D&D 5E Should 5E have Healing Surges?

[MichaelSomething]

How about some classes have healing surges and some don't!

 

[Nivenus]

I'm not super attached to healing surges but I do like two things about them.

1. They allow characters to heal on their own.
2. They put a hard cap on healing.

These two things only make common sense to me. Of course, someone's going to heal on their own from wounds they sustain. It might take longer, for sure, but it's possible.

Similarly, it seems reasonable to expect someone to be able to heal only a certain amount per day. It's easier to recover from a papercut than it is from a broken leg.

Still, the implementation could use work, I suppose, and I do think that healing surges may work too quickly.

 

[Tallifer]

I'm not super attached to healing surges but I do like two things about them.

1. They allow characters to heal on their own.
2. They put a hard cap on healing.

Similarly, it seems reasonable to expect someone to be able to heal only a certain amount per day. It's easier to recover from a papercut than it is from a broken leg.

That is a very good point! That healing surges actually pout a more realistic limit on healing in the higher level games when healing magic is easy and plentiful.

 

[harlokin]

I very much agree with this. It is nice to allow regular classes to have a least at least some self healing without the aid of a cleric.

I'm a fan of Heaing Surges, but I would happpily settle for this.

I don't understand the issue some people have with Characters having a mechanic to recover Hit Points, which have always been an abstract measure of a Character's well-being, other than Divine Magic (including the ludicrous) first-aid wands, and prolonged bed rest.

 

[JamesonCourage]

I'm not super attached to healing surges but I do like two things about them.
They allow characters to heal on their own.
They put a hard cap on healing.

Similarly, it seems reasonable to expect someone to be able to heal only a certain amount per day. It's easier to recover from a papercut than it is from a broken leg.

That is a very good point! That healing surges actually pout a more realistic limit on healing in the higher level games when healing magic is easy and plentiful.

... unless magic is healing the broken leg, right? It's also kind of odd that magic won't work right now, but will work after 6 hours of rest. I wouldn't call a hard cap on healing realistic. It might be advantageous for a certain pacing, for sure, though. As always, play what you like

 

[Nivenus]

I'm a fan of Heaing Surges, but I would happpily settle for this.

I don't understand the issue some people have with Characters having a mechanic to recover Hit Points, which have always been an abstract measure of a Character's well-being, other than Divine Magic (including the ludicrous) first-aid wands, and prolonged bed rest.

As stated above, I like healing surges well enough but there is a fundamental clash between hit points' stated RAW meaning and their implied meaning via game effects and their derivation from Constitution.

According to the rules, HP mean plot damage. But the fact that recovering them is called "healing," that successful attacks are usually described as causing physical damage, and the fact that they're derived from a stat that literally stands for physical durability kind of makes that official definition iconoclastic.

EDIT:

... unless magic is healing the broken leg, right? It's also kind of odd that magic won't work right now, but will work after 6 hours of rest. I wouldn't call a hard cap on healing realistic. It might be advantageous for a certain pacing, for sure, though. As always, play what you like

Not really. A doctor can aid or even speed up a patient's recovery, but they can't make that healing instantaneous in extreme cases. I prefer the same interpretation for magical healing - it makes it less cheap and more meaningful, in my mind.

Note that I'm fine with magical healing working better than regular healing, but I think there is as much a need for a hard cap on its effectiveness as there is for mundane healing.

 

[harlokin]

As stated above, I like healing surges well enough but there is a fundamental clash between hit points' stated RAW meaning and their implied meaning via game effects and their derivation from Constitution.

According to the rules, HP mean plot damage. But the fact that recovering them is called "healing," that successful attacks are usually described as causing physical damage, and the fact that they're derived from a stat that literally stands for physical durability kind of makes that official definition iconoclastic.

I can't disagree with that at all, but I think the solution would be to return Hit Points to their abstract beginnings rather than treat them as a simulation of actual wounds taken.

 

[Knightfall]

I very much agree with this. It is nice to allow regular classes to have a least at least some self healing without the aid of a cleric.

IMO: That is what a healing skill and healing kit is for.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

I want characters to have two pools of hit points-- not necessarily equal, but not necessarily unequal-- that are depleted simultaneously in combat. Losing all of their hit points from either pool is potentially fatal, but one pool refreshes after every encounter and the other pool relies on natural and magical healing.

 

[harlokin]

IMO: That is what a healing skill and healing kit is for.

That is fine as long as it's not a simulationist mechanic for dealing with this whereby you can only use your healing skill/kit once per battle and you recover a whopping 1-4 hit points.