D&D 5E Should the Fighter's "Second Wind" ability grant temporary HP instead of regular HP?

[GMforPowergamers]

no, infact if there isn't a version of this that can be taken by a feat or magic item I will make one... second wind healing just makes too much simulationist sense to me.


EX: In a LARP I am getting hit by bopper weapons, or in paint ball getting hit by well paint balls... I have a low stamina after a little wile of getting hit by either I need to sit for a half hour or so and drink some gateraid and bitch and moan... my friends who were in the military on the other hand can croutch behind a tree for a min and be right back in it like I can be in half an hour... they second win MUCH faster then I do...

 

[billd91]

I don't think I have ever been a fan of temporary hit points, even from the aid spell back in 1e.

 

[GMMichael]

temporarily shrugging off some of his previous wounds

Is a wound something you can shrug off? Do hit points always represent wounds? Let's look it up in the PH.

I need to sit for a half hour or so and drink some gateraid and bitch and moan...

Awesomeness. Well said, sir!

 

[Tony Semana]

No. As others have pointed out elsewhere, effective use of temporary hit points is having them in place before taking damage (thereby preventing as much real damage as possible). This runs directly counter to the idea of a second wind, which is a recovery rather than a pre-emptive event.

I agree with this also. I am happy with the implied rules as it stands, but may houserule that second wind can only be invoked within the scene/encounter/battle that hp have been taken, therefore, you can't `second wind` if you haven't yet been `winded`.

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

It depends on how you imagine your hit points.

If hit points to you equal meat damage, then "Second Wind" should be temporary hit points.

If hit points to you equal the default of a combination of luck, fatigue, and minor wounds, then either approach is appropriate.

 

[Rygar]

no, infact if there isn't a version of this that can be taken by a feat or magic item I will make one... second wind healing just makes too much simulationist sense to me.


EX: In a LARP I am getting hit by bopper weapons, or in paint ball getting hit by well paint balls... I have a low stamina after a little wile of getting hit by either I need to sit for a half hour or so and drink some gateraid and bitch and moan... my friends who were in the military on the other hand can croutch behind a tree for a min and be right back in it like I can be in half an hour... they second win MUCH faster then I do...

So what if they were real weapons or real bullets? Would the concern be stamina or wounds? You're getting hit by these things, and if they were real, I doubt the problem would be being tired, and I really doubt sitting would help.

 

[RangerWickett]

I want them, for just one edition, to say, "Yes, actually HP are entirely flesh and blood. Every time you lose 8 hp from an axe hit, that axe dug several inches into your body and you are gushing blood. Critical hit by a lance on a charge for 30 damage? Yeah, it's plunged a hole through your ribcage and launched your heart out the other side. Are you happy, gamers? Does THAT ridiculousness work better than a fighter getting a second wind and quote-unquote 'healing' damage mid-combat?"

 

[BoldItalic]

I will play it as it stands - permanent hit points, not temporary. Two reasons:

If it's temporary, it starts to look more like Barbarian Rage and I want Fighters to be different from Barbarians

It was temporary hit points in the final public playtest and they must have had a good reason to change it later. Even without knowing what that reason is, I'm prepared to trust them on this. I trust them because from all I have seen, they seem to me to have gone about developing 5e in a sound way.

 

[Grazzt]

I want them, for just one edition, to say, "Yes, actually HP are entirely flesh and blood. Every time you lose 8 hp from an axe hit, that axe dug several inches into your body and you are gushing blood. Critical hit by a lance on a charge for 30 damage? Yeah, it's plunged a hole through your ribcage and launched your heart out the other side. Are you happy, gamers? Does THAT ridiculousness work better than a fighter getting a second wind and quote-unquote 'healing' damage mid-combat?"

So, Runequest then?

 

[Bluenose]

So, Runequest then?

Actually, Fate does a better job of "Hit points as Meat" than D&D. Though it's hardly a difficult task.