Healing between encounters

[Rel]

Yep. This is legal by the rules and I'm fine with it.

Keep in mind that events in the world don't stay static and that there are lots of circumstances in which they don't have unlimited rest time like this. But, if they do, this is a completely valid tactic.

 

[Branduil]

The Bard power is not worthless because it doesn't require repeated rests.

Allowing use of encounter powers during a rest is not broken at all.

 

[Akaiku]

It's even more not worthless if someone uses their healing power at the end of an extended rest and the gm allows the to stack. (You ARE spending a healing surge at the end of an extended rest to regain hp, just you are using a power to do so...)

 

[Griogre]

Just to clarify what some of the others are saying. Your cleric can use a healing word while not in combat, but he has to take a short rest recover it. Since he doesn't recover his encounter powers until after a short rest this means the party has to take a short rest so he gets back his healing word(s) and then has to take another short rest to get his healing word(s) back again. Depending on the situation this may or may not be risky. In a dungeon this often *is* risky while on overland trip it probably is not as bad.

The idea is the party if they are in a safe area can pretty much just cure up at the cost of time or triggering an encounter where the cleric doesn't have all of his healing powers. There is also a matter of efficiency - Does the extra d6 + Healer's Lore matter? IE if each character is just down the amount of a surge or a bit more after a fight the extra is pretty meaningless, since the bonus is going to be wasted in an over cure anyway.

 

[Griogre]

It's even more not worthless if someone uses their healing power at the end of an extended rest and the gm allows the to stack. (You ARE spending a healing surge at the end of an extended rest to regain hp, just you are using a power to do so...)

Why would you care at the end of an extended rest? You get all your HPs and surges back anyway.

 

[BobTheNob]

Because using that ability doesn't take extra resting time? And because the bard's Charisma bonus is likely to be higher than the statistical average of a d6?



Except that it's not.



1) The PHB itself explicitly calls this out as a valid example of using encounter powers between encounters, as Smeelbo said.

2) This question has been asked roughly a thousand times since 4E came out. Customer Service answers and posts by the development team have all said that not only is the ability to use healing word outside combat within the realm of the rules, it was anticipated and expected by the design team.

Thats what I needed. If this has been discussed and clarrified as allowed in the past, then so be it. In truth it does allow for the party to endure further than they otherwise could from the same pool of HS anyway which facilitates game play anyway, so Im not fussed.

All good, thanks for your time.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

The Bard power is not worthless because it doesn't require repeated rests.

Allowing use of encounter powers during a rest is not broken at all.

Yeah. Drama makes everything better.

1 a bard is likely going to have more then a d6 average healing at level one, and at later levels is going to have more then 6.

2 i like games that puts the pressure on. Mobsters don't stand around like zombies waiting to be killed. even zombies should be on the move. party ends the fight in a dungeon or ancient underground structure. warcrys of the enemy can be heard in the distance. the party might get a single short rest untill the fight is apon them if the rest right now this moment.

If people think healing word too good, its likely these people are letting the party rest as much as they want.

 

[MrBeens]

As others have said you don't have to be in a fight to use an encounter power, so healing word is perfectly fine to use if your party has enough time for the multiple short rests.
If you couldn't use (encounter) powers outside of an encounter, then loads of utility powers would be useless.

 

[Thanee]

What Kordeth said. 100%.

The encounter terminology makes you think way too much about encounters as combats.

The limitation is just meant for actual combat situations, where you do not have the luxury of time.
Outside of combat (or similar hectic situations) you can take all the time you want and the cleric, being the best healer, surely WILL tend to the wounds and make the healing process more efficient. That's how it should be!

Bye
Thanee

 

[ExploderWizard]

Keep in mind that it doesn't matter if the party is in an encounter or not, healing word requires the use of a surge each time it is activated. The use of the power in this way means that fewer surges will need to be spent while the party rests but those rest periods will be much longer because of it. Its a simple matter of conserving surges at the expense of time. Its up to the DM to determine if that matters.