D&D 5E Alternate solution: Whack-a-mole healing

[Stalker0]

For tables that also think in combat healing is too weak, it seems a simple and easy fix. I like it

 

[Horwath]

+1
also maybe add that healing potions are Bonus action and have same mechanics towards HD usage.
Every tier of healing potions gives ability to use one more HD with it.

Also change the awful and clumsy written durable feat:
Durable: +1 any ability
When you use your HDs, always take maximum value.

 

[Lanefan]

It's a team game, and one with a lot of randomness. It is almost never a single PC's fault they reach zero. And if it is, it's often because they are serving an altruistic role like tank and inviting the attacks so others don't take them.

Or because the opponents are smart enough to spiral on the character they see as the greatest threat...

As such, penalizing a single player (by having them sit idle) for either team actions or for playing altruistically is exactly wrong. While I understand that some tables find no problems in penalizing the player for this, it will never be on my table so not part of any house rule suggestion I make.

Which brings about a truly bizarre risk-reward dynamic: the player who intentionally puts her character at risk to take one for the team is rewarded by having the consequences of that risk - and thus the degree of risk itself - reduced or even eliminated!

Which, as listed is the actual problem - healing is more effective after dropping, so the rules encourage that behavior.

And the best fix is to go exactly the opposite direction from just about every other suggestion thus far: make it that healing someone who's at 0 has no effect except to prevent death - i.e. you're stabilized, no more death saves required, and that's it. You're still at 0, you're still down, and basic healing ain't gonna help otherwise for x-amount of time (I suggest ten minutes). Very high level healing or curative effects might bypass this delay.

Put another way: if you go down you're staying down, giving strong encouragement to prevent yourself and-or your allies from dropping in the first place.

Now, you could bring back negative HPs, to make them both equal and then rely on players not wanting to drop. But that doesn't address how anemic healing in 5e is compared to damage (compare Cure Wounds and Inflict Wounds), so it is still not fully solving the problem.

Hmmmm...never thought of it this way before but I wonder if that's an intentional design decision: to reduce reliance on healers (or healbots) by making healing generally less effective than resting as a means of h.p. recovery.

To restate: any solution that does not address both low 5e healing values and healing-from-zero as more efficient is not actually addressing the problem, it's at best a band-aid dealing with a symptom.

Increasing the healing values just serves to make a game that's already pretty easy on its players/PCs (relative to other D&D editions) even easier. Is that the result you want?

 

[fearsomepirate]

Instead of penalizing PCs for allowing themselves to reach 0 (risking death), you want to buff in-combat healing to make that more attractive? IMO in-combat healing should already be attractive enough given that it keeps PCs in the fight.

As for upcasting, we made it more appealing by allowing the additional dice from upcasting to automatically be the maximum. So, a 2nd level Cure Wounds, instead of 2d8+WIS mod, is 1d8+8+WIS mod. It makes upcasting spells like Sleep more appealing as well since you have a good chance to affect more creatures.

So, no, not for me, but for groups that like healing surges it would probably work well.

Clerics have a 3rd-level spell, Beacon of Hope, which maximizes all healing done in its aura. It seems like your house rule is almost like an always-on Beacon.

 

[toucanbuzz]

...you can spend a HD. An upcast 3rd level Healing Word for 3d4+ability could let you spend 3 HD - finally it isn't lackluster when upcast.

I could, off the top of my head, see abuse with goodberry (as a static healing amount of 1, each berry would heal 11 damage), and life transference (XGE)(damage yourself for Xd8 amount and heal another for double that amount).

I could also see issues at higher levels (basically instant full heal for the cost of a 1st level spell in a boss battle).

Is there any issue instead using the DMG optional "healing surge" (p266)(as action spend up to 1/2 hit dice to heal; DM may allow "superheroic" feel by allowing it to be done as a bonus action, usable 1/rest)?

 

[GMMichael]

. . . Often a solution is to penalize a character for going down but that is trying to solve the wrong problem. Whack-a-mole healing happens because the rules reward it. Because you get more for the same healing spell - a 4 HP Healing Word won't prevent a character with 6 HPs from going down to 12 points of damage, but will stand them back up. . .

Way to think outside the 5e box, but Whack-a-Mole happens because of DM decisions, not because the rules reward it. When a PC goes unconscious, that PC "drops whatever it's holding and falls prone." That's an effective half-movement penalty from the fallen PC's next turn while it stands up and grabs its weapon. The DM rewards W-A-M tactics by guiding NPCs to-

• Not utilize their auto-crit bonus on fallen opponents
• Not kick away or take the weapons of fallen opponents
• Move away from fallen opponents instead of finishing them.

