Heal Skill

[Bladesinger_Boy]

For curing HP: static numbers, rolled dice, or fractional values of the target's HP? Well, remember that whatever we do for cure spell we also have to do for inflict spells. So let me ask things this way. For inflicting HP: static numbers, rolled dice, or fractional values of the target's HP?

My original idea was that Cure Mod would do 1/4, Cure Crit 2/4, Heal 3/4. But I think that's too much in rethinking things, so maybe Cure Serious does 1/4 and Heal does 2/4. Let's make a table...
SPELL LEVEL_____CSTR LVL CAP___SET HP__OPTIONAL FRACTION
1 Cure Light..............+5................10...........-
2 Cure Mod...............+10...............20..........-
3 Mass Cure Light......+10...............15..........-
3 Cure Serious...........+15..............30..........1/4
4 Cure Critical...........+20...............40..........1/4
5 Mass Cure Mod........+20..............30..........-
6 Heal......................+20..............200.........2/4
7 Mass Cure Serious....+25.............40...........1/4
8 Mass Cure Critical....+25..............45..........1/4
9 Mass Heal...............+30.............300.........2/4

Looking at this table.... why the heck is heal so damn good compared to all other curing spells. Caster level cap aside for a sec, I think a better set of curing could be built from the ground up. I like the FF1 revamp names for these spells: cure for single target spells, heal for mass targeting spells.

SPELL LEVEL_______CSTR LVL CAP___SET HP__OPTIONAL FRACTION
1 Cure Light Wounds.........+5................10...........-
2 Cure Moderate Wounds...+10...............20..........-
3 Heal Light Wounds........+10...............15...........-
3 Cure Serious Wounds.....+15...............30..........1/4
4 Cure Critical Wounds.....+20...............40..........1/4
5 Heal Moderate Wounds...+20..............30...........-
6 Cure Grievous Wounds...+20...............60..........2/4
7 Heal Critical Wounds.....+25...............60...........1/4
8 Cure Mortal Wounds.......+25...............80..........2/4
9 Heal Grievous Wounds...+30...............90..........2/4
(10 Cure Fatal Wounds.....+30?.............100..........3/4)

That seems fairer, but really low. I mean, think of how arcane spells progress.

Oh, and back on the Heal Skill. Apparently SW:SE does it by heal checks healing a target con mod X character level. I don't know what the DC is... maybe 15, maybe 20.

 

[Kerrick]

Man, you love your tables, don't you? (A tip: You can make tables in Notepad using tabs between entries to get everything lined up, then use

 tags to keep the formatting in a post.)

But seriously... the problem with doing fractions of the target's hp is that the same spell affects different targets different ways - that's not good. I can  cast CSW on Bob the Wizard and heal 15 hit points, and cast the same on Frank the Fighter to heal 30-40. I'd either go with dice of healing or a static number (and I've already stated my opinion on the latter).

The heal spell... eesh. That thing is flat out broken. It heals 10/level, AND cures a whole laundry list of conditions? No way. I changed it to do one of the following: heal 10/level, cure any condition except ability damage/drain or energy drain, OR heal 1 point of ability damage per caster level (max 15 points). It doesn't recover drained levels (that's what restoration is for). 

5/level might be better; let's compared to CCW:

Heal, CL15: 85

CCW, CL15: 4d8+15 = 33 avg, 47 max

CCW, CL15 (my version): 4d8 + 7d8 + 15 = 64 avg, 103 max

At two levels higher, that's almost reasonable. I wouldn't use it with my rules, since a spell shouldn't outclass something two levels higher without metamagic, but RAW? Works well, IMO.

I'm still on the fence about heal being a static number though, since all the others are xd8+CL. On the one hand, this makes heal more useful - you know exactly how much healing you'll get - but on the other, it makes it a powerful weapon against undead (again, because it deals a huge amount of guaranteed damage). On the third hand, it's a completely different spell - it can also heal conditions and ability damage (and energy drain, by the RAW) - so I think I'd just leave it at 10/level.

 

[Bladesinger_Boy]

Kerrick, I agree with you that static numbers are boring. Our current 3.5 system of some dice and some static caster level bonus is mixed. Maybe something on the other end with all variable components (dice); that would promote the use of effects like "Maximize". Another table. So, two colwumn for fully variable (dice only, no caster level) healing spells.

SPELL LEVEL_______CSTR LVL CAP___SET HP__VAR#1__VAR#2
1 Cure Light Wounds.........+5...........10.........2d8.........2d10
2 Cure Moderate Wounds...+10..........20........4d8..........4d10
3 Cure Serious Wounds.....+15..........30.........6d8..........6d10
3 Heal Light Wounds........+10..........15.........3d8..........3d10
4 Cure Critical Wounds.....+20..........40.........8d8..........8d10
5 Heal Serious Wounds.....+20..........30.........6d8..........6d10
6 Cure Grievous Wounds...+20..........60.........12d8.........12d10
7 Heal Critical Wounds.....+25..........60..........9d8..........9d10
8 Cure Mortal Wounds.......+25..........80.........16d8........16d10
9 Heal Grievous Wounds...+30..........90..........12d8........12d10
(10 Cure Fatal Wounds.....+30?........100.........20d8........20d10)

Cure Grievous Wounds replaces Heal. Heal is wack. Wiggita-wack. And the way I did the spell names, the Cure spells just hit one target and the "Heal" spells hit all allies (just like the FF1 revamp).

 

[Bladesinger_Boy]

A fully variable system (all dice, no static bonus) is how arcane spells work... though the dice are added per caster level and not simply a set amount of dice. So, if arcane spells were revamped at a similar rate, maybe something like this.

SPELL LEVEL_______CSTR LVL CAP___SET HP__VAR#1__VAR#2
1 Elemental Ray, Least ..........+5...........20.........6d4......6d6
1 Elemental Blast,Least .........+5...........20.........6d4......6d6
2 Elemental Ray, Lesser.........+10..........40.........12d4....12d6
3 Elemental Blast, Lesser.......+10..........40.........12d4....12d6
4 Elemental Ray....................+20..........60.........18d4....18d6
5 Elemental Blast..................+20..........60.........18d4....18d6
6 Elemental Ray, Improved.....+20..........80.........24d4....24d6
7 Elemental Blast, Improved...+25..........80.........24d4....24d6
8 Elemental Ray, Greater........+25.........100........30d4....30d6
9 Elemental Blast, Greater......+30.........100........30d4....30d6
(10 Elemental Ray, Eldritch.....+30?........120........36d4....36d6)

The rays don't get a save. The blasts, the area-of-effect ones, do.

I guess I'm scaling this in terms of what I'd like for lower rate of spell advance (every 3 levels a new level of spells, rather than every 2 levels).

 

[Kerrick]

Cure Grievous Wounds replaces Heal. Heal is wack. Wiggita-wack. And the way I did the spell names, the Cure spells just hit one target and the "Heal" spells hit all allies (just like the FF1 revamp).

You're forgetting something: "mass" versions of a spell are always 4 levels higher. "Greater" versions, just FYI, are always 3 levels higher.