Does clerical healing magic (e.g. cure light wounds) close wounds?

[was]

yes..except for certain damage types that say they must be healed naturally

 

[Dausuul]

I subscribe to the view that anything that does hit point damage is causing some level of physical injury. It may be just scrapes and bruises, easily shrugged off--in fact, it's usually just scrapes and bruises--but the attack does connect and it does cause harm. This is why most "rider" effects like poison trigger on damage being dealt, and why anything that deals hit point damage has the potential to be lethal.

Clerical healing magic heals the injury. (Contrast with warlord "healing" abilities, which let you shrug off the injury without actually healing it, and have vague quantum-mechanical effects on characters in the negatives.)

 

[Obryn]

It might, but it doesn't have to.

In 4e, hit points are super abstract. I've completely embraced this and just love it.

There's nothing wrong with, for example, a Cleric of Kord doing through Divine magic what a Warlord does with Martial power - basically inspiring their allies to fight through the pain and stay effective. (Or with a Warlord who's flavored as a warrior-priest of sorts, who magically closes wounds with Inspiring Word.) Power source is almost completely irrelevant to gameplay, except in fairly rare cases when the keywords should still be respected for mechanical purposes but ignored at-will for flavor purposes.

-O

 

[Argyle King]

Are we assuming a game of D&D?


How is a wound defined for the purposes of this discussion?

I'm inclined to say that clerical magic restores HP in D&D. If we're describing HP loss as 'wounds,' then clerical magic heals wounds. Pretty much any kind of healing is capable of doing so; screaming at wounds heals them also.

Cleric: "Oh Lord up high; way up in the sky. Your aid I ask you to lend, so this wound might mend."

Warlord: "Shout! Shout! Let it all out! These are the things..."

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

In 4e, hit points are super abstract. I've completely embraced this and just love it.

Change "In 4E" to "In all editions of D&D" and you have formed my opinion. The abstract nature allows each of us at the table to imagine what is occurring in a way that satisfies one's own tastes. We leave the entire thing in the abstract and focus on other parts of the game.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

It heals wounds created by attacks or spells that cause 'bleed' damage, and stabilizes those who are unconscious and dying - both of which are continuing conditions, so, yes. If there are open wounds then the spell works to close them.

From the Pathfinder SRD:
Bleed

A creature that is taking bleed damage takes the listed amount of damage at the beginning of its turn. Bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or through the application of any spell that cures hit point damage (even if the bleed is ability damage). Some bleed effects cause ability damage or even ability drain. Bleed effects do not stack with each other unless they deal different kinds of damage. When two or more bleed effects deal the same kind of damage, take the worse effect. In this case, ability drain is worse than ability damage.

The Auld Grump

 

[Ahnehnois]

D&D started by including very little concept of a wound and has been evolving away from it.

D&D has never had a death spiral of penalties that apply as a character starts to take damage. Regardless of edition, characters remain fully capable of action until 0 hp is reached unless subjected to a very small set of magical abilities like a Sword of Sharpness or Staff of Withering.

I'm away from my library at the moment so the following evoltion may be a bit off:

1e has a large penalty for falling unconcous and it can take months of bed rest for a high-level character to recover hit points non-magically. Certain magical items could inflict lasting wounds/maimings.

2e removed the penalty for unconscousness and increased the healing rate. It is possible to recover hit points in the field and trained care and bed rest offered a substantial boost to hit point recovery. Non-magical healing under good care would probably be less than a month.

3e substantially boosts the healing rate. Non-magical healing would take less than a week under good care. Items that can inflict lasting wounds/maimings are removed.

4e has a full recovery every night.

This is a good summary, although I don't agree with the word "evolve".

"Wounds" as such, are generally a flavor element in D&D, not a mechanical one. So, closing those wounds is similarly a flavor element. I do what makes for the best flavor at the time.

And this is pretty much the basis of my "sometimes" answer. Does hit point damage indicate physical wounds? Usually, but not necessarily. Thus the same is true for healing spells.

 

[Hussar]

I voted "Other".

I'm beating my brain here, but, I don't think, in 30 years of gaming, I've ever heard anyone, DM or player, narrate what happens when a curing spell or magic item was used. It was always, I cast X, you get Y hp back.

Does anyone actually narrate healing?

 

[IronWolf]

Does anyone actually narrate healing?

Yes. Most predominantly in PbP games, but it also happens occasionally in the face to face games as well.

 

[Hussar]

Yes. Most predominantly in PbP games, but it also happens occasionally in the face to face games as well.

Really? How? And, more importantly, why?