you are fine. Hit a calttop or get a dart from a goblin or get punched by a commoner and drop to dying, 5'auto crit etc. Get cured by anything for 1hp - back to fine.

The "problem" is the gross difference between 1hp and 0 hp, not that its too easy to go from 0 to 1 sinces its easier to go from 1 to 0.

 

[CapnZapp]

defeating the purpose of HW (although I acknowledge that it would at the very least delay the onset of death saves by a round).

This.

The purpose of in-combat healing is to prevent character death.

Healing Word means that monsters need to go to great lengths killing off fallen foes, which introduces needless cruelty to the game.

If you don't like the implications; that intelligent combatants always keep hitting on the defenceless fallen just keep them from getting healed back up, you need to houserule your game:

I suggest tracking negative hp down to -10. (A hero with 2 hp taking 8 damage is at -6, and falls unconscious. If he receives four points of healing, he's stabilized but still unconscious.)

This makes a cheap level one Healing Word a much less attractive option. It means monsters stop looking stupid for acting the way you want them to: moving on to the next standing enemy as soon as one falls, with no cruel kill-off actions.

 

[Coroc]

Whackamole is a bit how you figure it, respectively how do you figure hitpoints injury and death.

Imagine someone going down from a heavy hit and the cleric provides some healing:

Is this a) No big wounds but some scratches visible and gets a bit of energy to get up after taking a big one

or b) The cleric stops severe bleeding from some nearly severed limbs and the Patient goes from looking 1 Inch short of death to fully fit and vital with no visible injuries?


I prefer the a) approach, meaning as a PC you do not have visible severe physical damage until you are done for good. So HP is rather a Combo of Exhaustion, energy blunt Trauma and many small wounds, but not slaughterhouse meats Texas chain saw massacre.

Ok, there might be exceptions where i would apply the b) Scenario but only for a Story / dungeon related reason not to make a normal fight with random Mobs look like a bloody mess.

 

[Caliban]

I honestly haven't experienced an issue with healing word as a DM. or seen it used this way as a player. It's useful for spot healing at a range, but other healing spells are preferred because they heal more.

I've only seen "whack-a-mole" healing a few times - usually when the monsters are doing so much damage that the healers can't keep up. Which usually means you've got bigger problems than healing word.

 

[Leatherhead]

I have implemented wounding rules whenever a player hits 0hp.
You still want to stop from bleeding out, but the fact that your belly is split open really puts a cramp on fighting any further. Of course, you still have the option to push yourself, if you should choose.

 

[Patrick McGill]

I have implemented wounding rules whenever a player hits 0hp.
You still want to stop from bleeding out, but the fact that your belly is split open really puts a cramp on fighting any further. Of course, you still have the option to push yourself, if you should choose.

Yep, this to me is the answer. Injuries or wounds when you hit 0 hp regardless whether or not you are stabilized.

The injuries in the DM's Guide, however, are a bit too extreme for my tastes. I'd like there to be a range from mild to severe rather than all of them being severe.

 

[TheSword]

I think attacking dying characters is bad form when there are acive threats.

If there is a good reason why that PC has to die above all others then maybe NPCs would keep an eye on the unconscious. Otherwise, it sounds a bit like DMs picking on players.

If several characters are being brought back by healing word in fight after fight I have to question if your encounter difficulty is a problem. After all it’s a limited use spell which could be used for other things.

I like using real table examples. Two sessions ago the party had an intentionally difficult owlbear encounter that they had been sent to by an enemy who was trying to get them killed. The party rogue who was scouting ahead was roughed up round one with an unlucky crit for the beasts claw and a hit with the beak. Taken to zero.

The other party members engaged the beast and the following round the Druid cast healing word and the rogue played dead until his go at which point he critt’d the beast in return and killed it. Sure I could have had the owlbear savage his fallen prey killing him off. Is the game better or worse for doing that though? As it turned out, poetic irony, good teamwork and some common sense made it a great encounter and they survived the trap.

 

[Oofta]

I've never had a problem with it or seen one in game. It's hardly "the one spell ruining the game" unless your only goal as a DM is to kill your PCs.

Clerics and bards have a lot of things to do other than cast healing word every round. There are a lot of ways to increase difficulty of encounters, nerfing healing words is probably one of the lowest on my list.