D&D 5E Healing Word "HD" House Rule

[Steampunkette]

I would argue that keeping characters up is more than a full time job in 5e, unless we assume that only one hit lands each round.

If we instead assume that a character might be hit 2+ times in a round, it becomes evident that a single healer cannot possibly output the amount of healing necessary to keep an ally standing when presuming less than ideal circumstances. The counter to that is that sometimes an ally might not be hit at all, but due to RNG we cannot presume to know in any given round whether it will be the former or the latter.

Your proposed solution does admittedly address this to a degree. However, I think you might need to examine how HD are gained if you implement it. The rapid scaling of HD (1 to 20) is not ideally suited to such a change IMO. I think that, without changing HD scaling, your proposal is likely to push low level parties towards the 5MWD (with the alternative being TPK resulting from Exhaustion penalties).

The 5 minute work day for lowbies is always going to be a thing because low level characters have incredibly limited resources. They run out of spell slots, hit dice, rages, and other abilities pretty quickly and have to take long rests to replenish and restock. Short of throwing in a Hackmaster style 20hp "Kicker" that's gonna continue to be a problem.

As far as "Exhaustion" I'm guessing you mean the persistent death saves. And yeah. That's a potential TPK issue for lowbies. Potential TPK issue for highbies, too. Anything that makes dying more likely is going to result in that issue.

The issue is: I see that as a net positive because it's meant to reinforce a different behavior from the Whack-a-Mole gameplay style. Can't have a stick or carrot situation without also having a stick on hand.

 

[MoonSong]

In what way does it make them less relevant? They still heal you, which is still important. There’s just a limit to how much healing you can benefit from, which makes it much easier for the DM to balance adventuring days, since they can actually reliably predict how much HP the party has per day and can therefore properly budget it.

It is an important difference. Right now, healers have lost their role as campaign extenders, at least they are still force multipliers and day extenders. But with the change, healers start shortening days. Healing someone no longer gives them more resources, but takes them away. Coming from my 4e experience I still remember when I was healed to death, and how frustrating is to find out you cannot heal someone, because they have no surges left.

Eroded compared to when?

Compared to older editions up to the point in 3.5 where "everybody" decided wands of clw where the way to go. If you don't see the it, just notice that this excerpt that you just wrote:

The healer's problem is not healing fast enough in combat for it to be a good idea.

Healing in 5e is hard, the model of attrition is based on having tons and tons of hp and no attrition between different days. Then we have healing word. It is a complex interaction that has been explicitly made to make healers optional, but a lot of what made playing a healer fun was taken away in the process.

 

[Nefermandias]

Healing someone no longer gives them more resources, but takes them away. Coming from my 4e experience I still remember when I was healed to death, and how frustrating is to find out you cannot heal someone, because they have no surges left.

That doesn't make any sense. You only got "healed" to death because you had already taken that damage to begin with. If you were not "healed to death" you would have been "killed to death" anyway.

 

[Lyxen]

That doesn't make any sense. You only got "healed" to death because you had already taken that damage to begin with. If you were not "healed to death" you would have been "killed to death" anyway.

This immediately brought this to mind.

 

[Fanaelialae]

The 5 minute work day for lowbies is always going to be a thing because low level characters have incredibly limited resources. They run out of spell slots, hit dice, rages, and other abilities pretty quickly and have to take long rests to replenish and restock. Short of throwing in a Hackmaster style 20hp "Kicker" that's gonna continue to be a problem.

As far as "Exhaustion" I'm guessing you mean the persistent death saves. And yeah. That's a potential TPK issue for lowbies. Potential TPK issue for highbies, too. Anything that makes dying more likely is going to result in that issue.

The issue is: I see that as a net positive because it's meant to reinforce a different behavior from the Whack-a-Mole gameplay style. Can't have a stick or carrot situation without also having a stick on hand.

Fair enough.

I recently started playing in a new campaign, starting from level 1, and I've been surprised at the number of fights our party has been able to get through even at levels 2 and 3 (level 1 was primarily exploration). The paladin goes down quite regularly, but he buys the rest of us the time to win.

Were we playing with your house rule, I expect we wouldn't try to push through like we've been doing, since we wouldn't want to risk the paladin's death as a result of the death saves he frequently accumulates protecting us.

