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4e Healing was the best D&D healing
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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 8051861" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p>Agreed.</p><p></p><p>However it's something the game has, sadly, never modelled very well at all.</p><p></p><p>Case in point.</p><p></p><p>A character at 1 hit point, unless one is all it ever has (which I don't think been possible since 1e), is about as close to being dead as it can be without in fact being dead; and thus should not be capable of doing everything as well as when it's at full health. But the game's never gone into this much detail, leaving us with a much-too-binary system of you're either fully functional or you're dead.</p><p></p><p>The 1e-2e solution of death at -10 and the area between 0 and -9 being a range of lessened functionality (or just unconsciousness, but even that's still too binary) actually solves a surprising number of these headaches. But for some reason 5e doesn't want to track negative hit points, and so out the window goes that design opportunity. Couple this binary on-off situation with a) an inability to go below zero and b) in-combat ranged healing and you've got Whack-A-Mole, which is truly ridiculous.</p><p></p><p>I'm sure it does, and all's well as far as it goes.</p><p></p><p>The problem is it's the rules themselves surrounding this that need help; and my point is they <strong>do</strong> need to be changed. Not just death-and-dying rules but the whole resting/healing/recovery paradigm, never mind the relationship between hit points (as a percentage of one's maximum) and health and-or functionality.</p><p></p><p>4e - an edition I rarely praise for anyhting - was on the right path with its bloodied mechanic: go below half your max hit points and something or some things changed. There should also be changes at the 1/4 point, at the 1/10 point, and at 1 h.p. if you've 20 or more maximum; to reflect generally lowered functionality and - with some classes - increasing desperation.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 8051861, member: 29398"] Agreed. However it's something the game has, sadly, never modelled very well at all. Case in point. A character at 1 hit point, unless one is all it ever has (which I don't think been possible since 1e), is about as close to being dead as it can be without in fact being dead; and thus should not be capable of doing everything as well as when it's at full health. But the game's never gone into this much detail, leaving us with a much-too-binary system of you're either fully functional or you're dead. The 1e-2e solution of death at -10 and the area between 0 and -9 being a range of lessened functionality (or just unconsciousness, but even that's still too binary) actually solves a surprising number of these headaches. But for some reason 5e doesn't want to track negative hit points, and so out the window goes that design opportunity. Couple this binary on-off situation with a) an inability to go below zero and b) in-combat ranged healing and you've got Whack-A-Mole, which is truly ridiculous. I'm sure it does, and all's well as far as it goes. The problem is it's the rules themselves surrounding this that need help; and my point is they [B]do[/B] need to be changed. Not just death-and-dying rules but the whole resting/healing/recovery paradigm, never mind the relationship between hit points (as a percentage of one's maximum) and health and-or functionality. 4e - an edition I rarely praise for anyhting - was on the right path with its bloodied mechanic: go below half your max hit points and something or some things changed. There should also be changes at the 1/4 point, at the 1/10 point, and at 1 h.p. if you've 20 or more maximum; to reflect generally lowered functionality and - with some classes - increasing desperation. [/QUOTE]
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