I'd rather tinker with Healing Word than add more influence from 4e. Something like: Healing Word provides d4+modifier temporary hit points, which can exceed max HP.

 

[Blue]

I could, off the top of my head, see abuse with goodberry (as a static healing amount of 1, each berry would heal 11 damage), and life transference (XGE)(damage yourself for Xd8 amount and heal another for double that amount).

I think I didn't communicate it well then. For every 10 point of static healing done, you may add a HD.

So if a paladin lays on hand for 15, you can also get one HD. If they did it for 20, you could get two HD. The Heal spell is 70 HPs - you could also spend up to 7 HD (!!).

I could also see issues at higher levels (basically instant full heal for the cost of a 1st level spell in a boss battle).

I don't know of a single 1st level spell slot that does more than 1 die of healing so you can't add more than 1 HD. I think this may be part of me not communicating clearly.

Is there any issue instead using the DMG optional "healing surge" (p266)(as action spend up to 1/2 hit dice to heal; DM may allow "superheroic" feel by allowing it to be done as a bonus action, usable 1/rest)?

That works fine, but not as a incentive to make healing-while-up more attractive than healing-from-zero.

 

[Gorg]

Instead of penalizing PCs for allowing themselves to reach 0 (risking death), you want to buff in-combat healing to make that more attractive? IMO in-combat healing should already be attractive enough given that it keeps PCs in the fight.

As for upcasting, we made it more appealing by allowing the additional dice from upcasting to automatically be the maximum. So, a 2nd level Cure Wounds, instead of 2d8+WIS mod, is 1d8+8+WIS mod. It makes upcasting spells like Sleep more appealing as well since you have a good chance to affect more creatures.

So, no, not for me, but for groups that like healing surges it would probably work well.

Wow, I like that idea! I may just incorporate it into my game. If for no other reason Than that my die rolls suck, and this could really help the party endurance. 6-8 encounters, my butt! We're lucky to get through 3 or 4 before someone's near death, we're out of spells/ ability uses; and all are severely depleted of health...

I have a fighter with a 20 AC, who can't NOT get hit, and takes massive damage from every fight. He, on the other hand, has a hit rate well below 50%. A mage who can barely land spell attacks, a Cleric whose enemies almost always make their saves vs his spells; and 1 is the most common number rolled for damage- by FAR.

That same cleric has a hit rate with his mace of over 75%- and more often than not, kills whatever he clobbers, lol. (who the heck is the fighter in this party, anyway??!) Last fight we got in, it was the cleric who got dropped to 0...

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Do the PCs add their Con mod to the HD rolled? I'd say yes, personally.

And would the houserule work well with the archetypes that hand out dX of healing has a bonus action a number of time equal to their level (Celestial warlock and dream druid, IIRC)? I think such an number of healing + healing surge can be hard to manage in terms of encounter building.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Clerics have a 3rd-level spell, Beacon of Hope, which maximizes all healing done in its aura. It seems like your house rule is almost like an always-on Beacon.

No, it only maximized the dice gained from upcasting. The original dice for the spell are never adjusted.

Some examples:

Sleep (a big one IMO!) is normally 5d8, with +2d8 per level when upcast. Instead of rolling the +2d8, they are maximized to 16 points. So, you still roll 5d8, but gain +16 per level you upscale. This makes sleep a viable alternative to use at higher levels. For instance, a 3rd-level sleep spell would have about a 1 in 4 chance to put an uninjured Ogre (59 hp) to sleep. If you cast it RAW, rolling 9d8, your chance is less than 1%!

Fireball is 8d6 at 3rd level, with +1d6 per level when upcast. Casting it at 7th level (when you can do DBF, which starts at 12d6) would give you +4d6, or 24 maximized points, a total of 8d6+24 (avg 52). Now, yes, this is "better" the DBF's base 12d6 (avg. 42), BUT you can "hold" DBF for up to an extra 9d6, which has the potential then of 21d6 (73.5 avg--well above the 52 of an upcast Fireball).

Wow, I like that idea! I may just incorporate it into my game. If for no other reason Than that my die rolls suck, and this could really help the party endurance. 6-8 encounters, my butt! We're lucky to get through 3 or 4 before someone's near death, we're out of spells/ ability uses; and all are severely depleted of health...

LOL glad you like it and might use it, whatever the reason.

We have only had it in play for a few sessions, but so far it makes upcasting actually worth it, and before I know I've only seen spells upcast maybe 3 times in TWO YEARS of playing 5E!

Other groups see it more often, so I've heard, but we didn't hardy ever before.