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*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Cure/inflict wounds spells revision
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<blockquote data-quote="Hrothgar Rannúlfr" data-source="post: 5088981" data-attributes="member: 54436"><p>I'm thinking this was addressed to Kerrick, but I'll take a stab at an answer. I wasn't part of the previous discussion that he mentions, so I don't know what's already been discussed.</p><p></p><p><strong>* Why you are doing this</strong></p><p>At low levels, Cure Light Wounds is very powerful... Able to bring someone back from the very serious wounds. To quote <a href="http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/explaining-hit-points.html" target="_blank">The Alexandrian</a>, there is a <p style="margin-left: 20px">"significant and intractable problem with the hit point abstraction: The cure spells. Despite the fact that the number of hit points required to represent a wound with a particular severity varies depending on the character's total hit points, a cure spell heals a flat number of hit points. Thus, a cure light wounds spell used on a 1st level fighter will heal grievous wounds. When the same spell is used on a 10th level fighter, on the other hand, it can't handle more than a scratch.</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px">This is a legacy issue which has been retained for reasons of game balance."</p><p>I happen to agree with The Alexandrian and others that this is a problem, though I don't agree with The Alexandrian's solution. Nor do I think Kerrick's solution is simple enough. My head spun as I read the initial post. So, I offerred another potential solution.</p><p></p><p>In my line of thinking, there's something to including a variable that depends upon the the target (as The Alexandrian suggests later in the article that I quoted from). Cure Light Wounds should still be useful when cast upon a 10th level fighter. Perhaps, not as useful as the other more powerful spells, but more useful than 1d8+5. It should still heal a wound, not just a scratch.</p><p></p><p><strong>* Why all the extra complication is worth it</strong></p><p>In another discussion on another houserule, I came to value simplicity in houserules more than ever before. A houserule, in my opinion, shouldn't be too hard to remember or apply. That's why I presented the generic version before presenting the slightly more complex version that added a single phrase concerning the amount healed based upon the target's Hit Dice. The reason for the variation was to keep the various healing spells different in power. It may not be the best fix, either. It's just a suggestion as to how a solution to the problem might be approached.</p><p></p><p><strong>* Whether powering up all the healing spells hurts the balance of the game</strong></p><p><strong>so it essentially seems like you are changing numbers at random.</strong></p><p>It does change the balance of the game. Making healing (and inflict) spells more powerful (no matter how you do it) helps the most powerful core classes in the game. That's one of the reasons that I connect the boost in the spell power to the target's Hit Dice rather than the level of the caster. It's also why I chose to make Cure Light Wounds only add 1d8 per five Hit Dice of the target and why each more successively powerful version gives more healing based upon the target's Hit Dice. This keeps a clear difference between Curing Light Wounds and Curing Critical Wounds (and everything in between). The only problem is that Cure Light Wounds is still more likely to completely heal a first level target than it is to completely heal a higher level target. But, I can't think of a way around that without getting rid of the higher level cure spells and just having one spell that's based upon the caster level and the level of the target. And, that creates the problem of having a first level spell that's too useful at higher levels.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Hrothgar Rannúlfr, post: 5088981, member: 54436"] I'm thinking this was addressed to Kerrick, but I'll take a stab at an answer. I wasn't part of the previous discussion that he mentions, so I don't know what's already been discussed. [B]* Why you are doing this[/B] At low levels, Cure Light Wounds is very powerful... Able to bring someone back from the very serious wounds. To quote [URL="http://www.thealexandrian.net/creations/misc/explaining-hit-points.html"]The Alexandrian[/URL], there is a [INDENT]"significant and intractable problem with the hit point abstraction: The cure spells. Despite the fact that the number of hit points required to represent a wound with a particular severity varies depending on the character's total hit points, a cure spell heals a flat number of hit points. Thus, a cure light wounds spell used on a 1st level fighter will heal grievous wounds. When the same spell is used on a 10th level fighter, on the other hand, it can't handle more than a scratch. This is a legacy issue which has been retained for reasons of game balance."[/INDENT] I happen to agree with The Alexandrian and others that this is a problem, though I don't agree with The Alexandrian's solution. Nor do I think Kerrick's solution is simple enough. My head spun as I read the initial post. So, I offerred another potential solution. In my line of thinking, there's something to including a variable that depends upon the the target (as The Alexandrian suggests later in the article that I quoted from). Cure Light Wounds should still be useful when cast upon a 10th level fighter. Perhaps, not as useful as the other more powerful spells, but more useful than 1d8+5. It should still heal a wound, not just a scratch. [B]* Why all the extra complication is worth it[/B] In another discussion on another houserule, I came to value simplicity in houserules more than ever before. A houserule, in my opinion, shouldn't be too hard to remember or apply. That's why I presented the generic version before presenting the slightly more complex version that added a single phrase concerning the amount healed based upon the target's Hit Dice. The reason for the variation was to keep the various healing spells different in power. It may not be the best fix, either. It's just a suggestion as to how a solution to the problem might be approached. [B]* Whether powering up all the healing spells hurts the balance of the game so it essentially seems like you are changing numbers at random.[/B] It does change the balance of the game. Making healing (and inflict) spells more powerful (no matter how you do it) helps the most powerful core classes in the game. That's one of the reasons that I connect the boost in the spell power to the target's Hit Dice rather than the level of the caster. It's also why I chose to make Cure Light Wounds only add 1d8 per five Hit Dice of the target and why each more successively powerful version gives more healing based upon the target's Hit Dice. This keeps a clear difference between Curing Light Wounds and Curing Critical Wounds (and everything in between). The only problem is that Cure Light Wounds is still more likely to completely heal a first level target than it is to completely heal a higher level target. But, I can't think of a way around that without getting rid of the higher level cure spells and just having one spell that's based upon the caster level and the level of the target. And, that creates the problem of having a first level spell that's too useful at higher levels. [/QUOTE]
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