Healing Cantrip

[I'm A Banana]

Design-related Q: in 5e, you can typically buy healing potions easily. Why would you take this cantrip if that was true in your game? Or is this only for games where healing potions aren't as readily available as they seem to be presumed to be in the RAW?

 

[jrowland]

Design-related Q: in 5e, you can typically buy healing potions easily. Why would you take this cantrip if that was true in your game? Or is this only for games where healing potions aren't as readily available as they seem to be presumed to be in the RAW?

IF you can get Healing potions readily (easy to make/buy and you can afford it) then, no, this cantrip isn't worth it.

For my games (table) I see this as a nice little solution/compromise to the 1 hour short rest. I like that rests are an hour for everything BUT for using HD for healing. I like HP replenishment to be a bit quicker (I like the 4E surge mechanic, where HP is essentially vitality and surges are a better proxy to meat). For dungeon play, pushing on in RAW means NOT taking damage is king, leading to a lot of avoidance (not a bad thing) where with a faster HP recovery between fights leads to more instigation (again, not a bad thing). I like a balance, and since my group is more offensive minded, even when they should be avoiding things, HPs are used up quickly. Resting for an hour *just* for HP is our problem, the other class features are used, but it seems a waste to rest "so early" (warlock loves it, and appears OP as a result). For our games, a bit more healing between fights would go a long way to balancing things back out. I could see other games leading the other direction. though and this cantrip could derail a game or be superfluous as you mention,

 

[Aimian_Silverflash]

Though a quick argument for the spell: I've been playing a bard a good bit in 5e, and I've basically proven that a lore bard with the healer feat can ultimately be more effective at healing than a healing focused cleric.... And a more effective spellcaster to boot.

After all that, as a DM, I'd almost be OK with giving a healing focused cleric a 1d4 hp heal cantrip. Nobody should be able to outheal a healing focused cleric imo. Would definitely outpace a bard's song of rest.

 

[scholz]

So what did the OP do? They made a yin yang of max hp. Assuming someone started with 24 hit points, it would yield something like this:
24, damaged for 4, healed for 4, max drops to 22
22, damaged for 4, healed for 4, max drops to 20
...2 hit points, healed for four, max drops to dead.
This spell is more like a Frankenstein style torture spell from a saw movie. I would definitely let Necromancers cast it on themselves, their allies, their pets, etc.

So, the intent of the spell was not to replace the cure wounds and healing word spells. Instead, like Spare the Dying, it was meant as a sort of a last ditch healing effort, to keep a player in the game, and discourage taking lots of short or long rests.

But, unintended consequences and uses are important to predict and plan for.

I'm not sure I understand the concern. In you "torture" example, the 'patient' took
24 -4 + 4 -2
20 -4 + 4 -2
18 -4 + 4 -2
16 -4 + 4 -2
14 -4 + 4 -2
12 -4 + 4 -2
10 -4 + 4 -2
8 -4 + 4 -2
6 -4 + 4 -2
4 -4 + 4 -2
2 -4 = 0 dying +4 -2 = 0 dying

This looks like torture because the person is down to max 0hp, though who would cast that last spell? On the other hand, the patient had taken 44hps. So, for a character with 24hps hps, that isn't too bad. I do think most players would resist this spell while other healing was available.
But, if the party were out of healing, and didn't want to rest for some reason (too dangerous, chasing the big baddie) this could buy them some time. Getting half your hps back is pretty good, certainly not torture.

 

[scholz]

1. Not sure what sort of games you play in. No pulp fiction gimp suits in mine
2. I'm not really sure how that is different from regular healing? Tie someone up and heal them just a little, interrupt their long rests so they can't heal up all the way. Honestly there are lots of ways to 'go dark' in D&D better than healing someone. Heck, a few levels of exhaustion is way worse in most cases.
3. You keep dividing the healing in half. But that only really happens if you heal all the way. If you start with 30hps, and are down to 1. You could try to short rest and burn some hit dice, or long rest and get them all back. But there are likely scenarios where getting the stitch cantrip two or three times, and getting double digit hps, say 12. Is worth having you max hps, go down to 24. That is especially true when you are otherwise out of healing, or expecting a fight.
4. The point if the diminishing returns is to balance the healing so you don't just heal up to max every chance you get.
5. Lastly, in the hands of a low level character, this would extend the life a bit when a single attack would take you out otherwise. Better 5Hps than 1.