D&D General 4e Healing was the best D&D healing

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I don't really like the concept of healing surges. 5e's hit points are fine, if you actually read the section on hit points and know they're more than just physical health. There are some parts that don't make much sense still and are vague, but I don't think I'd try 4e's healing system anytime.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah 5E’s hit dice were underdeveloped. Like inspiration. And monsters. And several classes. And encounter design. And about 80% of the DMG.

That frustrates me. Because 5E is a good game that’s somewhat shy of being a great game.

Same thing happened in 3e and 4e.

All three of these editions just needed a few more months of playtesting and brainstorming to get the edges fixed. Especially for the things the designers were not enthusiastic about.

 

[Bawylie]

I don't really like the concept of healing surges. 5e's hit points are fine, if you actually read the section on hit points and know they're more than just physical health. There are some parts that don't make much sense still and are vague, but I don't think I'd try 4e's healing system anytime.

It isn’t JUST the healing system though.

That system worked very well because the monster design, encounter design, and incoming damage levels worked well with it.

In a 4E game, the 4E healing surges were damn near perfectly executed. They were fully integrated into the encounter system, the rest system, and therefore had a strong effect on the pacing. They were powerful and limited, so using them was a choice with a real consequence. Verbiage aside, they ‘felt’ right.

I concede basically all arguments about the verisimilitude and the glossary/definitions. Hit, Miss, damage on a miss were all very poor verbiage decisions.

Edit - spelling

 

[Bawylie]

Same thing happened in 3e and 4e.

All three of these editions just needed a few more months of playtesting and brainstorming to get the edges fixed. Especially for the things the designers were not enthusiastic about.

Mini, for real. If they’d release 1/3 of 4E (just heroic) and used that as playtest for Paragon and then used that as Playtest for Epic, they coulda sold me the damn game 3 times

 

[Undrave]

So in 4e, they made being healed the daily resource, not healing someone. So now you could both have fun, challenging encounters and have an attrition mechanic. Now, I'm completely on-board with the complaints that fights dragged on too long and maybe allowed too much healing – those are valid complaints. But to me, that's a question of calibration, not concept.

Well put!

Mini, for real. If they’d release 1/3 of 4E (just heroic) and used that as playtest for Paragon and then used that as Playtest for Epic, they coulda sold me the damn game 3 times

For real! But I think that model would have ran into trouble with the bean counters because you know less people would buy Paragon than Heroic (and you wouldn't be able to play Paragon without Heroic) and even LESS would buy Epic.

 

[Charlaquin]

Same thing happened in 3e and 4e.

All three of these editions just needed a few more months of playtesting and brainstorming to get the edges fixed. Especially for the things the designers were not enthusiastic about.

I’d call 3e more than just somewhat shy of a great game. But YMMV of course.

 

[Minigiant]

Mini, for real. If they’d release 1/3 of 4E (just heroic) and used that as playtest for Paragon and then used that as Playtest for Epic, they coulda sold me the damn game 3 times

Considering that 4E Epic was barely half complete at release and 4e Paragon was only mostly... they really should have done that and focused more on the tiers.

Woulda got me money 3 times as well.

I’d call 3e more than just somewhat shy of a great game. But YMMV of course.

Yes. 3.5.
But that's after an full on edition revision.

 

[Bawylie]

Considering that 4E Epic was barely half complete at release and 4e Paragon was only mostly... they really should have done that and focused more on the tiers.

Woulda got me money 3 times as well.



Yes. 3.5.
But that's after an full on edition revision.

4E got a full-on revision too. And I’ll cop to liking essentials.

 

[Charlaquin]

4E got a full-on revision too. And I’ll cop to liking essentials.

Essentials was great! I know that’s not a popular opinion among other 4e fans, but I think it was excellent.

 

[Bawylie]

Essentials was great! I know that’s not a popular opinion among other 4e fans, but I think it was excellent.

I think it was just too late by the time it came around.