Healing Surges innate Blessed band aids

[qstor]

People sometimes ask if you don't like 4e...what don't you like about it? ie for specific criticisms of 4e

From the front page today WOTC Chris Sims "A healing surge, then, is a resource tapped by other powers, such as second wind (use a healing surge to heal as a standard action)"

As I've said a number of times, I can't think of a single other RPG where a character can innately heal themselves without referencing the healing "action" to Spells, long term rest, charms or potions, innate special abilities like fast healing and class ability D&D monks ability or OD&D mystics ability regeneration not in GURPS Ars Magica, Rifts.

Now suddenly in 4e all by yourself BINGO you heal....

in 3.5 SRD: You cannot give long-term care to yourself.

SRD: In a normal round, you can perform a standard action and a move action, or you can perform a full-round action.

Now as a standard action as another thread said in the title...I was unconscious before now I feel better...For me this is not part of D&D or another other RPG. It's clear purpose is to keep the PC alive. Fine that's what the hit point system is for a generic damage system where an arrow in the eye isn't part of the system...called shots aren't part of D&D...but this "self" healing goes beyond the previous edition rules and other RPG systems. Use a standard action and now I'm ok....every PC now has band aids galore. To me this doesn't have the feel of D&D or any other RPG system.

I really have to see this in action in 4e Modern...wow I took 3 M16 rounds...but I'm ok now! Come on....

WOTC designers want to see house rules on 4e healing surges??? Get rid of them...and bring back druids, gnomes and bards....whoops the book is at the printer....


Mike

 

[baberg]

Sometimes you have to sacrifice realism for gameplay.

Also, http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=221226&page=1

 

[Ximenes088]

4e is defining hit points as your current degree of script immunity, not physical wounds taken. The worst you suffer is action-hero injuries until you are dead. Healing surge triggers, whether from clerical healing words or warlord exhortations, simply represent you getting the gumption to keep going despite your battering.

All editions of D&D have at least nodded at the "physical wounds are only a small part of hit points" view, but 4e appears to be completely jettisoning serious physical injury until you are, in fact, completely dead. As such, I don't think your criticism really applies.

 

[FadedC]

I really have to see this in action in 4e Modern...wow I took 3 M16 rounds...but I'm ok now! Come on....


Mike

Different genres require different sets of rules. Complaining that rules from a heroic fantasy game don't work as well in a completely different game is rather silly.

 

[PeelSeel2]

I really have to see this in action in 4e Modern...wow I took 3 M16 rounds...but I'm ok now! Come on....

I didn't actually get hit by those rounds. They missed me!! I was fated not to be taken out by them. It took some of my kism to avoid damage from them, but I did it. Later, I got my mojo back after I talked with a priest. I was pretty shaken until that point, and she set me straight, bolstered my internal fortitude.

 

[dervish]

I think a healing surge system would also work in D20 modern, but you would have to be crystal clear on the fact that healing surges and hit points do not represent actual physical injury, but rather points you can use to not die. In many more realistic RPGs, you stand a decent chance of getting killed by a single lucky blow/shot. If you for each such character death instead subtract a point from the character, you have something very similar to the D&D hit point system. Characters simply spend points from their pool to avoid death.

So what I'm trying to say is that the hit point mechanic is the same as always, 4e just added new intresting ways to replenish them.

 

[Henry]

As I've said a number of times, I can't think of a single other RPG where a character can innately heal themselves without referencing the healing "action" to Spells, long term rest, charms or potions, innate special abilities like fast healing and class ability D&D monks ability or OD&D mystics ability regeneration not in GURPS Ars Magica, Rifts.

Star Wars d20: vitality points heal by the hour; most characters gain back full vitality within 24 hours' time.

Iron Heroes: PCs have a "reserve pool" that they can pull from; the beginnings of 4th editions healing surges.

Savage Worlds: Characters spending Bennies can shake off the worst effects of certain wounds.

Feng Shui: If I remember correctly, characters start each new scene healthy, whether they're bloodied up or not.

There are others, but I'm just missing them. The key ingredient in all of them though is their cinematic natures; the more "realistic" a game is, the longer healing seems to take.

 

[VannATLC]

Its been said already.

HP =/ meatpoints.

It honestly never has.

It can be argued that previously, MORE of the HP abstraction was allocated to meat-points than is currently the case, which is, IMO, true.

However, I have no particular issues with the way things are handled, once you accept that HP =/ Meaningful physical damage.

Also, you're a community supporter, and have access to Search. Why did you need to create a new thread when there is literally dozens already dealing with this topic?

 

[HeinorNY]

I really have to see this in action in 4e Modern...wow I took 3 M16 rounds...but I'm ok now! Come on....

"In the authors’ ongoing study of violence against law enforcement officers, they have examined several cases where officers used large-caliber hand guns with limited effect displayed by the offenders. In one case, the subject attacked the officer with a knife. The officer shot the individual four times in the chest; then, his weapon malfunctioned. The offender continued to walk toward the officer. After the officer cleared his weapon, he fired again and struck the subject in the chest. Only then did the offender drop the knife. This individual was hit five times with 230-grain, .45-caliber hollow-point ammunition and never fell to the ground. The offender later stated, “The wounds felt like bee stings.”


In another case, officers fired six .40-caliber, hollow-point rounds at a subject who pointed a gun at them. Each of the six rounds hit the individual with no visible effect. The seventh round severed his spinal cord, and the offender fell to the ground, dropping his weapon. This entire firefight was captured by several officers’ in-car video cameras.

In a final case, the subject shot the victim officer in the chest with a handgun and fled. The officer, wearing a bullet-resistant vest, returned gunfire. The officer’s partner observed the incident and also fired at the offender. Subsequent investigation determined that the individual was hit 13 times and, yet, ran several blocks to a gang member’s house. He later said, “I was so scared by all those shots; it sounded like the Fourth of July.” Again, according to the subject, his wounds “only started to hurt when I woke up in the hospital.” The officers had used 9-millimeter, department-issued ammunition. The surviving officers re ported that they felt vulnerable."

http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2004/oct2004/oct04leb.htm#page_15

I hope 4E modern will rules to "simulate" those situations. Oops, we already have Second Wind, weeee!!!

 

[small pumpkin man]

I really have to see this in action in 4e Modern...wow I took 3 M16 rounds...but I'm ok now! Come on....

Since they can already take 3 M16 rounds and be unindered, the ability to be unhindered for longer if they take a round or five minutes to take a breather or bandage their wounds isn't a big deal. "Realisitically" most serious wounds take at least several months to heal, so characters which could heal fully in 2-3 days were never that wounded in the first place.