D&D 5E Does “Whack-A-Mole” Healing really happen in games?

[jasper]

Yes but not often. Solution for those who are troubled.
1. Monster roll int check. If roll not > int, monster attacks falled foe.
As other have stated some special abilities/feats/etc will be lost. As to trench warfare will depend on the player.

 

[DND_Reborn]

No problem I always like suggestions ^^ .
It's true I forget to add we use this kind of variant too... You start with more hp at 1st level (HD value + CON score) but you don't add the modifier after each new level. It reduce hp bloat at higher levels (barbarian with 20 con at level 20 is 235 hp RAW, with this variant is only 155) and increase the journey length at lower levels as the adventurer are more willingly pushing forward having a bit more hp.

Yeah, if you want fewer HP later on, I agree CON score + HD max at level 1 is a good way to go. We've also done MAX HD + CON mod only at level 1 for a bit less HP.

I agree, PCs with tons of HP are not good for the game.

Another option I've toyed with is your CON mod can only increase you HP roll to the max of your HD type. So, if you roll a d8 with CON +3, your possible rolls would be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8 since you are capped at 8 per HD.

 

[Zio_the_dark]

Another option I've toyed with is your CON mod can only increase you HP roll to the max of your HD type. So, if you roll a d8 with CON +3, your possible rolls would be 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 8, 8, 8 since you are capped at 8 per HD.

I quite like this one

 

[DND_Reborn]

I quite like this one

Thanks. I always have as well as it makes CON still important but keeps the max HP cap lower without 20 * CON mod added on.

If you did something like CON score + HD (CON added, but capped at HD), you could still have Barbarians with over 200 hp though... shrug

 

[Zio_the_dark]

Thanks. I always have as well as it makes CON still important but keeps the max HP cap lower without 20 * CON mod added on.

If you did something like CON score + HD (CON added, but capped at HD), you could still have Barbarians with over 200 hp though... shrug

Indeed it would put the mean result at a bit under 180 hp at level 20 (because you don't start with 20 CON for the first few levels)

 

[DND_Reborn]

Indeed it would put the mean result at a bit under 180 hp at level 20 (because you don't start with 20 CON for the first few levels)

Somewhere around there, yeah.

I just like it better than no CON mod after level 1 because it really helps low HD classes and they need the extra HP more of course.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

LOL.
I was away from D&D for a few years for various reasons and then got in a group that was part of playtesting 5E. At the time Spare the Dying actually brought a character back to 1 hp. I was in a situation where my low-level cleric with only cantrips left and a Dwarf fighter were in an unwinnable battle separated from the rest of the group and the Dwarf got knocked out. I managed to avoid getting hit and used StD to bring him to 1hp and he got up and knocked out one of our opponents and then got knocked down again, so I Spared him again, rinse, lather, repeat.
He got knocked down and came back swinging 5 times before they managed to stop us. It was ridiculous. We almost won.

So, to me, the only part of this that isn’t just a great story is the dwarf literally falling down and getting back up. I’d be tempted to houserule that at 0hp you are dying, but not unconscious unless you took damage equal to at least a quarter of your total HP, and you have a level of exhaustion while at 0hp, and each turn can make a death save and do one of move, action, or bonus action.

Hell, I might even allow automatic death save fail in order to take a normal turn.

 

[CleverNickName]

Yeah, it happens. Pretty frequently too...I'd say every 3, maybe 4 combat scenes.

It's kind of a running joke at our table. But instead of calling it "Whack-A-Mole," we just start singing that song from Chumbawumba.

 

[jmartkdr2]

You're approaching it from a weird angle. A better idea would be to buff healing, so it gives something more than "ok, you now can withstand whole one more attack, good luck"

One houserule I've used for this: for every die of magical healing, you may also spend one Hit Die (if you have any left.)

In practice, this means a top-level cure wounds, when combined with HD, can bring a character most of the way up to full (ie a 9th-level barbarian getting 5d8+wis+5d12+(5xCon)) - making such a spell actually worth casting. This cause actual healers to be a thing without making them overly powerful.

But ultimately we dropped it, because frankly whack-a-mole, while it does happen from time to time, doesn't get ridiculous enough to be worth the extra brain-load of the houserule.

 

[Don Durito]

You know a simple way to address this would be to say that healing word provokes an opportunity attack.

That's the crux of the strategy right? Fighter goes down - cleric reliably casts healing word on thier turn - fighter gets up and never has to make a death save. It's all dependent on that healing being reliable every turn - because as soon as it isn't, the Fighter is just a natural 1 away from death - and that will get them sooner or later.