Clerical Healing and Aesthetics

[Campbell]

Let me preface this post by saying that I am an avowed fan of using a much more narrative take on hit points than is normal around these parts.

With the discussion around long rests, the HD mechanic, and hp recovery in this forum since the release of the play test I've realized that part of the disconnect that I have with the meat space interpretation of hit points is that I tend to see Clerical Healing different than most people. The idea that a Cleric reaches down to someone and literally brings someone back from the brink of death, closing all wounds and basically erasing all wounds is something I find incredibly distasteful from an aesthetic and narrative sense.

• It erases signs of battle. The grizzled veteran who carries marks of victories and losses over a long career of military experience is something that appeals greatly to me.
• I don't like what it says about how warefare must be waged. If magical healing becomes is too advantageous than secular armies cannot exist with any hope of success. You need clerics on the front lines and must have religious support to embark on any military campaign. I really like to include stories that pit secular authorities against religious institutions.
• I like to include elements of spirituality in the healing process. A cleric doesn't just restore your body. He affirms your spirit and restores your vigor.
• I like the idea that there are some wounds that are beyond a cleric's care or require the coordinated efforts of several priests. I like the idea of houses of healing.
• I hate the idea of balancing Clerics solely as a healing battery. I'm okay with the idea that Clerics will use some of their spell slots for healing, but I find the game much more interesting if that's only part of what they do.
• I view the Cleric as part leader of men, part spiritual adviser, part divine emissary. The way healing interacts with the fiction should reflect that.
• I know its unusual but the way magic interacts with the fiction portrayed by the game is really important to me. It needs to justify its existence thematically. This is why the knock spell bothers me as an arcane spell. Its too subtle for the way I view sorcery. Arcane magic is about throwing off the limitations of reality. The wizard does not use magic to become adept at stealth - he uses invisibility to circumvent the way light waves work.

How do you view clerical healing?

 

[Fifth Element]

Honestly? I view clerical healing as a vestige of old editions that encourages a particular playstyle (some would say forces a particular playstyle) that I find more than a bit grating. Even in a world of magic it hurts my sense of verisimilitude.

IMHO etc.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I would rather see cure spells on the Wiz/Sorc spell list and erase clerics altogether. Of course, I know that's never going to happen in an official D&D product, but it's a thought for a home game.

 

[babomb]

I sort of understand what you're saying.

But I don't see where it says reason magical healing can't leave scars. I see Cure Wounds as basically doing whatever a good surgeon could do, only much faster.

I generally like to describe being healed magically as painful, especially if from a potion. I always describe healing potions as blue and smelling of almonds and burning on the way down. Then a sensation of heat and itchiness followed by brief but acute pain (intensity of course depending on the strength of the potion), as your body's natural healing is sped up dramatically.

Of course, you can always describe it as a surge of energy and warmth, renewing and invigorating them and making them feel close to that god (perhaps in spite of themselves). Personally, I like the vigor restoration and especially spirit affirmation to be separate from the wound healing and mostly non-mechanical and non-magical, assuming the particular cleric does them at all. Magic can't heal your soul, but wise advice or an inspirational sermon might do the trick.

Although, come to think of it, I like the idea of a curmudgeonly priest casting healing spells that have the side effect of greatly inspiring them, much to his annoyance.

Something like Regeneration I think should be a ritual. Maybe it requires multiple clerics. Raise Dead definitely should require multiple clerics.

 

[slobo777]

I'm behind the "non-regen" healing suggested in the OP, especially for low-level cures.

Basically the physical injuries remain as-is. They might stop bleeding ("lo, a miracle!"), but what is restored is the characters energy, and ability to fight through a bit of discomfort.

It helps to have a narrative view of the original injuries too - only the last blow that takes a character down needs to be described as a nasty injury.

I find the literal descriptions of hacking and stabbing, used in many games, start to challenge my belief in the story (I just let it slide though, each to their own).

One fun exception: Zombies! Describing gruesome injuries to them, and how they keep on going regardless is part of the horror!

 

[Pickles JG]

Honestly? I view clerical healing as a vestige of old editions that encourages a particular playstyle (some would say forces a particular playstyle) that I find more than a bit grating. Even in a world of magic it hurts my sense of verisimilitude.

