Do you assume 'healing' is readily available, and if so, how does it affect play?

[Driddle]

A spin-off topic for discussion from an earlier cleric thread:

To what degree do you prep ahead of an 'adventure' (just before you formally or informally declare, "And off we go!") by stocking up on healing resources -- cleric spells, potions, wands, mundane or other?

And if you've got, say, 100 hit points (or 300 or a zillion) of potential healing ready to use at any time, how does it affect your game play? Are you more likely to take big risks in the short-term? Do you make different class progression choices for the long-term because you assume you'll survive to 20th level instead of dying in a small skirmish along the way?

Having a ready source of magical healing even makes a big dent on travel logistics -- you don't have to set aside as much time for resting, for example, which means less food and camping gear to carry. Injured horses can even be tossed a few left-over healing points to help along the way. Other companion animals benefit as well.

Me? Personally, I always assume I'll get no help from anyone. No friendly clerics, no Wal-Mart retailer for potions and wands. But that's just part of my world view. ... How about you?

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Generally, all of the groups I play in or DM for usually have a cleric or a druid, and typically another character capable of casting Cure Light Wounds, as well. Wands of CLW are often (if not always) standard pieces of equipment by around 3rd level or so. And I can only remember once in the last 5 years that I was involved in a group that didn't consist of characters who were either good-aligned and willing to help each other or neutral with an "us against the world" attitude that still helped each other.

Too much downtime turns SpiderMonkey into ADDMonkey.

 

[Stormborn]

Typically in our campaigns the healing potential is set as part of the capaign itself. If we don't have a cleric or other healer PC then we either stock up as possible before hand and/or trust that their is some opportunity ahead to get healing when needed. As a GM i make sure that healing options are available for PCs. Facing a tough foe and having to retreat for recuperation is fine. Getting killed because you didn't know when to run or stop is fine. The idea is to keep playing. The tension inheriant in loosing HP and looking for healing is part of the fun, but its not fun when a GM decides to keep pounding the party to death when there are no options for escape or healing.

 

[genshou]

I run a lot of d20 Modern, so healing magic isn't often something that is even possible to obtain. First aid kits and medical kits are more commonly seen, and the PCs carry plenty of extra supplies in case they have to hole up somewhere to recover from a fight.

On the rare occasion that I actually play in a D&D game instead of running it, my PCs tend to recognize that the availability of healing magic allows them to take more risks than if it wasn't around.

 

[Brother MacLaren]

I recall that in BD&D, most DMs gave out a Staff of Healing at very low levels, because healing was so limited (no buying magic items, no scribing scrolls or brewing potions at low levels, and fewer cleric spells). The Staff in that set was CLW once per day per person.

It basically let you do several more caves of Keep on the Borderlands before having to run back to the Keep.

 

[tzor]

I find that resurrection magic tends to make my characters more reckless. I remember a 2nd edition game where my Dwarven Beastrider simply assumed that in every major battle he was going to be the first one to go down. He got raised by the Elf Cleric so many times that he converted and became a loyal follower of Collerion. (Upon one of this deaths he was rewarded with a short stay in the Elvin Paradise.)

Healing magic does not in and of itself make my charcter reckless. It might increase his apparent level, allowing him to consider enounters that had he not had such healing available for on the spot healing, he would probably run away from. (But of course the opposite is true, if you have healing, so might they.) In the long term situation it allows the adventure to continue at a reasonable pace. In situations where only natural healing is possile, long periods of rest are often required. In the real world, tag team adventuring is required, where one team passes the first encounter, and allows the team behind them to tackle the second encounter while they rest and recoup from their wounds.

When I DM one cannot take the ability of healing magic for granted. After all, encounters are not always near populated areas. Clerics are always far less than the general population, and their services are often required by the local population. Of course the situation changes should the characters become the saviour of the town or village, or even the city. But in general they are asking for what might be a valuable resource, or at the very least a source of potential revinue for greedy urban temples with massive expense budgets.

 

[Agent Oracle]

Okay... my players Were recently in quite a bind. The only healer in the party is a dragon shaman, as a result, they can get up to half hitpoints, and no higher. So, on their way back to join with the main invasion body (Dragonstar, they are part of an invasion force that is supposed to take over a newly discovered planet, but are seperated from the main body of the invaders.) They came into a town, where they disguised themselves as "out of towners" and sought treatment for their wounds.

They turned to the local priest, who was no a cleric, but in fact an adept. he bandaged their wounds and spread some (nonmagical) salve on them (narrative-wise, in game i made a heal-check for the priest, assuming max ranks for a 5th level adept)

They rested, and I ruled that because they were cared for by a trained healer, they regained double the normal level+con mod (only if positive) from that night's sleep. Put everyone darn close to full.

And that's how I handled it