Healing Fully With Rest - Is It Really That Big of a Deal?

[Falling Icicle]

One of the most common complaints I've been seeing about the playtest is that player characters heal completely after an 8 hour rest. I'm just curious why people think this is such a bad thing.

Back in 3rd edition, which I've played more than any other edition, the amount of hit points players recovered from rest was very low. And yet, I can probably count on one hand the number of times that my party didn't end up being fully recovered after resting. Our cleric (or other healer) would just convert his low level spells to cure spells and heal us up, and, if that wasn't enough (it almost always was, except in the most taxing adventures), then our trusty wands of cure light wounds easily made up the difference.

I guess I can understand people's problem with such rapid mundane healing from a narrative standpoint - it does seem to kind of trivialize injury. But I would argue that it is the very nature of hit points to do that. Of course, there have been endless arguments over hit points and verisimilitude, and I'd rather not repeat that here. Instead, I have a more specific query for those who are strongly against healing fully with rest. Is it just the narrative and believability issues, or do you have any gameplay reasons for being against it?

 

[Traken]

My biggest disagreement is that it makes certain types of games just that much more difficult to run. A survival or resource-intensive game depends on the scarcity of resources.

Hit points are one of those possible resources. When a game mechanic just willy-nilly replenishes resource points, that makes it hard keep players on their feet.

Now, that's not much of a problem for me since it's an easy rule to get rid of.

 

[the Jester]

I guess I can understand people's problem with such rapid mundane healing from a narrative standpoint - it does seem to kind of trivialize injury. But I would argue that it is the very nature of hit points to do that. Of course, there have been endless arguments over hit points and verisimilitude, and I'd rather not repeat that here. Instead, I have a more specific query for those who are strongly against healing fully with rest. Is it just the narrative and believability issues, or do you have any gameplay reasons for being against it?

The gameplay reason comes back to narrative: The type of gameplay promoted by "full heal after long rest" is not the style of game that I prefer. I like it if time passes in the campaign, and downtime for healing is a huge component of that in earlier editions. I'd like to see it return.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

For me, I have believability issues when any sort of physical non-deadly damage can be healed through mundane means too rapidly. It does not make sense that a character can be close to death one day, and fully recovered the following without the influence of magic. The removal of the possibility of lasting wounds from the resulting narrative of the game is not believable for a game featuring combat and adventuring in general.

To clarify further:

- I don't have a problem with (as hit points, bloodied and unbloodied are described in the playtest) any character who is on 1hp or greater recovering their full hit points from a full rest. I can easily cope with a bloodied character bandaging up a gash, and continuing on the next day. The wound is not healed, but it is judged as no longer affecting the character's performance. To me, that IS D&D.

- What I do have a problem with is a character on zero or below who has been knocked out/incapacitated and gets back to 1hp through mundane means too easily (so they can then take advantage of rests to restore hit points). The process of getting back to 1hp through mundane means should be variably arduous depending upon how far under they are and how many death saves they have failed.

What I would like is for "wounds" as a module but that is a topic for another thread. Wounds that provide a penalty but allow for further adventuring (a character can be wounded but still have access to some of their hit points) seems an ideal feature from my perspective.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Falling Icicle]

But doesn't it just end up coming down to "how long does it take for the party's cleric, sacrificing as many spells per day as he is willing, to fully heal the injured character(s)" as opposed to "how long it will take them to recover from rest?" In my experience, that will never be more than one day. Even at low levels when clerics have few spells, characters have few hit points.

Unless, of course, your party doesn't have a cleric or other healer. But then, is having so much cleric dependency really a good thing? The biggest complaint I have with games that make hit points a scarce resource is that it forces the party to have a cleric. I'd like to play a game where people can just play whatever class they enjoy and someone doesn't have to draw the short straw and be the healbot.

 

[Janaxstrus]

I'd rather see a restoration of all spent "healing hit dice" and a free roll of max hit dice after the 8 hours of rest.

6th level fighter with at least 1hp would then reset all of his healing hit dice in morning and roll 6d10 to determine his restored stamina, scrapes, wounds, etc from over night restng.

I think this would HELP, but not fix the grittier feel some people want, but still allow for a good amount of healing. Unless the party is completely tapped, it SHOULD allow for most every night to fully heal, but not mandate it.

 

[Falling Icicle]

Hit points are one of those possible resources. When a game mechanic just willy-nilly replenishes resource points, that makes it hard keep players on their feet.

Couldn't you just as easily keep the characters on their feet by making it so that they don't have the time or place to rest for 8 hours in safety?

 

[Reaper Steve]

There's plenty of resources to manage. Short and long rests aren't automatic. Deny them healer kits and they can't spend Hit Dice. Deny them long rests and they can't replenish Hit Dice or Hit Points.

 

[Traken]

Couldn't you just as easily keep the characters on their feet by making it so that they don't have the time or place to rest for 8 hours in safety?

Yes, but that can get a bit contrived if you do it every night. You could get away with doing it when the party doesn't have proper fire or shelter, but once they secure those, insta-healing!

Again, not a big problem with me. It's a small fix and I'd have to see any kind of injury or disease system before saying it's impossible.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

But doesn't it just end up coming down to "how long does it take for the party's cleric, sacrificing as many spells per day as he is willing, to fully heal the injured character(s)" as opposed to "how long it will take them to recover from rest?" In my experience, that will never be more than one day. Even at low levels when clerics have few spells, characters have few hit points.

As soon as magic becomes involved, anything is possible and that is fine by me, it is what makes magic magical rather than mundane. The important thing is that if such magic is not used, then you are left with mundane healing (which does not have to be adventure ending, see my point after the next quote). However, if a party does not want to or cannot spare healing resources, then that is a decision/situation that needs to be dealt with.

Unless, of course, your party doesn't have a cleric or other healer. But then, is having so much cleric dependency really a good thing? The biggest complaint I have with games that make hit points a scarce resource is that it forces the party to have a cleric. I'd like to play a game where people can just play whatever class they enjoy and someone doesn't have to draw the short straw and be the healbot.

What if you had a mundane healer rather than a healbot, who could get characters up despite their wounds. Those wounds may give them disadvantage on every check they make and may restrict their hit points to half but at least they can still function and contribute. You don't need a dedicated healbot but you do need someone who has a background in healing (but that otherwise does not affect their character building decisions). Kind of makes sense when you are talking about an adventuring party who repeatedly enters combat that they at least take someone along who knows something about healing wouldn't you say?

The real problem here that is particularly evident in both our 3e and 4e campaigns is how often players are willing to have their characters go to zero or below with almost no thought of consequences; getting downed particularly in 4e is simply considered par for the course. Such play encourages the combat hammer mentality (whether the scenario is a nail or a screw). If a group is low on hit points and is carrying one or two wounded characters, then the group should be actively encouraged to use alternative means of finding encounter success. Going to zero hit points or below should be something the player's really don't want their characters to have to suffer through.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise