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D&D 4E 4e Healing - Is This Right?
- Thread starter Archade
- Start date
Bayonet_Chris
First Post
Extended Rests
It does clearly say once per day, so it's not like the party can fight in fifteen minute increments and take 3 6-hour rests per day to be fully healed up.
The first level dwarven fighter had 13 healing surges per day at first level, meaning she could heal her entire sum of hit points 3 times, plus a little left over. Assuming a dangerous battle causes her to use her second wind at some point and with a short (5-minute) rest afterwards, a character can reasonably be expected to run through 2-5 healing surges per combat (during and post), depending on how much damage was taken.
With as easily as damage seems to be handed out from the playtest reports and everything else, it brings up some interesting scenarios with managing your healing surges. It also says you have to be able to rest the entire 6-hour block to get the benefit. If the party gets into one a midnight "on watch" encounter and some of them use their dailies then, does the six hours start anew? I would think so, which means that the party really has to be careful with their resources when in dangerous territory, since a good night's rest is not guaranteed.
It does clearly say once per day, so it's not like the party can fight in fifteen minute increments and take 3 6-hour rests per day to be fully healed up.
The first level dwarven fighter had 13 healing surges per day at first level, meaning she could heal her entire sum of hit points 3 times, plus a little left over. Assuming a dangerous battle causes her to use her second wind at some point and with a short (5-minute) rest afterwards, a character can reasonably be expected to run through 2-5 healing surges per combat (during and post), depending on how much damage was taken.
With as easily as damage seems to be handed out from the playtest reports and everything else, it brings up some interesting scenarios with managing your healing surges. It also says you have to be able to rest the entire 6-hour block to get the benefit. If the party gets into one a midnight "on watch" encounter and some of them use their dailies then, does the six hours start anew? I would think so, which means that the party really has to be careful with their resources when in dangerous territory, since a good night's rest is not guaranteed.
PeelSeel2
Explorer
Hit points do not represent actual physical damage. They represent your ability to avoid actual physical damage. Sometimes your suspension of disbelief will run up against the concept of hit points. In which case I suggest making them match.
Your example was a person falling out of a four story building. Realistically, you cannot survive that fall. Game terms, yes you could easy. I cannot abide by that myself, so if I put my characters in a position where they where in that much peril, I would make a save or die (yes, even in fourth I will have it; but I like the concept of drawing it with multiple saves) fall. Now am I going to do that from a story standpoint with my characters? Probably not. I am going to have some fluff their so reality can match the fantasy. The character falls off, manages to grab several ledges, slowing him down, and falls onto an awning and then trash heap, etc. If their is multiple chances for all characters to fall off, I will have to make some other fluff for reality to match fantasy.
Realistically, if a person receives a bad cut to the gut, they are out for 1-8 weeks. In my campaign unless their is a story reason for that, I am not going to have them receive that kind of wound. The hit points they take that day do a good job of tiring them out, taking away their luck, and they have plenty of scatches, but nothing a night of healing won't fix. I only decribe killing blows. If a character hits a monster for 50 hp of damage, and the monster has 100 hit points, I describe it like this "Normally your well timed blow would have felled a normal beast and all you managed to do was put a scratch on it." Same with Characters.
Your example was a person falling out of a four story building. Realistically, you cannot survive that fall. Game terms, yes you could easy. I cannot abide by that myself, so if I put my characters in a position where they where in that much peril, I would make a save or die (yes, even in fourth I will have it; but I like the concept of drawing it with multiple saves) fall. Now am I going to do that from a story standpoint with my characters? Probably not. I am going to have some fluff their so reality can match the fantasy. The character falls off, manages to grab several ledges, slowing him down, and falls onto an awning and then trash heap, etc. If their is multiple chances for all characters to fall off, I will have to make some other fluff for reality to match fantasy.
Realistically, if a person receives a bad cut to the gut, they are out for 1-8 weeks. In my campaign unless their is a story reason for that, I am not going to have them receive that kind of wound. The hit points they take that day do a good job of tiring them out, taking away their luck, and they have plenty of scatches, but nothing a night of healing won't fix. I only decribe killing blows. If a character hits a monster for 50 hp of damage, and the monster has 100 hit points, I describe it like this "Normally your well timed blow would have felled a normal beast and all you managed to do was put a scratch on it." Same with Characters.
I believe falling damage has been MAJORLY overhauled in the edition change. A high level character has a better chance of surviving a fall, but only within some pretty belivable limits.
