Help keeping my players alive

[HarbingerX]

My 6 3rd level PCs have just fought a really tough battle that consumed a lot of their healing surges and are now about to embark on a series of lighter skirmishes before getting to the big fight.

The problem I have is that they are in a hostile keep with no opportunity for an extended rest. The party is made up of a Ranger, 2 Paladins, a Fighter, a Rogue and a Warden - so there is no free healing available. Does anyone have a suggestions as to how I can get some healing back into them? I do have several places I can get some magic items into their hands.

Thanks!

 

[Grabuto138]

My 6 3rd level PCs have just fought a really tough battle that consumed a lot of their healing surges and are now about to embark on a series of lighter skirmishes before getting to the big fight.

The problem I have is that they are in a hostile keep with no opportunity for an extended rest. The party is made up of a Ranger, 2 Paladins, a Fighter, a Rogue and a Warden - so there is no free healing available. Does anyone have a suggestions as to how I can get some healing back into them? I do have several places I can get some magic items into their hands.

Thanks!

Much better to change the plot than to introude magic items.
Is the plot absolutely time sensitive, meaning a ticking time bomb?
You may need to explain the details more but how about a hidden chapel that restores HP and surges with a skill challenge?
A slave/orphan/scholar that shows up and leads them to a secret place that allows them to rest?
Let them leave and come back?
A secret room that the current occupants are unaware of? Maybe use this as an opportunity to give campaign details.

 

[HarbingerX]

I'm more looking for a game mechanic I can use to give healing, then I'll figure out a way of having them find/encounter it. I don't want to just throw in a 'magical healing here!' location.

The encounter is time critical in that larger events are happening outside of the keep that will require them to continue to press on until they find their quarry. If they hole up an rest, then... hmm, well I guess the big-bad will have left town...

Thanks for the suggestions, I'm still wondering if there is a game mechanic that I'm unaware of that can provide the equivalent of healing surges.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

Much better to change the plot than to introude magic items.
Is the plot absolutely time sensitive, meaning a ticking time bomb?
You may need to explain the details more but how about a hidden chapel that restores HP and surges with a skill challenge?
A slave/orphan/scholar that shows up and leads them to a secret place that allows them to rest?
Let them leave and come back?
A secret room that the current occupants are unaware of? Maybe use this as an opportunity to give campaign details.

Perhaps the well in the keep has healing powers that none of the current inhabitants knew about. Perhaps have it give the players 1 healing surge worth of hps and +1 healing surge. If they die after that. Hey time to start again

 

[Eldorian]

Yeah, my first response was the old Wizardry computer game standby: magic fountain that restores healing surges.

If you don't want a magic fountain, then get a freaking leader in that party. Seriously, they're fun to play, unlike Clerics from previous editions might have been.

 

[Dan'L]

You could have the remaining baddies surrender in fear at the approaching might of the PCs

Or, more seriously, they could find some object like a genie bottle that, when opened, releases some strange energy that washes over them restoring some number of surges. This way, it could be a one-time, one-use thing.

-Dan'L

 

[Oompa]

You would give them magic items to heal up, but not a room where they could heal up..

Like said before..

Make a secret room, they find it ( they will ) and than add a well, or an altar to the room and let them heal up with 1 healing surge + 1d10..

Or adjust the encounters they have left to do..

Or let them continue and pray they won't die..

How much are xp are all the encounters?

 

[Tuft]

To be frank, you should not have thrown the group into such a series of encounters when using the 4E rules.

Even though WoTC abolished spell memorization, the healing surge mechanic even more firmly reinforces the X minute adventuring day than the previous editions. With those editions, you could "cheat" your way past the resources exhausted stage using healing potions and scrolls/wands for the casters. "Out of healing surges" is an absolute end that cannot be cheated past. If you continue to take damage after this point... well, its soon goodbye party!

So, having put them in this situation, you have to give them some means to spend a night; 4E characters need their long rest!

Or you make all the remaining encounters up to the next true long rest cakewalks. Those can be fun too, allowing the players to show off and feel real powerful...

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

To be frank, you should not have thrown the group into such a series of encounters when using the 4E rules.

Even though WoTC abolished spell memorization, the healing surge mechanic even more firmly reinforces the X minute adventuring day than the previous editions.

Oh that's just wrong. 4e is the best edition yet for that kind of series of encounter. I just finished a 24 themed adventure where the heroes ran through 4 very tough fight in a row (Level +2, +2, +1 (with tactical advantage to the monsters) and +4 (with tactical advantage to the players)). Similar scenarios would have been impossible in 3e.

He said that the party has expanded a lot of ressources in a big fight, whatever that means. Presumably a lot of dailies. They still have their encounter powers, must still have healing surge and can still heal a bit during the fight (SW) and between them. They can try to press on, but they will have to be tactical and not slug it out blow for blow until they run out of surge. The OP said he has a few light skirmish in mind until the big fight. Well, that would be level 0 or even -1. PCs can eat those like candy, with no dalilies and very litlle healing. Make sure they all have an AP ready for the last fight by handing a milestone just before it and they have a shot.

If this was 3e, it would be over. You can't press on once the spellcaster have thrown the big guns in that edition. Claiming that 4e encourage the 5 minute workday more than 3e is an indefendable position.

---

You should just go ahead and continue the adventure. If the heroes fail, try to hedge toward capture to avoid TPK. If it means they fail the mission due to time constraint, so be it. Heroes don't always have to win and a cruel defeat sets the stage for a triumphant return. More importantly, if they fail because of bad tactics, gently point it out and hopefully they will play smarter next time. That's what's happening to my crew.

The various published adventures have shown this much; faced with the same challenge, some groups of PCs have been TPKed and other have had an easy time winning. Think of Irontooth and so forth. There can be many reason for this (i.e. DM being unreasonable) but overall the main explanation is that some group of players are playing just plain smarter than others.

Letting the heroes fail when they were facing a level appropriate challenge is not a bad thing; it's a signal that maybe they should try differents approaches. If the DM coddle the players and fudge things in their favor even when they are using poor tactics, they have no reasons to change their ways since it will always be good enough.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

It may also be that the party is somewhat unbalanced. That can degrade their ability to perform to some extent. Having 4 defenders in a party is a little unusual. Paladins do tend to be somewhat leaderish, so you're probably OK there, but lacking a real controller can be a problem. Maybe someone should be playing a wizard.

I know that doesn't really solve your problem, but it may help to explain why the party seems to feel the need to burn a lot of dailies. Unfortunately there really isn't any particular specific mechanism for regaining HS, they are pretty much intended to be a hard limited resource. So either the party is just going to have to take an extended rest, or you'll have to come up with a way to gift them with some HS, or they'll just have to push on and hope for the best.

From a campaign standpoint the best resolution may well be that they take on the next few easy encounters and then the BBEG at the end simply can't be defeated. He could still decide to leave the scene without bothering to finish off the party, especially if he's on his way out soon anyhow. Then he can turn into a recurring menace, which they will hopefully figure out how to defeat the next time around.