Can a warlord "heal" an unconscious character


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Be clear about what I'm saying: This isn't a rant --> It's an observation. Saying "it isn't a problem" is kinda missing the point.
Look, the plural of anecdote is not data. So don't walk in here and assume that your stories are true and representative of every opinion out there.

Thanks for the rant, though. Now let's try and get over your threadjack.
 

Warlords can do it in a dark room on a deaf leper who has no sense of smell and is 5 squares away too. You can't explain it. It just is.
Cryptos explained this in post 9 upthread: (i) at the table, the player uses her Healing Word resource; (ii) in the gameworld, the imperative of loyalty to his comrade revives the deaf leper with no sense of smell (a bit like Aragorn's dream sequence in The Two Towers movie).
 



I am perplexed that we have so constrained our imaginations that the only way we can picture an ally hauling his friend out of the muck and blood is with magical juju. Plenty of examples of real life where these things happen without incantations and holy mumbo-jumbo.

I have my own criticisms of 4th edition, but forcing me to stretch my imagination isn't one of them.
 

And yet, I know many, many gamers - from many different gaming groups - some with decades of gaming experience - who have trouble with the way 4e treats hps.
Nod. I'm not surprised, 4e doesn't really change the concept of D&D hps, it just hangs more of it's mechanics on that concept than did prior editions - it's more internally consistent. If you didn't like or didn't get the concept of D&D hps before, you could ignore it, wrap it all up as 'magic' (since magic restored hps), and leave it at that.

In the past, for instance, after hearing that hps were a matter of luck/divine intervention/morale/endurance/skill/whatever, and that characters weren't really getting hit (or at worst, maybe only getting scratched or banged up by attacks that could pulp an elephant), one might object "then why do you need long periods of time or mighty magics to heal those scratches?" Now, that inconsistency is cleared up. The same healing magic that clears up the nasty gash the 1st level hero got when bloodied by a globlin's shortsword, heals the nasty gash the 21st level epic hero got when bloodied by the storm giants greataxe. That a bit of encouragement from a heroic leader can also get you to just ignore that gash until you can bandage it up isn't much of a stretch, either.
 

That a bit of encouragement from a heroic leader can also get you to just ignore that gash until you can bandage it up isn't much of a stretch, either.

You can say that and maybe it isn't for you, but it is utterly ludicrous to me. Someone bleeding out (it's called "bloodied" for a reason), UNCONSCIOUS and DYING from being hit by a sword does NOT get up from some words of encouragement. That would be what would be considered a miracle in real life. Then with 5 minutes of rest they're not even bloodied anymore... yeaaaah.
 

Hit points are just an indication of how well you are fighting at any given point in time. If you are bloodied, it means you are not doing well in the fight and are about to be defeated unless you do something about it. This something could be words of encouragement from the inspiring warlord, spurring you on, or tips from the tactical warlord so you change your fighting style to buy you more time, or it could be the magic flowing from the devout cleric draining away your fatigue.

If you ran out of hit points, you are defeated. Perhaps you blacked out, and all you can hear is the din of battle, when clear and powerful words of encouragement from the warlord can help you shake off the haze. Maybe you got the wind knocked out of you and a splash of water from the wizard's heal check will get you back into the fight. Or it could indeed be that you were gravely wounded and the magical energies from the cleric are closing your wounds.

In previous editions, we've been conditioned to think of hit point loss as wounds. I'm trying to think of it now as one's ability to fight. Your offensive abilities are your attack bonus and damage bonus. Your defensive abilities are your defenses and hit points. Together, they define your fighting ability. There is nothing about wounds in that cycle. Wounds can simply be a tool for narrative.
 


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