That is to say, for example a sixty foot fall would have a good chance of killing you unless you have some power that can save you, and if it doesn't kill you, it'll injure you seriously (which is to say, you're at 0 HP and maybe stable), while a thirty foot fall could cause serious injury unless you really land just right.
I don't know any details, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to be vague about where I'm getting this. I recall hearing about rejiggering the falling rules, possibly in a podcast, but I can't remember exactly where.
That is to say, for example a sixty foot fall would have a good chance of killing you unless you have some power that can save you, and if it doesn't kill you, it'll injure you seriously (which is to say, you're at 0 HP and maybe stable), while a thirty foot fall could cause serious injury unless you really land just right.
I don't know any details, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to be vague about where I'm getting this. I recall hearing about rejiggering the falling rules, possibly in a podcast, but I can't remember exactly where.
Thornir Alekeg
Albatross!
Archade said:
1) As of right now the game goes something like this: ""Sorry to hear you fell out of a 4th story window Mr. Aragorn. Fortunately for you, despite your fall nothing is broken. You can do everything you usually do with no problem - run, jump, climb, fight. Your plate armor and greatsword won't cause you any difficulty. The one thing you should keep in though is that right now one kid with a lucky shot from a sling will probably be enough to kill you."
2) With clerics around who can heal and cure disease, why would anyone take up the profession of physician?
As for my feelings about being at full HP after an "extended rest": it isn't really much different than most of the games I played in. The biggest difference is that in current and older editions the rest "extended" a little longer while the party rested, then the cleric burned off spell after spell healing everyone up hopefully close enough so that one more rest would put them back to full and the cleric would have a full complement of spells.
To me what this change mostly does is eliminate a bit of bookkeeping.
I know that somebody who's screen name begins with K will give me grief for this, but...
Healing in 3e is basically overnight as well. You heal 2 hit points per level with a full day's rest. That's doubled to 4 if someone gives you care with a heal check. It is a rare character who needs more than two days to recover from a complete disemboweling. Even Thunk the Level 13 Barbarian, who rolled average on hit points each level but who has a 16 Constitution, with his 126 hit points, only needs ~2.4 days of bedrest to reach full HP from 0.
I know that "overnight" is a lot faster than "two days of bedrest," but I'm not sure that either breaks suspension of disbelief meaningfully more than the other. And the latter never ruined my 3.5 games.
Its not like the healers won't just heal everyone before they go to sleep anyways.
Healing in 3e is basically overnight as well. You heal 2 hit points per level with a full day's rest. That's doubled to 4 if someone gives you care with a heal check. It is a rare character who needs more than two days to recover from a complete disemboweling. Even Thunk the Level 13 Barbarian, who rolled average on hit points each level but who has a 16 Constitution, with his 126 hit points, only needs ~2.4 days of bedrest to reach full HP from 0.
I know that "overnight" is a lot faster than "two days of bedrest," but I'm not sure that either breaks suspension of disbelief meaningfully more than the other. And the latter never ruined my 3.5 games.
Its not like the healers won't just heal everyone before they go to sleep anyways.
FunkBGR
Explorer
It's a fantasy schtick guys.
I imagine that one of the first things we'll see from another company would be an implementation of "wound levels" or something, like Star Wars Saga does with Damage Threshold.
You can adjust the wound levels and thresholds, along with what it takes to heal them, based on what style of game you are running.
Want gritty? Every 10 points of damage someone takes, they go down a wound threshold. Say there's 5 levels of wound thresholds. If you're down 1 threshold, it takes 1 week to heal it. If you're down 2 thresholds, it takes 2 weeks to heal the first threshold, and another week to be back to fighting fit. And so on.
Or change it to Con as threshold, or Fort Defense, or whatever.
Easy!
I imagine that one of the first things we'll see from another company would be an implementation of "wound levels" or something, like Star Wars Saga does with Damage Threshold.
You can adjust the wound levels and thresholds, along with what it takes to heal them, based on what style of game you are running.
Want gritty? Every 10 points of damage someone takes, they go down a wound threshold. Say there's 5 levels of wound thresholds. If you're down 1 threshold, it takes 1 week to heal it. If you're down 2 thresholds, it takes 2 weeks to heal the first threshold, and another week to be back to fighting fit. And so on.
Or change it to Con as threshold, or Fort Defense, or whatever.
Easy!
Warbringer
Explorer
Cadfan said:
But he was cured by a horse
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