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I don't get the dislike of healing surges
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<blockquote data-quote="Gaerek" data-source="post: 5697061" data-attributes="member: 73666"><p>I've talked to several people about 4e. One of the biggest things (even today) that I see from people who don't like this system is that the ruleset seems too much like a video game. I personally think that subject has been beat to death, but that's what I still hear. They believe that healing surges aren't realistic enough (as if HP were at all realistic, but I digress) and they are akin to "Health Packs" in FPS's. Essentially, it bolsters their belief that 4e is more like a video game than an RPG.</p><p> </p><p>I'll be honest, when I first heard about healing surges, I was skeptical. I didn't like the idea, but then again, I had the same complaint as above. Once I saw them in action, and realized what they actually represented, I came to realize the brilliance in the mechanic. And the more I play, the more I come to love the system. It's an almost completely organic way of keeping track of a groups endurance, without the encumberance of a dedicated healer.</p><p> </p><p>If we want to talk realism, by the way, think about this. Most squads in the military have a medic in them. But the medic's job isn't to patch someone up immediately, to get them back in the fight withing seconds/minutes. It's to stabilize them so that a doctor can patch them up, and maybe, in a few weeks/months/etc, they can be ready to fight again. Essentially, in a modern (you can actually apply this same thinking to practically any warfare in history) firefight, it's the will/endurance/vitality/body armor/resolve/morale/etc of the individual in the fight that keeps them alive and moving, NOT the medic. Healing surges make far more sense in this respect than a cleric. However, opponents of healing surges will try to argue that HS don't make sense. The problem is, they only don't make sense when compared to previous editions of D&D.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gaerek, post: 5697061, member: 73666"] I've talked to several people about 4e. One of the biggest things (even today) that I see from people who don't like this system is that the ruleset seems too much like a video game. I personally think that subject has been beat to death, but that's what I still hear. They believe that healing surges aren't realistic enough (as if HP were at all realistic, but I digress) and they are akin to "Health Packs" in FPS's. Essentially, it bolsters their belief that 4e is more like a video game than an RPG. I'll be honest, when I first heard about healing surges, I was skeptical. I didn't like the idea, but then again, I had the same complaint as above. Once I saw them in action, and realized what they actually represented, I came to realize the brilliance in the mechanic. And the more I play, the more I come to love the system. It's an almost completely organic way of keeping track of a groups endurance, without the encumberance of a dedicated healer. If we want to talk realism, by the way, think about this. Most squads in the military have a medic in them. But the medic's job isn't to patch someone up immediately, to get them back in the fight withing seconds/minutes. It's to stabilize them so that a doctor can patch them up, and maybe, in a few weeks/months/etc, they can be ready to fight again. Essentially, in a modern (you can actually apply this same thinking to practically any warfare in history) firefight, it's the will/endurance/vitality/body armor/resolve/morale/etc of the individual in the fight that keeps them alive and moving, NOT the medic. Healing surges make far more sense in this respect than a cleric. However, opponents of healing surges will try to argue that HS don't make sense. The problem is, they only don't make sense when compared to previous editions of D&D. [/QUOTE]
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I don't get the dislike of healing surges
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