Should a NPC cleric heal himself?

[genshou]

Bah. Wait til they deal with undead clerics with Mass Inflicts. Hurt the heroes and heal themself all in one spell. The look of terror was priceless.

This is always a fun tactic, isn't it?

 

[wmasters]

Absolutely he shouldn't heal himself, and it's against the GM code of ethics. Providing that the players play by the same rules and don't heal themselves because it's against the Player Code of Ethics. In fact, just remove healing and inflict (and similar) spells altogether.

 

[Bagpuss]

Bah. Wait til they deal with undead clerics with Mass Inflicts. Hurt the heroes and heal themself all in one spell. The look of terror was priceless.

Consider that tactic stolen, of course they wouldn't be facing the undead cleric on his own there would be the other undead around him getting healed as well.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

That's so completely inbounds as far as acceptable DM behavior it shouldn't even have to be discussed.

Sheesh, what's next? Oh, he shouldn't wear armor, that just prolongs the fight?

I agree with this sentiment 237%. Including the snark. Especially the snark.

There was a story hour in the section of the same name where the party was fighting a gigantic dragon with oodles of hit points, and it cast Heal on itself. Next time the party brings up this silliness, bring up this anecdote. Then chuckle and smile knowingly.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

This is frickin' hilarious. So, what did the players do after you fell off your chair laughing?

Consider that tactic stolen, of course they wouldn't be facing the undead cleric on his own there would be the other undead around him getting healed as well.

Or a triumvirate of undead clerics - lich, vampire, ghoul.

I just realized what this reminded me of, a player once who complained that NPC's should never use potions, scrolls or other consumable magic items in their possession, and that DM's who equip them with them are unfair.

The reason? The amount of gear an NPC gets must be precisely equal to the NPC wealth-by-level table (or so he says), and thus when you kill him and take his stuff, you get exactly "X" amount of treasure. If he's chugging Cure Serious Wounds potions, reading Fireball scrolls, and pulling items off his Robe of Useful Objects to try and get away, the DM is "cheating" because he's reducing his treasure value with each turn, or as he put it: "He's drinking our treasure!"

And it keeps getting better! I'd put them up against a spell chandler (casts spells from candles, who work like potions), or hedge mage wand expert (invest all his NPC money into two very powerful wands with very little charges. Let him blast away with two wands at a time. By the time he drops, his treasure will be gone up in smoke) or a fiendbinder (from Tome of Magic - they have fiends bound to them by the fiends' truenames. To bind a fiend, you must pay a certain amount of gold. Blow all his equipment on an army of fiends) Or an enemy with legacy items (which he'll have awakened to the fullest, paying all the ritual costs, which of course won't help the players).

I wont get started on how he sees being neutral allows him to get away with anything.

I know that. I remember the memorable outburst "But I'm chaotic neutral. Why can't I just kill everyone I want?" (And yes, that DM was very generous, for that guy did kill everyone he wanted, and still counted as CN)

 

[GeorgeFields]

That's so completely inbounds as far as acceptable DM behavior it shouldn't even have to be discussed.

Sheesh, what's next? Oh, he shouldn't wear armor, that just prolongs the fight?

Hell, why not have the BBEG commit suicide for them.

 

[Aeson]

Of course he should heal himself; it's just given that he will try to survive as long as possible against his foes. Shoot, I used a vampire assassin one time that had four potions of inflict moderate wounds. She drank two of them in the ensuing series of fights and was obviously healed. Why the badly damaged guy at the end of the fight thought one would work for him, I dunno....

If I tried to use this I might get shot. It seems I'm not supposed to try and kill them either.

 

[Aeson]

Gee, you wouldn't want to do something terrible like make the final encounter with the BBEG a challenging, memorable encounter now!

I can't believe that they complained about a cleric healing himself and the AC 21. What did they expect him to do? He's a cleric for crying out loud! And did they complain about the rogue sneak attacking, the fighter using power attack and the wizard casting spells at them?

Just out of interest, what level is the party?

Olaf the Stout

they are levels 4-6. Did I mention there were 6 of them plus some summoned monsters.

 

[Aeson]

Absolutely he shouldn't heal himself, and it's against the GM code of ethics. Providing that the players play by the same rules and don't heal themselves because it's against the Player Code of Ethics. In fact, just remove healing and inflict (and similar) spells altogether.

I've thought of a game with no healing. It might be interesting but very slow. Every time they take damage they would wait until they healed naturally.

 

[Presto2112]

I just realized what this reminded me of, a player once who complained that NPC's should never use potions, scrolls or other consumable magic items in their possession, and that DM's who equip them with them are unfair.

The reason? The amount of gear an NPC gets must be precisely equal to the NPC wealth-by-level table (or so he says), and thus when you kill him and take his stuff, you get exactly "X" amount of treasure. If he's chugging Cure Serious Wounds potions, reading Fireball scrolls, and pulling items off his Robe of Useful Objects to try and get away, the DM is "cheating" because he's reducing his treasure value with each turn, or as he put it: "He's drinking our treasure!"

You MUST read Zogonia in this month's Dragon... it specifically deals with that kind of thinking.