D&D 4E Nonobvious coolness in 4e healing system

[Nine Hands]

I like all the healing stuff in 4E. What I would like, that isn't in it, is if you drop to 0 HP or below, you incure a penalty.

This would be a permanent injury. It can be healed eventually, but not with a short or extended rest.

The permanent injury would be treated like a disease. It could get worse or better. The worst bit of the injury - if untreated - would be something along the line of Gangreen(?). You must cut off the arm or die.

Or you loose the eye - now you have -2 to -4 penalty to all perception checks.

This should make the PCs desperate to not fall to a dying state and if they are careless and do they will want to take care of the injury.

Of course higher healing will take care of allot of these things - but that should taken care of in the system - it needs to be a risk even at higher levels. Perhaps these things can only be healed (magically) with a complex ritual.

While I think that this is an interesting way to go, I don't agree that 0 HP is a good point to start doing this. Instead, how about allowing characters to ignore a result of Death (due to three failed Death Saves or losing too many hit points) and instead suffer the penalty. This makes it a viable solution for character death and does not happen every game session or so.

A Song of Ice and Fire uses a similar mechanic, where you accept an ability score penalty (forever) to keep on living, what that penalty applies in character is up to the player. So a facial scar might be a penalty to Charisma, a penalty to Dexterity might be a maimed arm, etc.

 

[Gothmog]

I like all the healing stuff in 4E. What I would like, that isn't in it, is if you drop to 0 HP or below, you incure a penalty.

This would be a permanent injury. It can be healed eventually, but not with a short or extended rest.

The permanent injury would be treated like a disease. It could get worse or better. The worst bit of the injury - if untreated - would be something along the line of Gangreen(?). You must cut off the arm or die.

Or you loose the eye - now you have -2 to -4 penalty to all perception checks.

This should make the PCs desperate to not fall to a dying state and if they are careless and do they will want to take care of the injury.

Of course higher healing will take care of allot of these things - but that should taken care of in the system - it needs to be a risk even at higher levels. Perhaps these things can only be healed (magically) with a complex ritual.

Hmm, a permanent injury might be a little much, but here is a rule I've been using with my group for the last five sessions, and its working beautifully:

PCs being at full health at the start of every day bugs me a little. I know why the designers did it, but there is no way to simulate long-term injury. I've added a house rule that when someone goes to 0 hp or below, they gain 1 Wound Point per negative hit point and they have to spend 1 day of recovery for every Wound Point they went below 0 HP, and during that time, they can still move around, adventure, etc- but take a -2 to all rolls, skill checks and defenses, and cannot regain HP above their bloodied condition. Magical healing could restore the wound points on a 1 WP per 5 HP healing basis to get them back in the action sooner. The warlord CANNOT heal wound points- only magical healing or clerical spells. You could explain the WP as whatever you like- sprains, broken bones, severe lacerations, burns, etc.

 

[Herald of I]

Uh. No. Surges are a daily resource. You don't have unlimited surges in between encounters.

But you can spend as many as you like.

 

[D'karr]

But you can spend as many as you like.

You can spend as many as you have available, and that is a big difference.

 

[katahn]

Hmm, a permanent injury might be a little much, but here is a rule I've been using with my group for the last five sessions, and its working beautifully:

PCs being at full health at the start of every day bugs me a little. I know why the designers did it, but there is no way to simulate long-term injury. I've added a house rule that when someone goes to 0 hp or below, they gain 1 Wound Point per negative hit point and they have to spend 1 day of recovery for every Wound Point they went below 0 HP, and during that time, they can still move around, adventure, etc- but take a -2 to all rolls, skill checks and defenses, and cannot regain HP above their bloodied condition. Magical healing could restore the wound points on a 1 WP per 5 HP healing basis to get them back in the action sooner. The warlord CANNOT heal wound points- only magical healing or clerical spells. You could explain the WP as whatever you like- sprains, broken bones, severe lacerations, burns, etc.

You realize this is a nerf to the warlord class in the leader role I hope and plan on compensating them in some other way to retain their relative balance against clerics and any other leader classes that come along. Some people are already arguing that a warlord is a sub-par leader because they focus much more on buffing their allies rather than replenishing lost HP, I'm not sure making warlords even less effective is a good idea.

 

[Magus Coeruleus]

You can spend as many as you have available, and that is a big difference.

I think it's clear from later in the OP that that's exactly what he meant:

(So yeah, if your surges are exhausted and you don't have any to spend to heal up between encounters, this is not strictly true... but when you get to that point it's a pretty strong clue to stop for the day, and in practice players almost certainly will do so... My point is that you could use up your final healing surges between encounters but still have a full encounter bucket.)

 

[Nikolai II]

Permanent injuries could be dealt upon the second failed death save - making it more urgent to heal people. Should still probably be healed by a "bedrest" - resting one whole day in an inn or well-supplied camp.

The first failed death save could mean starting the next day with one healing surge less. Also remember that failed death saves are carried along until an extended rest is had - you could simply have those last longer (healing max one each rest, maybe)

 

[Incenjucar]

If you really feel the need to make near-death experiences more terrifying, have them eat up a healing surge "permanently," such that it can only be regained with a sliding scale of rest. First lost being 1 day (as in, 24 hours of rest), second lost is two more days, third lost is three more days, etc.

Now you have meaningful injuries that don't simply remove you from combat.

 

[ryryguy]

I think it's clear from later in the OP that that's exactly what he meant:

Indeed, that is what I meant... you can spend as many of the surges you have left between encounters. It was poorly worded.

 

[Regicide]

I think it's clear from later in the OP that that's exactly what he meant:

Not really. Because as a consequence it means it's little different than 3E where a cleric can spend as many of their healing spells between combat as well, which, like surges, is limited by a daily amount.

The main consequence is that gold piece bought magical healing no longer works, so healing potions and cure light wounds wands can no longer be used between combats meaning PCs are more likely to camp out for the night than to just press on after blowing a wand.

Healing surges are icky.