D&D 5E D&D Unboxing Starter Set Video is on Youtube

[Psikerlord#]

Sacrificing effectiveness at your own class for impractically slow healing sure sounds like a bargain to me.

You appear to simply not comprehend the issue.

 

[Obryn]

You appear to simply not comprehend the issue.

Oh, I do, but let's stop crapping up this thread.

 

[I'm A Banana]

If Second Wind ever became an issue in one of my games I would make the following one-line houserule: Second Wind cannot heal more damage than you've taken since the last time you used Second Wind

Interesting, but that tracking turms me off of it, even as a house rule.

My favorite so far is using it to heal as a reaction when you drop below 1/2 hp (or even 0 hp? Maybe...). Pretty much assures that you can't use it to top off your HP, and it's consistent with the narrative of a beaten and bruised fighter who ain't got time to bleed functionally ignoring the last few injuries dealt to her. Pretty sure that's what it'll be in my games.

 

[pemerton]

My favorite so far is using it to heal as a reaction when you drop below 1/2 hp

The problem with this is that this is a huge nerf at 1st level, when the "chaining" option is most tempting, and becomes non-nerfing only at higher levels where chaining is irrelevant anyway.

The reason I say it's a huge 1st level nerf is because for a 1st level fighter, one hit can be the difference between max, or near-max, and unconscious or dead. A 1st level fighter who is down to 7 hp shouldn't have to take another hit before using his/her self-healing! That comes close to defeating the main point of the ability, all in the name of sorting out some corner-case issue.

Making it temporary hit points solves the problem, and feels more representative of getting your second wind. It's an adrenalin rush that lets you fight on like you were refreshed, but wears off when you settle down.

Temp HP would be instantly better because the ability is called stamina, and like an adrenalin rush, dissipates after 5 minutes.

Temp hp don't dissipate after 5 minutes, though, if they've been lost to damage. Which is likely to be the case when you're moved to use your second wind (ie you're being pounded on).

The only time temp hp actually fade is if the second wind turned out to be unnecessary (because no more damage was taken). Which seems to be another way of introducing needless complexity to deal with a corner case.

I think a lot of people are confusing the term simulationism with merely having logical and consistent rules. You can most definitely have one without the other, but the more simulationist the rules are, the more consistent they have to be

Please show me a simulationist game that has rules as consistent or logical as HeroQuest revised. Simulationist systems tend to suffer from rules inconsistencies, because the desire to model an ever-growing range of cases causes inconsistencies to creep in. (Also, it's not generally true that inconsistent systems can't be effective models - they are fine as long as their use doesn't put pressure on the point of inconsistency.)

 

[I'm A Banana]

The reason I say it's a huge 1st level nerf is because for a 1st level fighter, one hit can be the difference between max, or near-max, and unconscious or dead. A 1st level fighter who is down to 7 hp shouldn't have to take another hit before using his/her self-healing! That comes close to defeating the main point of the ability, all in the name of sorting out some corner-case issue.

Ah, the idea was to use it more akin to a 4e-style interrupt. So that they would not be deprived of their healing just because they dropped below 0 hp, but it would still require being damaged to activate.

 

[Klaus]

Interesting, but that tracking turms me off of it, even as a house rule.

My favorite so far is using it to heal as a reaction when you drop below 1/2 hp (or even 0 hp? Maybe...). Pretty much assures that you can't use it to top off your HP, and it's consistent with the narrative of a beaten and bruised fighter who ain't got time to bleed functionally ignoring the last few injuries dealt to her. Pretty sure that's what it'll be in my games.

Or you could limit it to only being useable within 1 minute of taking a wound. That makes it an immediate resource. After that it's resting, HD and magic.

 

[jrowland]

If the DM did that to us, we'd probably quit on the spot. We aren't dumb, and can see when we're being railroaded into a course of action. That isn't why we play a game of D&D. The players choose what their characters do. If the DM wants, he can put in a house rule, sure, but then we're back to the fact that the default, Basic D&D game has an exploitable short rest issue in the most basic class of the game, and people are telling us to ignore it or play around it instead of telling the devs to fix it.

Players railroading the game by spamming chained short rests is ok? It's a table decision. If the back and forth of these boards is any indication, its not universally "broken".

As to "telling devs to fix it", I don't think you understand the core design of 5th Edition: DM as Developer. WotC says here are the free basic rules, here are some advanced rules (designs) we did you have to pay for (PHB) and here are some guidelines to make your rules (DMG). Go for it.

IN 5th Edition, The DM is a Developer. Your Game, Your Way. If something is Broken, YOU fix it. Maybe in a year, after its been played a while, WotC will tabulate what we DMs (developers) are doing, figure out if any of them warrant an errata or reprint based on surveys etc, and go from there.

 

[jrowland]

The absence of a rule is not a rule.

Actually, in D&D the absence of a rule is a rule: DM Makes a judgement call. Rule Zero.

 

[jrowland]

B
Fighters with max HP at zero cost, every battle is broken, dude. Sorry.

It's not zero cost. The cost is the time to rest.

 

[jrowland]

Ah, the idea was to use it more akin to a 4e-style interrupt. So that they would not be deprived of their healing just because they dropped below 0 hp, but it would still require being damaged to activate.

That's why I just say its a reaction to taking damage, period. At 1st level take 1 point of damage and want to use SW? Fine. At first level take 11 points of damage and want to use SW? Fine. Let the player decide when to use it.

I get that it "feels" right to allow when bloodied or 0, but that is largely due to it being called "Second Wind". Rename it "Shrug it off" and just let it be a reaction to taking damage.