Healing Surges innate Blessed band aids

[VannATLC]

I'm inclined to agree that the harpooning wording could have been done better.

/shrug. I find it horrendous that mass-marketted paperbacks still have editorial mistakes, too.

 

[jackston2]

The harpooner just catches clothing and equipment with his spear.

 

[zoroaster100]

So far I really like the healing surge mechanic. One thing that had always really bugged me about previous editions of D&D is that you needed a divine spellcaster to have a decent party. Many players don't like playing religion based characters. Now if you happen to have a group of players and non want a cleric, it looks like it will be doable between a warlord and everyone's healing surges.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

The harpoon also doesn't have to be a pronged one, it can be a hooked harpoon.

A hooked harpoon would simply latch onto clothing or gear, or if it did snag flesh, it would be disabilitating from the pain even for someone extremely strong. But it wouldn't be that much more damaging then a cut.

 

[HeinorNY]

"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?"

"I'll be perfectly OK in five minutes."
.

He will be perfectly OK in 5 minutes ruleswise.
As DM would you really tell the player that his wound just disappears after 5 minutes of resting? That makes no sense. Of course the wound is still there. In those five minutes the character caught some breath, tended to his wound, put some straps around it, burnt it with a hot coal to stop the bleeding, etc.
In the next combat the wound is still there, it will be bleeding a little, the character will feel the pain, but the wound is not mechanically relevant to the game anymore, it's now just "roleplaying".
You could think "hey, but if the wound is still there, what if the character is hit again exactly on the same spot or with same gravity?" or "Shouldn't the wound somehow affect the charcater general health?" Well, somehow it still does. The character did spend some Healing Surges to heal that terrible wound. If he receives another one he maybe won't have enough HS now and it could be his last wound...

D&D characters can take more punishment than others, otherwise they wouldn't survive enough to become heroes and there would be no game right? If there was a game where common people like us could actually go into dungeons to kill monster and get out of there alive, richer and fighting even better, this game would seriously hurt my "simulationist" feelings.

 

[Cadfan]

I believe the OP is a bit confused.

"Healing surges" are just a game mechanic that designates approximately how much hit point damage (and other healing, probably) a character can obtain in approximately one day. They don't just randomly heal you. Something has to trigger them. An example of something that triggers a healing surge is a heal check from someone trained in first aid. Another is a magical spell of healing.

Healing surges do two things for the game. First, they make healing (primarily) dependent on the recipient instead of the healer. I am very much in favor of this, as it never made sense to me that a spell like "cure light wounds" would have so much more of an effect (in terms of hit point percentages) on a low level character than a high level one. Second, they provide a maximum amount that healing can repair. Magical healing is no longer an infinite wellspring of recovery. This means that your characters will most likely seek to stop adventuring when they are "tired" and "wounded" rather than just out of magic, like in 3e. This is aesthetically more pleasing to me.

The OP seems to be thinking of "second winds," which is one of the things that can trigger a healing surge. Its not entirely clear how often you get these, but it seems to be about once per fight. You may be able to use them between fights, although its not clear how this interacts with the rules for the Heal skill. I highly doubt that the OP is correct in his belief that no other RPG permits characters to recover a bit by taking a momentary breather, but in any case, the OP is certainly incorrect in claiming that characters can now infinitely heal themselves with second winds. Obviously they cannot- that is the whole purpose of having finite healing surges in the first place.

 

[Lizard]

The OP seems to be thinking of "second winds," which is one of the things that can trigger a healing surge. Its not entirely clear how often you get these, but it seems to be about once per fight. You may be able to use them between fights, although its not clear how this interacts with the rules for the Heal skill. I highly doubt that the OP is correct in his belief that no other RPG permits characters to recover a bit by taking a momentary breather, but in any case, the OP is certainly incorrect in claiming that characters can now infinitely heal themselves with second winds. Obviously they cannot- that is the whole purpose of having finite healing surges in the first place.

You can 'burn' as many surges as you want out of combat, with no 'triggers' -- but yes, they are finite, and yes, it's an interesting mechanic. It basically takes the "We stop adventuring when the cleric is out of spells" meme and greatly generalizes it so that you don't actually need a cleric. I am assuming all magical item healing consumes healing surges or enhances their effectiveness, that there is no healing without a surge.

 

[Khur]

Ah . . . the wicked secret begins to be revealed that players might actually have some narrative control in an interactive, cooperative game.

Nah, that couldn't be it. Who would be mad enough to do that?

 

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Yet another complaint thread with little substance behind it.

Simply put, healing surges are the real hit points of the game.

And gstor gets on the ignore list.

No one cares who is on your ignore list.

Ken

 

[Piratecat]

Yet another complaint thread with little substance behind it.

Simply put, healing surges are the real hit points of the game.

And gstor gets on the ignore list.

It's fine if you don't agree with him. But don't be a jerk about it. When you do, you makes things less pleasant and improve nothing.