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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6292357" data-attributes="member: 42582">These comments assume a contrast between "mechanics" and "narrative" that, in my view, has no warrant in a discussion of RPGs. There are many RPGs for which the whole point of their mechanics is to facilitate the creation of a certain sort of fiction. In the case of healing surges, they serve multiple purposes, but one of those is to support a dramatic pacing in combat encounters, by enabling the PCs to come back, but only if the players are able (via their PCs) to deploy resources that "unlock" their surges.Consider an adventure in which the party of PCs encounters two modestly-powered groups of goblins in a row (this could be Keep on the Borderlands, Night's Dark Terror, the Chamber of Eyes in Thunderspire Labyrinth, or any of the other myriad low-level D&D adventures out there). In AD&D or B/X the first encounter will have little drama, as the players have ample resources (via their PC hit points and MU spells) to deal with the goblins. The only "drama" that arises is that of maximising efficiency, so as to be able to take on the anticipated next lot of goblins. The second goblin encounter is the one that will be dramatic, as the resource-depleted players face a real risk of losing.The effect of healing surges in 4e is to make both encounters dramatic, as both create the risk of losing as the players are expected to be depleted of a good chunk of their resources (encounter powers, hit points) in both encounters, and only skilled play at the right time (eg unlocking healing surges, using encounter powers to good effect, etc) will turn the tide. There is no loss in drama (even the "drama" of attrition is maintained, via healing surges and daily powers as non-short-rest recoverable, and action points as a less-than-once-per encounter resource). There is an increase in drama, as the drama of the second goblin encounter in classic D&D is experienced in both encounters.That is one of the narrative function of healing surges.Your suggested rule (i) eliminates completely the long-term resource management that is a traditional aspect of D&D, and (ii) does away with the need to unlock surges in combat, which is the principal narrative contribution that healing surges make to the game. This would be a radical change to the play of 4e as I experience it. Why is the number of combats in each encounter day similar? A day containing (say) 6 level +1 encounters will be pretty different to one containing (say) 2 level +6 encounters. The first will support a tone of gradual attrition. The second will support a tone of dramatic and immediate threat.The presence of healing surges in the game creates no pressure to run one or the other scenario, any more than traditional hit points encourage running two moderately-powered goblin encounters or one strongly-powered goblin encounter. And that is before we get into other non-combat ways that healing surges can be depleted, such as in skill challenges.This has been covered upthread by [MENTION=27160]Balesir[/MENTION]. The cleric's inspiration is not via the cleric's own charisma, but via the bestowing of divine grace. (Hence the divine keyword rather than the martial keyword, at least prior to the clunky Essentials errata.)As for magical healing, there is surgeless healing from the cleric. The paladin also has a different form of healing, bestowing his/her own grace upon the person being healed (ie LoH, which requires the paladin to spend a surge). These differing healing mechanics also establish differences within the fiction.This is just a particular case of the general phenomenon of encounter powers. If you don't like metagame rationing, than of course you won't like 4e, or any of the many, many other RPGs that use it.</blockquote>

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