Club of Healing

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Well, these guys will take anything too good and figure out how to shatter the game. So I want it balanced as possible. Good point on having to roll 1d6 100,000 times after each battle, though.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I like the idea of a +1 Merciful Club that has a Heal effect on anyone it knocks out, once per person, per day the more I think about it.

 

[IamTheTest]

I think that having the damage rolled and then just flipping a coin to see if it hurts or heals is by definition balanced. Critical hits can become critical heals...the fighter whacking you could be better than the wizard doing so etc.

 

[Hypersmurf]

There was a club that worked like that in the 1st edition Oriental Adventures book. If I did not have it stored away, I would look it up. Maybe someone else has it available?

From memory, there was the Mallet of Luck; it didn't heal, but it granted someone bonuses to various things when you whacked them with it.

Sort of like a painful Bless spell.

-Hyp.

 

[TomWhitbrook]

If you want to avoid the comedy value of your party of epic adventurers standing in a 10' by 10' room clubbing each other over the head after every encounter, why not make it a short sword instead? It's mechanically very similar, but I think the idea of ramming a steel blade deep into your friend's guts in the desperate hope that it will cure him rather than kill him is a more powerful image than a bonk on the noggin.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Oh, these guys aren't epic adventurers by any means. Picture a Chaotic Evil Apple Dumpling Gang. Them beating the crap out of each other is not only something they'll relish the chance of doing, but somewhere, it makes St. Cuthbert smile.

 

[Nerfwright]

The Cudgel reminds me of a favorite concept from Aaron Williams' Nodwick.

He called it the 'Clue by Four'; it's a hilted weapon, and the business end bears an uncanny resemblance to a piece of lumber. Anyone beaned with it gains a marked increase in intelligence, wisdom, or both. And contusions.

I've fantasized way too much about using it in RL.

NWG

 

[Cthulhudrew]

Krunk! The Clue By Four is a funny Nodwick issue. Really krunkin' funny.

 

[FDWojo]

There was a club that worked like that in the 1st edition Oriental Adventures book. If I did not have it stored away, I would look it up. Maybe someone else has it available?

You are thinking of a "Mallet of Luck" (Oriental Adventures - p134 - (c) 1985 - TSR, Inc.):

This item appears to be a common wooden mallet. Devised by a particularly warped imagination, the mallet bestows a bonus of +2 on all to hit and saving throw rolls. This bonus lasts for six turns. However, it is necessary to strike the recipient forcibly with the mallet to bestow the bonus. The blow, unfortunately, causes 2d6 points of damage. Multiple blows do not have a cumulative effect, although the specified amount of damage is still done. Note that this item can be used in combat, if the wielder does not mind giving his opponent the bonus.

Please note that six turns in 1E was 1 hour long.

 

[Rhamphoryncus]

It's not actually what you asked, but I feel it's worth mentioning that even a 1st level bard can use a Wand of Cure Light Wounds. A cheap and effective way to keep a party going.

As for the mallet, I think charges per day would be the most effective limitation. Keeps it useful, but not enough that it's automatically a full healing.