Essential Healing

[Delta]

Assume that magical healing is mechanically necessary for the D&D game. Granted that, what counts as archetypal "magic healing" in classic fantasy or myth? Post an example from a story you're familiar with and how the magic healing works in that environment.

For example:
- No magic healing in Face in the Frost (that I recall).
- No magic healing in Vance's Dying Earth stories (that I recall).
- In the Land of Thomas Covenant (by S.R. Donaldson), magic healing occurs by use of "hurtloam", a magic but naturally-occuring kind of mud occasionally found in riverbanks and similar areas.

Other examples? Is your example a magic substance, spell, sharing of the hurt, etc.?

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

In the Runelords series, healing is natural, but fast due to magically enhanced metabolism of the Runelords.

 

[Ealli]

In the Deed of Paksennarion, Marshals of Gird can pray for healing. Additionally, wizards can brew healing potions, but those are much more expensive.

 

[kenobi65]

Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's knowledge and ability to use athelas to heal Frodo, and later Merry, Eowyn, and Faramir, from the effects of contact with the Nazgul. The women in the House of Healing in Minas Tirith remark that this is a sign that Aragorn is a true heir to the throne -- "the hands of the king are the hands of a healer", IIRC.

How much of this is Aragorn vs. the athelas is a good question. In Middle-Earth, much of the "magic" (such as, a lot of what the elves do) is simply innate, versus being a "magical spell" or anything like that. One could argue that athelas has magical properties, and / or that Aragorn's ability to use it to heal grievous hurts is some sort of magical ability.

 

[Delta]

Thanks for that; as someone who's never read Lord of the Rings I had to look up that athelas is an herb in Middle Earth ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athelas ).

 

[Remathilis]

The question is "what kind of healing?"

* Mending bones, fixing cuts, and returning to vitality isn't terribly common. One could argue Obi-wan heals Luke in the Original Star Wars (and Padme in RotS). Most books/movies get away from that by making the protagonists hp X+1 where X is whatever challenge the character is supposed to survive.

* Regenerative magic (restoring limbs, curing diseases) are less common. Harry Potter had bone-regrow magic, for example, but nothing to cure the common cold.

* Bringing people back from the dead is the least common of all. Few, if any make this a readily a usable power. Often, its a plot device of the hero or the villain, like Anakin in Sith. Often, it has sever repercussions beyond 5000 gp in diamond dust.

However, in a game about resource management, hp, status ailments, even life itself is a resource, and it would be natural the game would evolve to allow PCs to regain those resources quickly, as it allows for faster gameplay and doesn't handicap the PCs for every fight they get into (which is frequent).

In short, healing magic is not common, but a requirement of the type of gamestyle D&D typically emulates.

 

[kenobi65]

Well, I already got into trouble for violating "no politics" today, so I might as well go for the daily double and go for "no religion", too.

The Bible contains examples of healing the sick, even bringing the dead back to life. And, there are real-world religions that believe in "faith healing". As at least part of the inspiration for the D&D cleric was the Christian warrior-priest, I would imagine that there's some intentional connection there.

 

[Nifft]

- In the Land of Thomas Covenant (by S.R. Donaldson), magic healing occurs by use of "hurtloam", a magic but naturally-occuring kind of mud occasionally found in riverbanks and similar areas.

The Land featured lots of different curative mechanics:
- Hurtloam
- That mystic woman healer (the "Unfettered" or something like that) who did sympathetic healing -- she would e.g. break her own leg (to heal her target's broken leg) and lie next to the target, and they'd both heal overnight.
- Leperboy healed his own wounds many times with wild magic.
- Doctorgirl healed Pitchwife (restructured him really) using the Staff of Law.
- Foamfollower was healed of many wounds by walking through liiiiiquid maaaaaagma.

There were probably more.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Slife]

In the Vlad Taltos series magical healing is fairly common, but costs enough to put it out of the easy reach of the lower classes. Plagues are very rare except among the extremely poor.

It is possible to bring the dead back to life, but more expensive.

 

[Ilium]

In a very strange, early novel by Orson Scott Card (A Planet Called Treason), some of the people could heal with some funky kind of earth magic. I don't remember it real well, though. Also, in the same book, one entire nation of people could naturally regenerate. The aristocrats could do it very well, but there was a danger that one might be a "radical regenerative" with extra body parts growing where they didn't belong, etc. The hero became one of these, but was cured of it by the "earth magic" folks.