D&D 5E 5e, Heal Thyself! Is Healing Too Weak in D&D?

[JiffyPopTart]

And based on experience with all editions, I know not to run a combat using 4e, horde or not, because it takes ages and requires pushing figurines on a map (and I don't have a 100 orc figurines), whereas in 5e (and in BECMI / AD&D before) I never had any problem running them in particular using theater of the mind:

• Player: "how many orcs can I catch in my fireball ?
• DM: "Where they are the most dense, I'd say about 20, done, they are burnt to a crisp, there's only 80 left, a bit shaken by the blast, next ?"

Much more cinematic and waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy quicker.

Remember when this thread was about healing in 5e and not crapping on 4e?

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I mean, 5e isn't any better about this. Why does Repelling Blast push people 10 feet, exactly?

How does viciously mocking someone cause them to die???

 

[Vaalingrade]

Remember when this thread was about healing in 5e and not crapping on 4e?

Starting an edition war is like throwing a punch in a prison yard: a convenient distraction.

 

[Staffan]

Anybody have any experience with healing surges in 5e? DMG alternate healing rule from page 266.

I haven't used it, but I think it is misnamed. It should properly be called Second Wind if you want to evoke 4e (except that's taken by a Fighter ability), because that's the 4e mechanic it is copying.

In 4e, a healing surge is a resource you can use to heal yourself. On a short rest (which is 5 minutes in 4e, not one hour) you can spend healing surges to recover hp. Each surge recovers 1/4 your maximum (rounded down). There is also an action called Second Wind which all PCs have as an encounter power that you can take to heal using a healing surge. Your number of healing surges varied per class, but was in the range of 6 to 10, plus your Constitution modifier (defender classes clocked in at 9-10, most other classes at 6-7).

In 5e, the rest-healing mechanic is the Hit Die. This differs in fundamental ways from the healing surge, notably in how it scales. Higher-level 5e characters have more hit dice that each heal the same amount, while higher-level 4e characters have the same number of healing surges that each heal for more. You also have significantly less rest-based healing in 5e: slightly less than 100% of your max hp, with 50% of that recovered per day, whereas 4e has 150% to 350%, all of which recovers each day.

The optional 5e Healing Surge rule lets you spend up to half your hit dice as an action, once per short rest. It also speeds up the recovery of hit dice, so it might actually approach the non-magic healing available in 4e to low-surge classes.

 

[Staffan]

How does viciously mocking someone cause them to die???

 

[Manbearcat]

The players realize the DM actually just tried to make them play through an escort quest without a computer company and a whole supply chain between them and their victims and run them out of town on a rail.

I feel confident there is a good “in-joke” in here that I’m unfortunately on the outs of!

 

[pemerton]

I feel confident there is a good “in-joke” in here that I’m unfortunately on the outs of!

I think it rests on a premise that an "escort quest" is one foisted on the game by the GM rather than emerging out of player-authored PC dramatic needs.

 

[Manbearcat]

I think it rests on a premise that an "escort quest" is one foisted on the game by the GM rather than emerging out of player-authored PC dramatic needs.

Ah! Thanks for the insight!

Well, then all we have to do is assume the inversion of that (which is the point of 4e's Background/Theme/Paragon Path/Epic Destiny + Minor/Major Quest tech!); PC dramatic needs signaled by players to GM and scene-framing obligations to that! Vulnerable NPCs are put under duress and appear in play because (a) they're central to player-evinced interests (through PC build or through prior play) and (b) because the sort of PoL mythology that 4e is anchored upon (premise) must have vulnerable NPCs (and steadings with citizenry - scale from there) that require heroic deliverance and thwarted evil!

 

[James Gasik]

It's not that there's not enough healing in 5e, it's that the amounts are generally small. Better healing potions are unavailable to characters. Cure Wounds doesn't do a lot for non-Life Clerics. Healing Word is a joke that leads to "pop-up" healing tactics. A Hit Die is just that. In aggregate? Yeah, there's tons of healing going on.

But the fantasy of a dragon tearing your barbarian a new hind end and the Cleric saying "no, I don't think so"? Yeah, the game doesn't really support that. Even granting of temporary hit points has been very conservative- which I think is what confuses me about the Twilight Domain. Not that I think it's a bad thing- protect your party, good stuff. It's more...wait, why now is there an efficient way to grant temporary hit points that makes Aid and Inspiring Leader look so...lame?

And because there's so much dribs and drabs of healing available, and no real limit to how much a guy can be healed per diem, if you don't outright murder a guy or cut him off from the ability to rest, he's going to be fine. It's just a flesh wound.

Now that doesn't bother me, because of how I run games. But if you prefer the old "blood and guts" gritty adventuring of old, where fortune favors the cautious, and the bold get replaced by an identical twin brother, yeah, you're going to be resistant to anyone saying "man, casting healing spells blows, I wish they were better".

 

[Staffan]

I think it rests on a premise that an "escort quest" is one foisted on the game by the GM rather than emerging out of player-authored PC dramatic needs.

Also, escort quests in CRPGs tend to have really stupid/annoying escortees. They tend to move slowly (because otherwise you can't catch up if you fall behind) but inexorably (so you can't really recover well between fights), and blindly walk into obvious ambushes, and otherwise act in ways that actively add to the quest's difficulty.