Fast Healer (feat)

[Chronologist]

Fast Healer
Prerequisite: Fort save +4
Benefit: You gain Fast Healing 1. At 10th, 15th, and 20th level, your fast healing improves by 1. This healing does not stack with other sources of Fast Healing, such as a Lesser Vigor spell, but it stacks with other uses of this feat.
Special: You may take this feat more than once. Its effects stack with itself.

The reasoning for the feat is this: Most combat encounters are about 5 rounds (the last few sessions I've played in had encounters that ran about 1, 3, 2, 4, 2, and 6 in terms of rounds before resolution). We've only had one encounter that lasted more than 5 rounds, and most were shorter.

Ultimately, Fast Healing 1 at level 5 is about the same effectiveness as 5 hit points, assuming that combat is going to last 5 rounds or less. In fact, the 5 hit points are usually better, since it increases your resistance to Power Word spells and stops you from being knocked out in the first one or two rounds of combat.

Restricting the feat to Fort save +4 means characters can't take it before 5th level. The feat can be taken multiple times because it functions much like Toughness, which in my group can be taken multiple times with cumulative effect.

In addition, when it comes to out of combat healing, by level 5 the cost of a Wand of Vigor is trivial at best. 550 hp for 750 gp is an excellent ratio, and with 12,000 gp apiece and 15% of that for consumable healing (about 1800 gp), the out of combat healing is trivial at best.

I think the feat is balanced. It exceeds Toughness in long sequences, but since our game (and most games in general) have few of those, I think it could work.

What do you think?

 

[Systole]

I have two issues with this. The first is a style issue: I think that giving ordinary (but tough) humans the ability to heal without magic is kind of anime. If that's your campaign style, fine, but for standard sword-and-sorcery, I wouldn't use it.

The second is that I do not think it's balanced. Fast healing means that the party doesn't have to blow heal spells or items on you after combat. Yes, fast healing has a minimal impact during combat, but a party also has to manage its available healing after combat as well. Fast healing completely removes that aspect -- anyone with this talent can rest for 5 minutes and be back at 100%.

Also keep in mind that the only two classes who can get fast healing are verdant sorcerers (who get fast healing:1 at 15th level have to drop speed to 5 ft to use it) and summoners (who can distribute 4 eidolon points to themselves and get fast healing:1).

 

[Ahnehnois]

Is it really unbalancing? Not in most cases, but it is in some. One thing that jumps to mind is stabilization. A character with this feat would never die unless killed outright by damage or coup de graced (or death effects, etc.). You might want to add a provision that it stops working if you drop to 0.

I would also be concerned about the multiple applications. At high levels, it could become problematic (both style and balance-wise). The reason PF took away multiple toughness is because the feat scales now, and this feat scales better.

It certainly is abusable in situations where a character would take a small amount of damage over a prolonged period of time, but generally the environmental/starvation rules preclude fast healing and not many actual opponents do that.

Realistically, the ability to heal damage after a combat is not usually a significant balancing factor, but it does depend on your style. My characters rarely fight more than once and almost never more than twice in a day, so that stuff is irrelevant. If you run a combat-heavy game with dungeons that have several consecutive moderately challenging fights, then this feat could become somewhat unbalancing.

The real issue I think is do you want to make the D&D damage system even more abstract? A character jumps off a ten-story building, barely survives, and is fine ten minutes later. Frankly, I already dislike the abstract nature of hit points already, but whether you do is up to you.

***

You might also consider adopting Trailblazer's rest rules. Basically, they say that you can gain the benefits of rest (spells, hp, /day class abilities restored) by taking a 10-minute break. No feat, and it universally benefits all characters. If reducing out of combat healing magic is your goal, this does the job.

 

[Chronologist]

Well, my character is a Elan psychic who already has the ability to sustain herself without food or water indefinitely, plus spend power points to boost my reflexes and immune system and ignore damage, so I figure Fast Healing is par for the course here.

If gaining Fast Healing from this feat seems like a problem, I'll just buy a set of Millenial Chainmail instead. That'll give me Fast Healing 3 at the cost of a feat (and the +3 chainmail itself is no small benefit) since I'm 7th level.

In comparison, I think this feat isn't as strong as the chainmail personally.

We use the short rest rules from trailblazer as well, so after 5 minutes we're already back on top, plus our class features return. Combat is not so much attrition as it is a single overwhelming opponent, or several challenging opponents at once.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

As written, too much. Compare it to Draconic Aura (Vigor) on a dragonblooded character, which grants up to fast healing 4-- at 20th level-- to all allies within 30 feet but only so long as they are at less than half hit points.

Or Fast Healer from Pathfinder, which requires two other feat prerequisites and only allows you to add your Constitution modifier to any hit points gained through rest or magical healing.

Or the Sangehirn Prestige Class, which is closest to what you're trying to do. Two really bad feats, 5th manifester level, and 9 ranks in a skill noone ever takes. That grants you Fast Healing starting at level 5, but only as long as you are conscious and psionically focused.

Not to mention, a feat should either improve with level or stack with itself. Never both. Ever. In this case, I would recommend removing both. Add some prerequisites-- say, Fast Healer and Psionic Body-- some limitations, such as requiring psionic focus, and then if you want to be able to improve it from fast healing 1, put in another feat that boosts it to 3 and one that boosts it to 5 with increasing Constitution and psionic prerequisites.