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

[Micah Sweet]

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?

Of course not. But if the logic makes them magical (and I believe it does) don't label them otherwise.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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

Then perhaps they should be more explicit about it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

That would have made more sense IMO.

 

[dave2008]

Then perhaps they should be more explicit about it.

Probably not a surprise to you, but I prefer they are not explicit about. It allows it to function in a non-magical way for those who frame their fiction that way. After some thought, I think it is 100% legitimate to use a healer's kit and it not be magical for fantasy even.

 

[dave2008]

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.

Maybe you were thinking of the healing kit dependency variant rule in the DMG?

Healer’s Kit Dependency​

A character can’t spend any Hit Dice after finishing a short rest until someone expends one use of a healer’s kit to bandage and treat the character’s wounds.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Probably not a surprise to you, but I prefer they are not explicit about. It allows it to function in a non-magical way for those who frame their fiction that way. After some thought, I think it is 100% legitimate to use a healer's kit and it not be magical for fantasy even.

How? Where's the logic in that? Seriously, I do not get it.

 

[AlViking]

How? Where's the logic in that? Seriously, I do not get it.

Let people decide for themselves if they care. Most people don't really think about it too much one way or another in large part because they've gotten used to things like video games where you apply a health pack and you're better. In my games I could come up with some lore like the bandages are infused with fibers of a plant that have low level inherent magical healing properties along with a mild stimulant effect. In yours it could be something completely different or have no explanation at all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Let people decide for themselves if they care. Most people don't really think about it too much one way or another in large part because they've gotten used to things like video games where you apply a health pack and you're better. In my games I could come up with some lore like the bandages are infused with fibers of a plant that have low level inherent magical healing properties along with a mild stimulant effect. In yours it could be something completely different or have no explanation at all.

D&D has an implied setting. It's not just a box of mechanics with evocative names. I want something called a healer's kit to model a healer's kit, and I don't think that opinion is so out there. If you're going to base your mechanics on video game models as you suggest, that would be an amazing thing to be honest about up front.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

But you're right: One can barely have a look at an actual wound in 6 seconds, far or less do anything about it.

I think the problem here is making rounds only 6 seconds. That was a mistake in 3e.

It has too many implications like one attack = one swing with a weapon.

I admit, 1 min rounds as in 2e was a bit much.

Maybe I had prefered 15 to 20 second rounds or so. Enough time to load a crossbow. Enough time to draw and stow some weapons. Long enough so one battle lasts a significant amount of time (a minute to two minutes) instead of anticlimatic 20 to 30 seconds.

So that's it.
Before I change anything else, I change that.

 

[dave2008]

How? Where's the logic in that? Seriously, I do not get it.

1. The move is a non-factor. 30 feet is easy to move while pulling out your healer's kit. That is about 2-3 seconds of a mild jog.
2. All the healer's kit does is stabilize you. Which means you're not actively dying.
3. A character doing nothing actively can stabilize by just make 3 saving throws.
4. A character can be stabilized by someone else making a medicine check (1 action).
5. Clearly, becoming stable is not a big deal from a physical sense.
6. If you can become stable by just lying there unconscious or someone making a medicine, it doesn't seem like a stretch someone can spend 2-3 seconds with a kit and make you stable.