Healing Surges innate Blessed band aids

[VannATLC]

I personally liked the switch to 3E from C&T because it sped up the games quite a bit and still preserved enough of the simulation that you could easily immerse yourself despite the mechanical abstractions. With 4E, I worry that it has gone too far and it will be much harder to really immerse myself just because the mechanics are so much farther away from what I perceive as reality. Perhaps younger generations who have grown up on Anime, WoW, and Magic : The Gathering won't have this problem.

I think that is the gamble that WoTC has taken - that the game will appeal more to younger generations of gamer who are more interested in a fast MMORPG like game. They might not have a problem with such blatant (and unintuitive) mechanical things as "healing surges". If they lose us old timers, it is sad, but we are a dying breed. The young gamers are the future. We shall see if their gamble pays off.

What a load of tosh. I've been gaming for 20 years. I don't think its an unintuitive mechanic at all. I think its the only feasible method to explain the abstraction of hit points in every core version of DND. I think Lycon hit the nail on the head. DND is a game were any actually serious wound puts you out for the count. That is what all the fluff has obviously been indicated to mean. HP represent the ability to not be seriously hurt. Once you are seriously hurt, you're down.

I do have some issues with the fact that negative hitpoints are healed so easily.. but thats utterly seperate to the Healing Surge mechanic. As some of the suggestions on the board have said, the best way to look at the overall health of your character is to include all the healing surges in his total HP. That's his actual health pool. Once that is depleted, you are in serious danger of dying.

Lastly, there is nothing MMPORG like that is inherent in 4e. I know this. I've been playing mmporg's since UO launched, and been through UO,EQ,AO,SWG, Vanguard and WoW.

4e does not feel like an mmo. In any way shape or form. All the similiarities that you can point to can be demonstrated in virtually all of the DnD versions.

 

[drjones]

If it was realistic 90% of adventurers would die of septic shock within a week of adventuring from having all those dirty kobold daggers stabbed in em.

The only problem I see here is a lack of imagination. Say one of my pcs jump off a low ledge to escape a rolling boulder and fail a throw to land well. They get some damage and break an ankle (because I am a jerk dm of course). After the fight the pc uses some surges to heal to full hp and the cleric uses healing on him to get the ankle in good shape. He still is at reduced movement from the leg trauma. Happened last playtest.

How flipping hard was that? I could have just said 'uh.. well .. you used a surge so I guess everything is magically healed for no apparent reason' but I guess the rules don't have me by the cajones.

 

[drjones]

Lastly, there is nothing MMPORG like that is inherent in 4e. I know this. I've been playing mmporg's since UO launched, and been through UO,EQ,AO,SWG, Vanguard and WoW.

Vanguard man.. my heart goes out to you and your family.

But back on topic,
healing surges: A wizard did it.

 

[Rakor]

. . .

healing surges: A wizard did it.

If that were true there wouldn't be a problem. It's because a wizard (or in this case cleric) didn't do it that there is such a fuss.

 

[Stogoe]

If that were true there wouldn't be a problem. It's because a wizard (or in this case cleric) didn't do it that there is such a fuss.

There are a few people making a fuss. They have been given a dozen alternate explanations each for how it might work, and they have refused to recognize any of them. Sometimes I think pessimism is the official sport of ENWorld.

 

[Oldtimer]

I think that is the gamble that WoTC has taken - that the game will appeal more to younger generations of gamer who are more interested in a fast MMORPG like game. They might not have a problem with such blatant (and unintuitive) mechanical things as "healing surges". If they lose us old timers, it is sad, but we are a dying breed. The young gamers are the future. We shall see if their gamble pays off.

I think you're wrong in assuming that only the younger generation can appreciate 4e. I'm in my fifties and have been playing D&D since 1974, but I still look forward to playing this new edition. Its rules about healing make so much sense to me - in a D&D world.

 

[Khur]

Hey, I like simulation. I like having a in-world explanation for things that happen in the game. I encourage my players to create such explanations, and I push myself to do the same. It's when simulation trumps fun that I start to have a problem with it.

I'd rather the in-game descriptions allowed for rapid recovery, to be honest. I don't want one guy's "realistic" injuries grinding the game down. I also don't want it so realistic that after the raid on the Caves of Chaos, everyone has to retire due to health issues.

That said, I agree wholeheartedly that dissonance occurs when a particular rules element doesn't match the overarching principle. I had that problem with more than one 3e mechanic, or mechanics in other games. I rarely let the dissonance ruin my fun, though. That's my point. I do regret that the dissonance makes it more difficult for some to enjoy the game.

I think this sort of dissonance is hard to purge from any really complex system. In this case, the complex system is the game rules and the large number of people that have input into them.

 

[Kishin]

"Wow, that goblin harpooner impaled you and dragged you half across the battlefield, kicking and screaming with the weapon going through your gut and out your spine! How do you feel?"

"Like a heroic badass."

 

[hong]

"Like I'm all out of bubblegum."

 

[Khur]

Like I'm made out of bubblegum?