Perhaps your experiences have been different from mine, but I haven't seen the 5MWD as a particular issue for lowbies in 5e.

 

[Steampunkette]

Fair enough.

I recently started playing in a new campaign, starting from level 1, and I've been surprised at the number of fights our party has been able to get through even at levels 2 and 3 (level 1 was primarily exploration). The paladin goes down quite regularly, but he buys the rest of us the time to win.

Were we playing with your house rule, I expect we wouldn't try to push through like we've been doing, since we wouldn't want to risk the paladin's death as a result of the death saves he frequently accumulates protecting us.

Perhaps your experiences have been different from mine, but I haven't seen the 5MWD as a particular issue for lowbies in 5e.

Really depends on the party.

I've had players with Wizards at level 1 burn their spell slots on the first encounter and beg the party for a long rest, and I've had teams of rogues, fighters, and monks take out 3-4 encounters before looking to get a long rest (with short rests in there).

But I've also had groups where it's a split by the session. Sometimes they dump all their resources off the bat, sometimes they maintain things better, sometimes they explicitly avoid using any resources by going almost strictly skill-checks and combat-avoidance just in case they need them, only to find themselves taking a "Wasted" long rest at the end of a day of avoiding fights.

 

[HammerMan]

I would love the idea, if it was baked in...

I think a "Spend a HD+, or Heal as if you spent a HD" set of optional mechanics is a great nob to turn... however it effects other things.

I already have seen a wizard, cleric and rouge argue the fighter and warlock are "dragging OUT" the game by insisting on a short rest or two... if you have the rouge (NORMALLY THE SWING VOTE) having already run out of HD to spend, you disincentives the short rest even more...


ADD on idea... call it the "hard mode 4e package"

All character start at 1st level regardless of class with HP equal to con score, and a number of HD equal to 1+ con modifier (not rolled for extra hp just as healing) each level you would still gain 1 HD and roll (or average) a new HD anyway.

Healing word is creature can spend a HD and choose between using there con mod or caster's caster stat to modifier the roll. (level up able to add 1d4 per level after 1st level spell slot)
Cure wounds is creature heals as if it spent a HD and choose between using there con mod or caster's caster stat to modifier the roll. At level ups it is as if they spent a number of HD equal to 1+ 1/2 level of spell
Create a new 3rd level spell (Regen wounds maybe) that as an action lets you spend a HD to heal and 3d6+caster stat mod. Increasing the spell level increases those bonus dice SIZE (4th level is 3d8, 5th level is 3d10, 6th level is 3d12) can't be used above 6th level. then grants you the regeneration special trait equal to the caster stat mod for 1 minute (no concentration).

Short rests down to 15 minutes (but need access to safe area and water/wine/drink)

long rests get back ALL HD.

now you still have the ability to argue for a short rest (less time "wasted") Everyone has a few more HD, and a few more HP, and you have spells that bonus action let you spend HD, or standard action heal AS IF you spend a HD, and one that allows for a little more combat use in strange circumstances.

 

[MoonSong]

That doesn't make any sense. You only got "healed" to death because you had already taken that damage to begin with. If you were not "healed to death" you would have been "killed to death" anyway.

If we had been playing any other edition, I would have been fine. There were three leaders with available healing when I went down, I just couldn't be healed anymore. In any other edition, having three healers to patch you up is good! In 4e, it is a bad, bad idea. I would have survived if two of these healers had been strikers instead.

 

[Nefermandias]

If we had been playing any other edition, I would have been fine. There were three leaders with available healing when I went down, I just couldn't be healed anymore. In any other edition, having three healers to patch you up is good! In 4e, it is a bad, bad idea. I would have survived if two of these healers had been strikers instead.

Three leaders...

 

[billd91]

If we had been playing any other edition, I would have been fine. There were three leaders with available healing when I went down, I just couldn't be healed anymore. In any other edition, having three healers to patch you up is good! In 4e, it is a bad, bad idea. I would have survived if two of these healers had been strikers instead.

I think in this case there's an element of not making the transition between modes of thinking from healing being an outside resource vs catalyzing an internal resource. But I certainly sympathize. I still pretty much detest the 4e healing surge model as the primary mode of healing.