Cure Minor Wounds Scenario

[Yair]

In a D&D world, there would be very little change. Slightly fewer deaths in war, and in accidents. Diseases will not be affected (as these casue ability damage), and the effect is too weak to ward off the dangers of famine or draught.

In the real world... well, humans don't have hp.

 

[Blue]

I think that in a strick "by the rules" approach it will have little change since HP damage, unless you're dead, has no long term effect. However, I think that in "reality" it would have a huge effect.

Infection was a major source of long-term infirmery or death back in the (extended) period that your average D&D game emulates. There aren't rules for "your cut gets infected", but being able to close wounds quickly would make a huge difference. And with that many people, you could just get several to help for bad wounds. A commoner 1 at -9 could be stabilized by anyoen who can do this, and the rest of the village could get together to heal him all the way up.

Cheers,
=Blue(23)

 

[tensen]

Picture a land, a typical land where a bit over 50% of the adult population could cast Cure Minor Wounds with the proper training. Now assume all who could cast Cure Minor Wounds with the proper training got the proper training, and so could cast Cure Minor Wounds at least once a day. How would this change life in that land?

I'd picture the villagers as a lot healthier lot than our mundane equivalents. At least those able to afford donations regularlly to the church that provides the healing. Otherwise I see the clerics holding off using their healing on the off chance there would be an immergency during the day... or worried about an evening attack from monsters.

I couldn't see much of an increase in populations, because it would just move the folks that would have died from infection in injuries, to the ones that die in a monster attack. More population means a better food supply for the goblioids.

 

[MarkB]

One thing to bear in mind is that, in a normal population not engaged in warfare or other hazard duty, this doesn't amount to a mere 1 point per day. If one man in a village of a hundred adults takes a serious, near-fatal injury and there've been no other major incidents that day, there's not just one point of healing available to stabilise him - there are potentially as many as fifty points of healing available to get him right back up to full health.

This all but eliminates the need for hospitalisation in order to tend physical injuries. Wounds won't fester because they won't have time to become infected, injuries will almost never result in permanent disabilities, the majority of people will remain physically capable until the infirmities of advanced age or disease begin to take their toll.

 

[alan]

Something else to consider:

If magical healing took over natural healing, then I am guessing that in time, the natural healing ability of the population may decline (atrophy). Now imagine a scenario where the gods abandon the population, and a cold sweeps through the population, decimating the civilization.

Alan

 

[Yair]

This all but eliminates the need for hospitalisation in order to tend physical injuries. Wounds won't fester because they won't have time to become infected, injuries will almost never result in permanent disabilities, the majority of people will remain physically capable until the infirmities of advanced age or disease begin to take their toll.

What festering? I don't know of any rules for festering wounds or gaining disabilities due to losing hp in D&D. Healing generally requires some minimal hospitalisation or care, and the excess healing of the village can aid in removing that. The lack of the required bed-rest is a fairly small effect, especially as healing diseases would still require a cleric/healer. The fact that the injured person is healthy on the same day instead of in a few days isn't really significant, on the whole.

In the real world, infections and complications are certainly a big problem. But in the real world, people don't have hp.