D&D (2024) Should healing word require hit dice?

[Haplo781]

I do think that all healing should require hit dice; having a maximum limit on how much you can be healed in a game day might make it easier to stick to encounter guidelines. But at the very least, the Hit Dice should be added to the healing spell or effect, to make it different than just taking a rest. Sure, being able to heal outside of resting is useful, but since casting a spell is already using up a resource, there should be more effect if you're making someone spend two resources (spell slot + hit die).

And yes, as Mark B said, I'd like to see a system where you actually want to cast Cure Wounds to prevent players from going to 0 in the first place. Maybe bring back the Bloodied condition, where a monster might become more dangerous if they bloody a player, thus making it a good idea to stay above half hit points.

Gain a level of exhaustion every time you drop to 0.

 

[MoonSong]

Gain a level of exhaustion every time you drop to 0.

But if you are healed with a full action and with the healer next to you, you don't get the exhaustion?

 

[ninjayeti]

Other. The amount of HD characters have varies a great deal based on level and situation. This might provide some deterrent for lower level characters or ones who have already burned through most of their HD, but even a mid level character with full HD is going to have more than enough that they are not going to be limiting.

Personally I just track negative HP. Healing word will stabilize a character, but will not bring them back until they are healed above 0 HP. So healing word will bring a character back up from say, -3 or -4 HP. But if you get knocked to -20 HP it will take more dedicated healing to get you conscious.

In practice this works well because even if healing word brings a character back up they only have a few HP and one big hit can knock them far enough in the negatives that they will be down for good. This incentivizes characters with low HP to use dodge, drink potions, etc. RAW it usually a waste to heal characters with low HP as they cannot be reduced below 0 anyway.

 

[Clint_L]

Gain a level of exhaustion every time you drop to 0.

I make 'em roll on a critical wound table. One character recently lost a hand.

 

[mellored]

But if you are healed with a full action and with the healer next to you, you don't get the exhaustion?

Perhaps healing word gives exhaustion if the target is unconscious?

 

[billd91]

I do think that all healing should require hit dice; having a maximum limit on how much you can be healed in a game day might make it easier to stick to encounter guidelines. But at the very least, the Hit Dice should be added to the healing spell or effect, to make it different than just taking a rest. Sure, being able to heal outside of resting is useful, but since casting a spell is already using up a resource, there should be more effect if you're making someone spend two resources (spell slot + hit die).

And yes, as Mark B said, I'd like to see a system where you actually want to cast Cure Wounds to prevent players from going to 0 in the first place. Maybe bring back the Bloodied condition, where a monster might become more dangerous if they bloody a player, thus making it a good idea to stay above half hit points.

I don't think healing should require hit dice. I hated the element of healing surges in 4e where the external resource (potion, power, whatever) used and were limited by the target's own resources. They were using external resources - they should bring their own benefit above and beyond what's inherent to the PC.
I'd do like allowing healing spells to be supplemented by hit dice - maybe allowing a PC to expend one or more hit dice (perhaps 1 per spell level?) for further healing.

 

[OB1]

@billd91 I agree that not all healing magic should require hitdie, but I like the suggestion that Healing Word work that way. It feels like taking something away, but if you think about it as gaining access to your hit die without needing to short rest, it feels like a win. If you don't want to use HD, you still have Cure Wounds or a variety of other spells and abilities.

 

[Blue]

Let's go back to first principles. What is the goal of healing in 5e?

Two things the designers talked at various times about that I agree with:
1. Don't extend combats too long and turn them into grinds.
2. Don't have players ready to play sitting uninvolved.

Growing from these, the idea that in-combat healing isn't too powerful, but that it is easy to get players back into the action. In other words, underpowered healing but a generous healing-when-down are intentional design choices leading to a better game, or at least the game they wanted to build.

Healing word seems to well fit these goals.

Now let's look at putting a limitation of requiring Hit Dice. How does this change the spell?

1. Low level characters can gain benefit from the spell few times per day - 1st level (where the game is the most deadly and needs the most access to the healing provided) it's only once per day per character. Net result: Negative.
2. Hit Dice are intended to be a non-combat healing to help prevent characters with healing from spending much of their daily resources on healing, like happened back in early D&D versions. BUT if you need to reserve some HD for in-combat healing, then less out-of-combat healing via HD is happening, causing characters with healing to spend more resources out-of-combat. This penalizes the healers. Net result: Negative.
3. Characters have limited spells known/spells prepared. Having a healing spell that you can't cast because the target doesn't have a specific resource available wastes that spell known. Again penalizing the healer. Net result: Negative.

It seems that requiring Healing Word to use HD has a number of negatives, many of them on the healer(s) of the group.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

A medical kit can stablise someone so why the hate on Healing word?

Because some people think, putting someone on their feet with 1d4+5 hp is a good idea.

 

[James Gasik]

I don't think healing should require hit dice. I hated the element of healing surges in 4e where the external resource (potion, power, whatever) used and were limited by the target's own resources. They were using external resources - they should bring their own benefit above and beyond what's inherent to the PC.
I'd do like allowing healing spells to be supplemented by hit dice - maybe allowing a PC to expend one or more hit dice (perhaps 1 per spell level?) for further healing.

I see your point, but I felt that it was kind of necessary given that 4e was built on largely encounter based resources- as long as you could be healed, you could keep adventuring forever. It was also good to teach players not to be reckless, since if you took a lot of damage and used up your healing surges, you weren't going to be very useful in later combats.

The only thing I didn't like was monsters who could steal healing surges; there's nothing like being a Defender down to 2 healing surges after a fight for having the nerve to, well, defend.