IMHO etc.

Consider this XP. It firmly locks D&D in it's one pretty unique world.

 

[Campbell]

I sort of understand what you're saying.

But I don't see where it says reason magical healing can't leave scars. I see Cure Wounds as basically doing whatever a good surgeon could do, only much faster.

I generally like to describe being healed magically as painful, especially if from a potion. I always describe healing potions as blue and smelling of almonds and burning on the way down. Then a sensation of heat and itchiness followed by brief but acute pain (intensity of course depending on the strength of the potion), as your body's natural healing is sped up dramatically.

Of course, you can always describe it as a surge of energy and warmth, renewing and invigorating them and making them feel close to that god (perhaps in spite of themselves). Personally, I like the vigor restoration and especially spirit affirmation to be separate from the wound healing and mostly non-mechanical and non-magical, assuming the particular cleric does them at all. Magic can't heal your soul, but wise advice or an inspirational sermon might do the trick.

Although, come to think of it, I like the idea of a curmudgeonly priest casting healing spells that have the side effect of greatly inspiring them, much to his annoyance.

Something like Regeneration I think should be a ritual. Maybe it requires multiple clerics. Raise Dead definitely should require multiple clerics.

Excellent ideas. Consider your depiction of potions stolen. That has always been a particular sore spot with me. I also really like the concept of glimpses of divine truth being passed through the Cleric to those he cures possibly causing them to reevaluate their beliefs.

I'm behind the "non-regen" healing suggested in the OP, especially for low-level cures.

Basically the physical injuries remain as-is. They might stop bleeding ("lo, a miracle!"), but what is restored is the characters energy, and ability to fight through a bit of discomfort.

It helps to have a narrative view of the original injuries too - only the last blow that takes a character down needs to be described as a nasty injury.

I find the literal descriptions of hacking and stabbing, used in many games, start to challenge my belief in the story (I just let it slide though, each to their own).

One fun exception: Zombies! Describing gruesome injuries to them, and how they keep on going regardless is part of the horror!

Exactly what I was trying to get at. Too bad there's no XP right now. It's particularly important to me not to have a narrative that results in supposedly mortal characters taking 20 arrows to the chest. Agree on the zombies part.

 

[Raith5]

I agree with the OP's views. I like to see non-divine healing for thematic reasons and practical playing reasons (especially I like the idea of second wind). But I also think that even clerical healing does not do the perfect job and erase all scars etc. In particular I think dramatic healing and raising the dead should have some cost or transform the target in some way. Maybe raise the dead only postpones death for a few years.

I also agree with babomb (!) that some dramatic healing must be in ritual form.

 

[Minigiant]

I always saw clerical healing as either returning an ally to a past healthier version or speeding up the ally's healing rapidly to a future healthier self. This is the cure X wounds version. This is why I hand no problem with cleric spells using healing surges. The low level cleric is not healing, he is making you heal yourself or recognizing you to your old self.

So not only does cuts seal, bruises fade, and wounds close; you mind and vigor gets an extra day or more of rest compressed in those 6 seconds.

 

[steeldragons]

I cut my teeth on B/X and, then more throughly, on the Basic (BECM) red box. So the image of Aleena touching someone and the "warming glow" or however it was presented of actually closing wounds and restoring vigor is pretty much ingrained into my taste of how magical healing functions.

Add to that Goldmoon and her Blue Crystal Staff from Dragonlance and Leetah's "healer" magic from Elfquest...Madeline Pryor had a brief stint as a healing superhero/demi-goddess as "Anodyne" in the X-Men.

So, yeah, for me, there is no issue at all with a cleric's healing being a touch effect that really "fixes you up."

Now, there are certain narrative considerations...if you have taken a severe amount of damage and can only get a Cure Light in the immediate future, then scarring may occur..or it may restore some hit points (get you away from death's door) but not restore consciousness right away. If you've only take a slight bit and a Cure Light or potion is getting you back up to full, I don't mind the idea that that is really just removing bruises and mostly restoring the vigor/spiritual side of things that makes you feel better...It really just all depends on the extent of the wounds, the level of the magic involved, and the narrative "common sense" at that point in the adventure/story.