Hit points & long rests: please consider?

[Arkenos]

I use the healing rules Mike tweeted about for years :

Each PC heal his level worth of hp + his con modifier (with a minimum of 1) after each long rest.

So a 1st lvl character with 14 hp et 10 con (+0) will heal 1 hp/day (2 weeks to fully recover from being down)
A 1st lvl character with 20 hp and 17 con (+3) will heal 4 hp/day (5 days to fully heal back)
High con PC will heal faster but it still take days.

A level 10 fighter with 85 hp and 17 con (+3) will heal 13 hp/day (6-7 days to fully heal back).
While it doesn't perfectly scale, this rule still work fairly well at higher levels, even though high lvl PC don't typically use natural healing anyway.

It's not perfect but it's a good compromise between "instaheal bruise/luck/exhaustion overnight" and very long realistic healing.

(sorry for my english, not my 1st language)

 

[GX.Sigma]

Mike's tweet makes me happy. Along with [I think Jeremy?]'s comment in the podcast, it communicates that the D&DN team equates "embracing the game" with "houseruling the heck out of it until it becomes your perfect version of D&D." That's kind of the point of the modular design and DM empowerment: if there's something you don't like about the system, it's very easy to change it. Don't wait for a module, just do it. (Modules are basically just pre-packaged, "official" houserules.)

 

[Walking Dad]

Wait, wait, that doesn't bother you? He was nearly dying for 10 full hours, and the next morning he's walking around like nothing at all is wrong?

It doesn't bother me more than him being dead for 3 days and up again if nothing happens after the cleric cast a raise dead spell.

Are you arguing about that you want characters suffer from their wounds for a longer time, or is your point you want the cleric a healer role be mandatory?

I'm personally more bothered with "magic can do all, its magic, you stupid fighter" than an increased healing rate to make the cleric not mandatory.

If you play with a healing cleric around, you will hardly notice a difference in the recuperation times. And if not, healing for weeks when the fluff says you don't look even wounded is... bad.

But they can perfectly well introduce a rule for slow healing. But I want the other rules for a no-cleric group, too.

 

[Mercutio01]

[MENTION=59043]Walking Dad[/MENTION] - chalk it all up to completely opposite playstyles and desires then. Magical healing is something I believe in. Do I think a magical healer should be mandatory? Of course not. You can play a party of four fighter or four wizards, but don't expect to get up and keep fighting without some magical healing.

Many pro-mundane healing folks discuss how PCs are beyond normal: that they are, in fact, superhuman. I'm not going to pretend to represent people who don't like superhuman natural healing factors (everyone is effectively Wolverine!), but I honestly prefer characters that are flawed, humans who rise above not because they've got a mutant healing gene but because they are determined to make a difference (for good or evil--though no one really thinks of themselves as evil) in the world.

So, are you unwilling to look at some of the compromise proposals that DO meet the fluff? The "healing from bloodied takes awhile, but healing HP from above bloodied recharge after a night's rest"? Is that not a halfway point you're willing to meet at? I mean, because if you aren't willing to meet halfway, then any further discussion is an exercise in futility.

 

[Neonchameleon]

I think one of the things this discussion is missing is a trivial 4e houserule option. Spells and healing are on the same timer but it's the timer that matters, and one that can be changed.

If you want Rambo then yes you have overnight healing - and overnight spell recovery. If you want Fantasy F**king Vietnam then recovery of hit points takes a week somewhere safe. As does recovery of prepared spells.

I'd far rather offer the "Everyone happy" dial than a straight compromise.

 

[Mercutio01]

I think one of the things this discussion is missing is a trivial 4e houserule option. Spells and healing are on the same timer but it's the timer that matters, and one that can be changed.

If you want Rambo then yes you have overnight healing - and overnight spell recovery. If you want Fantasy F**king Vietnam then recovery of hit points takes a week somewhere safe. As does recovery of prepared spells.

I'd far rather offer the "Everyone happy" dial than a straight compromise.

Slowed recovery of spells does not make me happy. That nerfs casters to the point that they are effectively worthless. And I hardly think looking for slowed natural HP recovery means I want Fantasy Vietnam. So take the strawman out and burn him somewhere else.

 

[triqui]

Sadly, that won't happen. I think when you get knocked to very low hit points, you are suffering from a debilitating wound or several minor wounds, which adds up to the same thing. And that is why we have magical healers.

It's a fundamental difference in preferences, I suppose.

That also means magic healing is mandatory, and all groups *have* to have a magic Healer. If in a group of 4, nobody wants to play the healer, some one *HAS* to bite the bullet and play a character they despise.

I don't think it's a good idea. A middle-ground compromise is needed somehow.

 

[Jack99]

As Mearls noted to the Escapist (today?), the HD mechanic is completely dissociated from the rest of the rules, so they are easy to change/remove. They know that it might be an issue for a lot of people.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Slowed recovery of spells does not make me happy. That nerfs casters to the point that they are effectively worthless. And I hardly think looking for slowed natural HP recovery means I want Fantasy Vietnam. So take the strawman out and burn him somewhere else.

But casters aren't worthless. They are simply now playing an actual resource management game alongside the fighters - you just have to be careful about how to use them. And even the cantrips are quite nice. The spells, however, are "I win" buttons on a regular basis. Where regular to you means "Every day"

In Gygaxian D&D there was no resting in the dungeon. If you even tried you'd be flattened by the wandering monsters.

The normal excuse made for the fighters being weaker is that they can keep going all day (only as long as they aren't taking hits).

Shorter me: I strongly disagree that restricting the spellcasters's level of awesome to being on the same clock as the fighter makes them effectively worthless. I further believe that releasing the need for magical healing from a party member (which, after all, is only absolutely necessary because of the different recovery rates) only does good things to the game.

 

[eamon]

I'd like to see a wound/vitality system: Most hitpoints are healed easily on your own; if you don't win or retreat from battle before getting a real wound, then that wound will be much harder to heal. The system can be very simple too, and nicely makes "bloodied" a more solid in-game concept.