Fast Healing and Regeneration

[Kark001]

Is there a difference between those two beside the fact, that regeneration can bring back lost body parts?
Do they stack?

Thanks in advance

 

[andargor]

Is there a difference between those two beside the fact, that regeneration can bring back lost body parts?
Do they stack?

Thanks in advance

From the SRD:

FAST HEALING
At the beginning of each of the creature’s turns, it heals a certain number of hit points (defined in its description).
Unlike regeneration (see below), fast healing does not allow a creature to regrow or reattach lost body parts.
A creature that has taken both subdual and normal damage heals the subdual damage first.
Fast healing does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation.
Fast healing does not increase the number of hit points regained when a creature polymorphs.

REGENERATION
Creatures with this extraordinary ability recover from wounds quickly and can even regrow or reattach severed body parts.
Damage dealt to the creature is treated as subdual damage, and the creature automatically cures itself of subdual damage at a fixed rate.
Certain attack forms, typically fire and acid, deal damage to the creature normally; that sort of damage doesn't convert to subdual damage and so doesn't go away. The creature's description includes the details.
These creatures can regrow lost portions of their bodies and can reattach severed limbs or body parts. Severed parts die if they are not reattached.
Regeneration does not restore hit points lost from starvation, thirst, or suffocation.
Attack forms that don't deal hit point damage (for example, disintegration and most poisons) ignore regeneration.
An attack that can cause instant death, such as a coup de grace, massive damage, or an assassin's death attack, only threatens the creature with death if it is delivered by weapons that deal it normal damage.

Fast Healing is conspicuously short in description. Does it mean that a creature with Fast Healing cannot be CdG'ed? Maybe.

Do they stack? Not sure, but I'd probably not allow it (the precendents are the Regenerate X Wounds Druid spells, which do not stack)

Andargor

 

[mmu1]

Is there a difference between those two beside the fact, that regeneration can bring back lost body parts?
Do they stack?

Thanks in advance

Fast Healing just gives you back X number of HP per round, as long as you're still alive - which means that once you hit -10 HP, or get hit by a coupe de grace or fail a save for massive damage, you're dead just like everone else.

Regeneration, on the other hand, allows you to treat most damage as subdual damage, and only a few things do real damage to you (like fire and acid in the case of trolls). Which means that most sources of damage can never kill you regardless of how much damage you take, because you can't die from subdual damage. You also can't be dropped into negative HP by subdual damage, which means that every round you'll regenerate enough HP to regain consciousness and act - unless someone does a coupe de grace on you with something capable of doing real damage to you.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

...which means that every round you'll regenerate enough HP...

Minor nitpick. Subdual damage. You'll regenerate enough subdual damage. You don't actually lose hit points, so you have no hit points to regenerate, and even if you do, regeneration always heals subdual damage first.

 

[Tiberius]

Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

You also can't be dropped into negative HP by subdual damage, which means that every round you'll regenerate enough HP to regain consciousness and act - unless someone does a coupe de grace on you with something capable of doing real damage to you.

Not necessarily. You can't be dropped into negative numbers by subdual damage, since it doesn't reduce hit points, but there's no cap on the amount of subdual damage one may have. See pages 134 and 135 of the PHB. Thus, once you beat a troll or pit fiend or some such into unconsciousness, you can just keep beating them until you have done enough damage to ensure the thing won't wake up before you've had ample time to get away.

-Tiberius

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

Not necessarily.

That's not what he meant. He's right. He just used the wrong terminology.

 

[AuraSeer]

Re: Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

Thus, once you beat a troll or pit fiend or some such into unconsciousness, you can just keep beating them until you have done enough damage to ensure the thing won't wake up before you've had ample time to get away.

That's not necessarily the case. Regardless of the amount of subdual damage done, the creature has a 10% chance per minute of waking up, becoming staggered instead if unconscious.

If your victim is a troll, a minute or two will probably be enough time to make your escape (or at least build a fire). But if it's a pit fiend, don't be surprised if it catches up.

 

[RigaMortus]

The "regenerating a lost limb" effect of Regeneration is kinda useless. Unless you are a creature with the innate Regeneration ability, like a Troll, and even then the effect isn't that great. Since there are no "called shots" in D&D, there is no way to remove a limb in combat (that I know of) besides a vorpal weapon, and I don't think regen will help you there. Look at a Ring of Regneration for example... You can't regenerate a limb unless you lost the limb while wearing the ring. I hope you don't get your hand chopped off which happens to be the one wearing the ring. Even then, like I said, it can't be severed during combat anyway. The DM would have to put you in a specific situation to have a limb severed (captured and a baddie cuts your hand off for example) or you have to conciously do it yourself. Very rare circumstances, which means regenerating a limb isn't a very useful game effect.

 

[RigaMortus]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

the creature has a 10% chance per minute of waking up,

I thought it was per hour?

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Fast Healing and Regeneration

I thought it was per hour?

Per minute. Page 135 of the PH.