Healing

[FickleGM]

I really like this. Now, instead of taking a day, blowing through cleric spells and taking another eight hours to rest, we can get back to the adventure a bit faster. Since hitpoints are abstract, this change doesn't hurt my suspension of disbelief much at all. Heck, if I want lasting wounds, I'll tack on a critical hit system (maybe the Critical Hit Deck) or something that will allow for non-hitpoint conditions that must be healed separately. For the groups that don't want that level of detail, we go with the core rules.

Thumbs up from me.

 

[TwoSix]

But given that, how does the game represent grievous injuries?

Death?

 

[Oldtimer]

I see references to healing surges healing 1/4 a character's hit points, but the rogue's surges (from the Ampersand Sneak Attack article) only heal (6 + CON Bonus). Did I miss something?

Yes, you missed that (6 + CON Bonus) is his number of healing surges, not the amount each will heal.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I see references to healing surges healing 1/4 a character's hit points, but the rogue's surges (from the Ampersand Sneak Attack article) only heal (6 + CON Bonus). Did I miss something?

Yes. The rogue gets 6 + Con healing surges per day, which heal 1/4 his HP. The amount of healing was not specified in the Ampersand article, and some people erroneously assumed that the article indicated amount healed rather than number of heals.

 

[HeinorNY]

Also, i doubt healing potions will activate Healing Surges. So if the character is too tired or too hurt, the magical healing potion simply doesn't work? I don't think so.

 

[Cadfan]

Also, i doubt healing potions will activate Healing Surges. So if the character is too tired or too hurt, the magical healing potion simply doesn't work? I don't think so.

Its how clerical healing works. It seems there's now a basic limit on how much hp damage you can heal in 24 hours. Magic will stretch that limit, but we have no reason to think it will remove it entirely.

 

[Minkster]

The paladin's Lay on Hands uses the paladin's healing surge, not the target's.

So you need a Paladin in every party? so they swapped needing a Cleric with needing a paladin so you won't die if you run out of surges hmm Okay.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

(From the Camping thread, which has Darwined out.)

I've got no problem explaining hit points as an abstraction, and I understand what several folks are suggesting. I also understand why they've done what they've done from a gamist perspective.

But given that, how does the game represent grievous injuries?

3e doesn't have a mechanic for grievous injuries. All HP damage can be quickly healed by a cleric, or just slept off in a few days of rest. You mention Con damage, but that was mostly limited to poison and magical effects. There is no way to inflict Con damage by hacking at someone with a sword.

In practice, 3e characters and 4e characters heal in pretty much the same way. The major difference is in where the control over healing is placed. In 3e it was completely parcelled off to clerics. In 4e it's spread out. But the effect is the same: you fight for a while, then heal up completely, then fight, then heal, etc. In 3e, you did this until the cleric ran out of spells (perhaps you might also take potions into account), but in 4e you go until your healing surges run out.

I wish I could add metadata to my posts so that it would be easier to flag items that people are complaining about in 4e, which were not regarded as problematic when they occurred in 3e.

 

[FickleGM]

I've only had experience with one "official" D&D system that attempted to model grievous injuries - AD&D 2nd Ed. Player's Options: Combat and Tactics. Granted, there may have been other "tack-on" systems for different editions, but to my knowledge, no edition of D&D has handled grievous injuries via the core rules.

 

[thalmin]

Yes. The rogue gets 6 + Con healing surges per day, which heal 1/4 his HP. The amount of healing was not specified in the Ampersand article, and some people erroneously assumed that the article indicated amount healed rather than number of heals.

Thanks for the correction.