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

[Charlaquin]

Has a person been healed from 0 hp and got up and started fighting, yes.

Does this happen repeatedly, no.

Healing word is the problem. Don’t have this in the party then it’s not a problem.

I think this is the wrong way to go about fixing the problem, if you find it to be a problem (which I do, personally). Healing Word is important because it lets the healer heal without having to give up doing anything else on their turn, which makes playing the healer no longer something you have to begrudgingly accept. The problem isn’t healing word, it’s the fact that any amount of healing immediately and automatically takes a character from unconscious to conscious.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Healing word is the problem. Don’t have this in the party then it’s not a problem.

FWIW, we have a bigger issue with Goodberry. Cast it the night before, and give everyone 2 or so berries. If someone goes down in battle, feed them a berry and BOOM! 1 HP, no more failed death saves, and they get right back into the fight...

Healing Word has not been nearly an issue IME because you don't get 10 uses potentially with a single casting.

 

[tetrasodium]

FWIW, we have a bigger issue with Goodberry. Cast it the night before, and give everyone 2 or so berries. If someone goes down in battle, feed them a berry and BOOM! 1 HP, no more failed death saves, and they get right back into the fight...

Healing Word has not been nearly an issue IME because you don't get 10 uses potentially with a single casting.

I'm going to second this. Back when you went beyond zero & needed to heal the difference the +1hp was more curiosity than something especially useful for healing, but in 5e when everything beyond zero up to a hit that dealth maxhp damage goes away with tha 1hp goodberry it's a huge amount of healing that only gets larger as levels increase

 

[Shiroiken]

Depends on the party composition and campaign. A party with multiple healers using Healing Word can do this frequently without too many problems. A campaign with lots of ability to rest won't see this nearly as often, as people will spend HD on short rests and obviously get full HP back on long rest.

My campaign I run has both a cleric and druid, but the druid spends as much time as possible in wild-shape. Because of this only the cleric will combat heal, and while she'll bring characters back up, there's a greater desire to avoid going down in the first place. They spend their HD wisely, and short rest often to avoid being low on HP.

The game I'm playing in has this problem periodically, however. My cleric is a front line aggro draw due to repeated use of Spiritual Guardians, but I have a ton of HP (I'm behind only the Barbarian, topping the paladin and bladelock). This keeps a lot of fire off the others, but when things go bad, the bard and I keep bringing people back up (often the bard bringing me back up). Given time, I like to use out of combat healing, but in Avernous this isn't always an option.

 

[TheSword]

FWIW, we have a bigger issue with Goodberry. Cast it the night before, and give everyone 2 or so berries. If someone goes down in battle, feed them a berry and BOOM! 1 HP, no more failed death saves, and they get right back into the fight...

Healing Word has not been nearly an issue IME because you don't get 10 uses potentially with a single casting.

Like I said. I just don’t see people popping up and down in combat. Action economy to feed a good berry is good enough for me. Plus not every party has a good berry caster.

For what it’s worth a DM is well within their rights to say a PC can’t eat while unconscious.

 

[Charlaquin]

This is why I came up with my death and dying house rule. When you’re at 0 HP you remain stable but have disadvantage on attack rolls and have to concentrate to remain conscious. If you lose concentration, you fall unconscious and become unstable. Regaining HP stabilizes you, but does not return you to consciousness. You regain consciousness in 1d4 hours.

This preserves all the utility of healing word and goodberry to keep a character who is close to death in the fight for another round, or to spare a character who’s sitting on two failed death saves, but without the “whack-a-mole” effect of popping in and out of consciousness several times in one fight. It also has the side-benefit of making it a much more serious ordeal for a character to fall unconscious, as it means the rest of the party will have to find a way to get them to safety or at least protect them for a few hours until they get back up.

 

[TheSword]

I think this is the wrong way to go about fixing the problem, if you find it to be a problem (which I do, personally). Healing Word is important because it lets the healer heal without having to give up doing anything else on their turn, which makes playing the healer no longer something you have to begrudgingly accept. The problem isn’t healing word, it’s the fact that any amount of healing immediately and automatically takes a character from unconscious to conscious.

Healing without real cost in combat is an issue for me. As I say, we don’t have a problem with Whack a mole. However if we did, the first thing I would do is restrict healing word.

1d4 + wis isn’t about healing damage after level 3. It’s for raising from 0 hp at no cost in actions.

 

[Rune]

Healing without real cost in combat is an issue for me. As I say, we don’t have a problem with Whack a mole. However if we did, the first thing I would do is restrict healing word.

1d4 + wis isn’t about healing damage after level 3. It’s for raising from 0 hp at no cost in actions.

Just spitballin’ here, but you could houserule the spell to give the recipient a level of exhaustion that lasts for a minute or so, if that’s a concern. Gotta be careful not to heal them to death!

 

[TheSword]

Just spitballin’ here, but you could houserule the spell to give the recipient a level of exhaustion that lasts for a minute or so, if that’s a concern. Gotta be careful not to heal them to death!

That’s a good suggestion. Another is the optional lingering injuries rules for when a character drops to 0 hp.

 

[DND_Reborn]

It's hard to find a good-balance middle ground IMO. Most house-rules either nerf things into non-use or make the game super-lethal. Like many, I find the 0 HP to 1 HP and suddenly up and fighting a bit too bizarre, but DM's who play hard will tap-tap downed PCs to death.

Could we have a "recovery" mechanic for PCs who reach 0 HP and are down/disabled, that allows them to slowly get back into the fray, hopefully maybe encouraging further healing? Something like:

Round 1 (after being restored from 0 HP): disadvantage on attacks, ability checks, and saves. half speed. (this way you can ONLY stand with your movement)
Round 2: half speed still, disadvantage on ability checks (you're still shaken)
Round 3: disadvantage on ability checks
Round 4: you're good to go!

Penalties would last until the start of the next turn. Each spell level of healing or level of strength of a potion of healing speeds up the process by 1 round maybe? A successful Wisdom (Medicine) check (DC 15 or 20?) could also remove 1 round of penalties?

Example. Suppose you have 0 HP and another PC casts Healing Word from 20 feet away. You gain 7 HP. But you have all the penalties listed above (disadvantage on attacks, ability checks, and saves. half speed) so the PC moves 20 feet to you and also uses their action to help you drink a potion of greater healing ("level 2" in strength), giving you 16 HP more. The potion also reduces your penalties as if you had already recovered two rounds (so you only have disadvantage on ability checks) on the next turn when you act.