Can a warlord "heal" an unconscious character

[Obryn]

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.

Once again, you're asserting a very strict relationship between the mechanics and the narrative that just isn't there in 4e.

The mechanical state of being "Bloodied" does not mean bleeding out. The game mechanic of "Unconscious" doesn't preclude some degree of awareness of the world. A failed death save doesn't necessarily mean the character's trying to shove his intestines back in.

There's not a 1:1 correspondence of mechanics:narrative in 4e. This was, however, an apparent design goal of 3e.

I can understand if you don't like this separation of mechanics and narrative, but you're arguing the same points over and over again, and I can't believe you don't understand this crucial difference between 3e and 4e yet. The kind of arguments you're making are not persuasive if you're treating 4e as 4e; they're only sensible if you're looking at the 4e mechanics through the lens of 3e's assumptions.

-O

 

[WalterKovacs]

On the matter of bloodied = bleeding out.

(a) You don't have ongoing damage while bloodied, so you aren't getting worse by not treating whatever wound is bleeding out. [Not to mention, not mechanical penalties, etc]

(b) Have you ever seen pro-wrestling? It is possible for a person to bleed without risking death ... heck they sometimes STOP BLEEDING during the match just because the wound wasn't that bad. Not everyone is going to have a condition that prevents them from clotting.

(c) There are specific instances in the game mechanics of causing someone to "bleed out" ... basically, untyped ongoing damage is often described as an especially bad wound that needs to be patched up/clotted to avoid taking more punishment [represented as a save].

 

[Staffan]

If he were Irish, he could be knocked down (repeatedly), only to get back up again (repeatedly).

So you're saying you're never gonna keep him down? How about a whisky drink?

 

[Nail]

Don't think, just do it. Follow this advice and you will have a lot less problems with 4E.

In one of my groups, we call that "drinking more kool-aid". As in "Don't like the feel of 4e, eh? Well, drink a bit more o' the kool-aid, and you'll get it. Try the blue flavor!"

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

We used to play hitpoints as "fleshwounds" in 3E and earlier... You know, like "that arrow hits you in the shoulder for 10hp!"

Of course, narratively speaking, this meant that PCs ended up looking like pincushions (there's a Lidda picture somewhere that shows something similar)

-

Now that we have drank the 4E Kool-aid, it is actually easier to narrate combat when small amounts of damage become near-misses and clangs in the armor, and the first actual "landed blow" is narrated when the character is actually bloodied...

And even then, its a Bruce-Lee-kind-of-bloodied, like a small gash in the cheek that only succeeds on making the character angrier...

Much more cinematic this way... Although I will admit that it is very different from the previous way of doing things, this is more satisfying to our groups.

 

[ProdigalTim]

Think of it like boxing folks.. sometimes a fighter is 'knocked out' temporarily and laying on the canvas but the sound of the referee counting to eight or his corner yelling is enough for him to regain his focus, get up, and keep fighting.

 

[Danceofmasks]

Nah ... boxing moves are more like: dazed (save ends), and unconscious till the end of your next turn.

 

[Nebulous]

It really helps me just to remind myself that this is like a pen and paper video game, like we're playing Icewind Dale. There are no lasting injuries, no broken bones, no debilitating bruises. Rest your group for awhile, replenish your life and magic. There's no other logical way to look at it; it's a high fantasy simulation game that in no way is supposed to mirror real life.

 

[Plane Sailing]

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.

I hope you weren't enjoying this thread, because you are now banned from it.

Nail was merely engaging in discussion, you're trying to make it personal and aggressive, so out you go.

 

[cmbarona]

Come to think of it, I was having the hardest time accepting the Illusionist Wizard's spells until this thread. If you consider hps more abstractly, the fact that Illusionists do psychic damage makes perfect sense. The target isn't taking physical wounds; why should there be any hp deduction until and unless they are literally scared to death? Well, the point is that one of two things happen to victims of illusion spells: 1) they believe so fervently that they are damaged that their bodies reflect this (the fear approach I just mentioned) or 2) their morale is affected by the illusions. It's a subtle difference, but I think an important one. Illusions can affect not just physical condition, but are actually designed to affect morale. People see horriffic or confounding phantasms and begin to lose their very will to fight. Eventually, a person can succumb to the change in morale and allow themselves to be overtaken, defeated. In such a case, why shouldn't a Warlord be able to snap them out of their illusion-induced stupor?

Keep in mind, I'm not arguing that all wounds are like this, but rather that this presents a compelling case that hps are far more abstract than past editions (and certainly video games) have led us to believe over the years.