IndyPendant
First Post
The following is essentially what I intend to give to my players. I thought I would open it up to examination for you to tell me what you think of it. Feel free to comment, positive or negative; though please don't just say 'That SUCKS!' or 'That's GREAT!'; please say why you like or dislike my idea. I have a thick skin; I can accept that not everyone will agree with me--and I'm posting here because I'm looking for feedback. Anyways, enough rambling. Here it is:
*******************************
One of 3e’s big weaknesses is that every party needs a cleric or a druid. Why? Healing. Without a priest, an overnight healing session turns into weeks of ‘bedrest’. To counter this, I’ve borrowed from the game Neverwinter Nights and added ‘First Aid’ the Heal skill. Heal is now a Class Skill for all classes. It works as described in the PHB, but now also can be used to heal wounds:
To do so, you must use a First Aid Kit. The Kits weigh ten pounds each, can be used ten times each, and have varying cost levels, depending on their modifier:
Crude First Aid Kit: Bare basics only, 20gp each, -3 to all die rolls (see below)
(Adjective) First Aid Kit: 30gp, -2 to all die rolls
(Adjective) First Aid Kit: 40gp, -1
Standard First Aid Kit: 50gp, no modifier
High Quality First Aid Kit: 75gp, +1
Very High Quality First Aid Kit: 100gp, +2
(And so on and so forth, +25gp per +1, to a maximum of +5 or +6.)
To use a First Aid Kit, you must first state that you are binding wounds. Binding wounds takes one full minute, during which you and your patient cannot do *anything* else except talk. If you are foolish enough to try this in combat, you provoke attacks of opportunity every round you are binding the wounds, and Concentration checks are required if you are hit, similar to spellcasting. If your patient is below 0 hps, they temporarily stop bleeding to death while you work on them, and permanently stop if you complete binding their wounds, regardless of actual damage healed. There is no actual Skill Check; at the end of that minute, if you have not been interrupted, you roll 1d6 and add (or subtract) your Wisdom modifier; the patient then regains that many hit points. At 6 ranks in the Heal skill, and every 4 ranks afterwards (10,14,etc), you heal an additional 1d6+Wis Mod in hit points. (So, for example, a Fighter with 12 ranks in Heal and a 14 Wis would roll 3d6+6.) You *can* ‘take 20’ with this skill—in which case the patient regains the maximum hit points possible. (So, in the above example, if the Fighter had ‘taken 20’, his patient would have been healed 24 points damage—after 20 full minutes of care.) However, you are limited to healing a maximum of one-half the patient’s total, unbuffed hit points per attempt—though you can eventually heal all their wounds through multiple uses. (So, to continue the above example, if the Fighter’s patient was a Rogue with a maximum of 33 hitpoints, even while Taking 20, the Fighter could only heal him 16 hps.) First Aid Kits can only heal hit point damage; they cannot be used to heal stat damage or remove poisons, for example.
First Aid goes a long way towards removing the necessity of a divine caster in the party—without removing their usefulness. First Aid Kits cost money, have ‘charges’, are virtually useless for healing during actual combat, cannot heal anything except hit point damage, and are much slower and weaker than Cure spells. On the other hand, anyone can use them, and with proper planning they can eliminate the problem of having to rest for days because no one wanted to play a cleric. If someone does play a cleric or druid, they can heal during combat, and can be free to cast ‘buff’ and ‘utility’ spells much more often. Clerics will no longer have to be walking bandaids.
*******************************
One of 3e’s big weaknesses is that every party needs a cleric or a druid. Why? Healing. Without a priest, an overnight healing session turns into weeks of ‘bedrest’. To counter this, I’ve borrowed from the game Neverwinter Nights and added ‘First Aid’ the Heal skill. Heal is now a Class Skill for all classes. It works as described in the PHB, but now also can be used to heal wounds:
To do so, you must use a First Aid Kit. The Kits weigh ten pounds each, can be used ten times each, and have varying cost levels, depending on their modifier:
Crude First Aid Kit: Bare basics only, 20gp each, -3 to all die rolls (see below)
(Adjective) First Aid Kit: 30gp, -2 to all die rolls
(Adjective) First Aid Kit: 40gp, -1
Standard First Aid Kit: 50gp, no modifier
High Quality First Aid Kit: 75gp, +1
Very High Quality First Aid Kit: 100gp, +2
(And so on and so forth, +25gp per +1, to a maximum of +5 or +6.)
To use a First Aid Kit, you must first state that you are binding wounds. Binding wounds takes one full minute, during which you and your patient cannot do *anything* else except talk. If you are foolish enough to try this in combat, you provoke attacks of opportunity every round you are binding the wounds, and Concentration checks are required if you are hit, similar to spellcasting. If your patient is below 0 hps, they temporarily stop bleeding to death while you work on them, and permanently stop if you complete binding their wounds, regardless of actual damage healed. There is no actual Skill Check; at the end of that minute, if you have not been interrupted, you roll 1d6 and add (or subtract) your Wisdom modifier; the patient then regains that many hit points. At 6 ranks in the Heal skill, and every 4 ranks afterwards (10,14,etc), you heal an additional 1d6+Wis Mod in hit points. (So, for example, a Fighter with 12 ranks in Heal and a 14 Wis would roll 3d6+6.) You *can* ‘take 20’ with this skill—in which case the patient regains the maximum hit points possible. (So, in the above example, if the Fighter had ‘taken 20’, his patient would have been healed 24 points damage—after 20 full minutes of care.) However, you are limited to healing a maximum of one-half the patient’s total, unbuffed hit points per attempt—though you can eventually heal all their wounds through multiple uses. (So, to continue the above example, if the Fighter’s patient was a Rogue with a maximum of 33 hitpoints, even while Taking 20, the Fighter could only heal him 16 hps.) First Aid Kits can only heal hit point damage; they cannot be used to heal stat damage or remove poisons, for example.
First Aid goes a long way towards removing the necessity of a divine caster in the party—without removing their usefulness. First Aid Kits cost money, have ‘charges’, are virtually useless for healing during actual combat, cannot heal anything except hit point damage, and are much slower and weaker than Cure spells. On the other hand, anyone can use them, and with proper planning they can eliminate the problem of having to rest for days because no one wanted to play a cleric. If someone does play a cleric or druid, they can heal during combat, and can be free to cast ‘buff’ and ‘utility’ spells much more often. Clerics will no longer have to be walking bandaids.
