D&D (2024) Just DMed my 1st session of 5.5. Healer's Kit!?!?!

[Micah Sweet]

While I agree that non-magical first aid in 5e is utterly nonsensical, I am fortunate that it rarely comes up in my games. There’s always someone with some kind of healing magic, even if it’s just spare the dying.

I'd rather non-magical healing just were handled more realistically (and that magical healing was harder to come by).

The best way to prevent "whack-a-mole" in D&D IMO is simply to not have the downed character be able to jump right right back into the fight at all (at least not unless they're very lucky). When they go down they stay in a sort of quantum state until someone checks on them. Once that happens that person makes a role (with appropriate modifiers) to find out the downed character's condition.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Sure, but that is not a 5e24 thing, it is a 5e thing.

For us (my group) it is not such a big deal since HP is clearly not real / serious injuries. But we make that clear in our house rules

I honestly feel that sort of playstyle is the only way to achieve any sort of "realism" (and also cinematic excellence). Obviously others are free to disagree.

But I am okay with a certain amount of "chicken or egg" when it comes to wounds. And it works out to create some good moments. Let me try to explain:

You are out of HP. Are you mortally wounded? The answer to that depends on one thing: Do you die? If not, you were probably never badly wounded. Superficial wounds can hurt A LOT and can have "stopping power" even if they are not lethal.

So, in our stabilizing situation above, I generally see it as: PC at zero HP is lying on the ground. Party Healer gets there. PC: "Is it bad, Doc?" (Healer pulls out the arrow, not much blood), "Nah, nothing vital. You're going to be okay'.

If the PC now has a few HP, he can get up and fight on. If not, he can lie there and take it easy (stable). It's not like he'll be there long - the whole battle will be over in ~18 seconds!

(I prefer "Incapacitated" to "unconscious". You may be unconscious or not. The important thing us that you are incapable of doing anything useful. But crying/moaning/calling for help, etc? Too cool an RP opportunity to pass on).

 

[AlViking]

Why would you attack yourself!?

Badump-bump.

 

[AlViking]

Move 30ft, lift a 250lb guy (including gear, on average), find where the sword/arrow/spell got through his chain armor, get in there, clear the wound of debris, patch him up, and put him back down. All without getting yourself instantly killed by his assailant, who is still standing over him.

We just call them magic band-aids much like sci-fi hypo spray or whatever that instantly seals a wound and stops bleeding. But is that really the most unbelievable thing in DnD you can come up with?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

We just call them magic band-aids much like sci-fi hypo spray or whatever that instantly seals a wound and stops bleeding.

Sure, if you like.

But is that really the most unbelievable thing in DnD you can come up with?

It absolutely is not. Did I somehow suggest that it was?

 

[DarkCrisis]

For all my 5.0 DMing/Playing I had been using Healers Kits wrong. I just figured they were needed to make a Stabilize check. Like a Thief needs Lockpicks.

Ignorance is bliss.

 

[Maxperson]

Yeah, that's insane... but it's not a 2024 thing. Did healer's kits just not come up before now?

We had the same issues with it before, but also no it didn't really come up because of healing spells and potions. My players are of the mind that why just stabilize when you can heal the PC and get him fighting again?

I still don't see how you can also attack.

Sorry! Was still going off the bonus action in the OP. My bad.

The problem, IMO, is with the designers choosing to imply that a "quick stabilize" using a healer's kit is akin to "bandaging wounds". They should model that with something that takes longer (and hopefully does more).

In my opinion it's part of the whole, "Your down and dying from such a serious injury, unless you get that arm bandaged, in which case you are as good as new with 8 hours of sleep." issue. Injury in 5e is too loose and fast, and instant healer kit auto success in combat is just one symptom.

 

[AlViking]

Sure, if you like.


It absolutely is not. Did I somehow suggest that it was?

I just accept weirdness and things being simplified for ease of use in the game. I also don't think of a round as being strictly 6 seconds, sometimes it's less sometimes it's more, it's an average. But I wasn't trying to imply anything I just acknowledge for example that we have some weirdness like 6 second rounds because someone long ago decided that was better than the 1 minute rounds we used to have.

 

[DarkCrisis]

But you can move 30 feet and make viable use of a healer's kit, ostensibly made by a pre-modern culture.

Now that's fantasy!

5E loves it's "Everyone and everything is magical" stuff.

 

[J-H]

The "drink a potion as a bonus action" breaks my brain. In under six seconds, you are supposed to be able to pull a bottle out of your pocket, open it, and swallow its contents...while holding a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, in hand-to-hand combat with someone swinging an axe at your head.

Ugh. I know this is a game and all, but geez.

Clearly, they have never invented childproof safety lids for potions.

I have not adopted potions as a BA, and every time someone goes to 0 they gain a level of exhaustion. People heal in combat in my games. It's worthwhile if they time it well, and it is supposed to be a meaningful choice instead of a freebie. One of the things that makes D&D fun is your players having to make interesting and meaningful choices and tradeoffs with no single "right" answer.