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I don't get the dislike of healing surges
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<blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5697432" data-attributes="member: 2067"><p>I don't have particularly strong feelings about them one way or the other, but there is something that they dramatically affect: adventure pacing.</p><p></p><p>The mechanic of "restore to full HP using surges after an encounter" changes what effect HPs have on gameplay. HPs become not about how long you can endure a dungeon crawl (which is what they were about before), but about how tough of an <em>encounter</em> you can take. The shift is instant and dramatic, and focuses intensely on the encounter, rather than the adventure/dungeon itself. The encounter is what will kill you. The encounter is what will drain you. The encounter is what challenges you. A dungeon or an adventure is just a backdrop for a series of encounters that drain your HPs, spaced out by places where you can spend your surges.</p><p></p><p>I think this shift to the encounter is overall a negative shift in D&D. Healing Surges are not the whole bag, but they're a big part of it. </p><p></p><p>There's a disconnect with earlier editions where "full HP" meant that you were at full strength, and now, it might not mean that -- it just means you're able to take One Encounter before healing again (using surges). It's dissonant for newbies, too: I'm at full health, but I'm down half my surges....exactly what kind of condition am I in? How do I make sense of that in the narrative of the game? It's not something 4eD&D provides a lot of guidance for. </p><p></p><p>I think you could easily have mechanics that let PCs heal themselves without using surges. Potions work if you make them mostly "mundane," or you could do a Heal check restoring HP, or the Second Wind, or even going "Full Defense" for a round (and having that recover a bit of HP, as you are bandaging and tending to your wounds). Surges aren't necessary to have characters heal themselves. </p><p></p><p>I think I'd keep surges around, if I were doing a game. The first thing I would do with them is describe them better in story terms: this is your endurance, your grit, your determination, your willpower, your ability to power through. You HP's are only a snapshot of your overall health, your Surges define how beat up or healthy you are. I would also expand their definition so its not just HP that they recover. They might recover HP, or they might give you back a spell, or they might be used to activate a ritual. They'd be spent pro-actively as well as re-actively, giving the resource management aspect of D&D more prominence. I think that would help the party to focus more on when they need to take extended rests. Then I'd link Bad Things Happening to each extended rest.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="I'm A Banana, post: 5697432, member: 2067"] I don't have particularly strong feelings about them one way or the other, but there is something that they dramatically affect: adventure pacing. The mechanic of "restore to full HP using surges after an encounter" changes what effect HPs have on gameplay. HPs become not about how long you can endure a dungeon crawl (which is what they were about before), but about how tough of an [I]encounter[/I] you can take. The shift is instant and dramatic, and focuses intensely on the encounter, rather than the adventure/dungeon itself. The encounter is what will kill you. The encounter is what will drain you. The encounter is what challenges you. A dungeon or an adventure is just a backdrop for a series of encounters that drain your HPs, spaced out by places where you can spend your surges. I think this shift to the encounter is overall a negative shift in D&D. Healing Surges are not the whole bag, but they're a big part of it. There's a disconnect with earlier editions where "full HP" meant that you were at full strength, and now, it might not mean that -- it just means you're able to take One Encounter before healing again (using surges). It's dissonant for newbies, too: I'm at full health, but I'm down half my surges....exactly what kind of condition am I in? How do I make sense of that in the narrative of the game? It's not something 4eD&D provides a lot of guidance for. I think you could easily have mechanics that let PCs heal themselves without using surges. Potions work if you make them mostly "mundane," or you could do a Heal check restoring HP, or the Second Wind, or even going "Full Defense" for a round (and having that recover a bit of HP, as you are bandaging and tending to your wounds). Surges aren't necessary to have characters heal themselves. I think I'd keep surges around, if I were doing a game. The first thing I would do with them is describe them better in story terms: this is your endurance, your grit, your determination, your willpower, your ability to power through. You HP's are only a snapshot of your overall health, your Surges define how beat up or healthy you are. I would also expand their definition so its not just HP that they recover. They might recover HP, or they might give you back a spell, or they might be used to activate a ritual. They'd be spent pro-actively as well as re-actively, giving the resource management aspect of D&D more prominence. I think that would help the party to focus more on when they need to take extended rests. Then I'd link Bad Things Happening to each extended rest. [/QUOTE]
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I don't get the dislike of healing surges
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