Hit & Run, or "Should You Buy Horses"?

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've got a weird question.

Most monsters get 1 healing surge/tier (so a heroic monster, like a horse, gets 1 surge, while an epic dragon would get 3). Furthermore, monsters don't get Second Wind as an ability, but can still be healed if someone uses a Healing Word or something along those lines on them.

Suppose your horse is injured in combat.

1) Can you use Heal on the horse? I believe Heal works by triggering a Second Wind, which the horse doesn't have. (This makes things hard on veterinarians; they need some special trait.)

2) Does the horse recover hit points during short or extended rests? If so, can it spend its single healing surge, or does it recover everything? (I figure a horse might take 4 days to fully heal, if brought to 1 hit point, without any assistance.)

Depending on responses, horses (or equivalent mounts, I'm running a setting without them) would be far more vulnerable to hit & run attacks than PCs. (It also illustrates why you should travel with companions rather than NPCs as, say, caravan guards; the latter aren't able to fight more than once or twice a day.)

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

1) Can you use Heal on the horse? I believe Heal works by triggering a Second Wind, which the horse doesn't have. (This makes things hard on veterinarians; they need some special trait.)

Heal doesn't require SW at all, so epic level veterinarians are good to go!

2) Does the horse recover hit points during short or extended rests? If so, can it spend its single healing surge, or does it recover everything? (I figure a horse might take 4 days to fully heal, if brought to 1 hit point, without any assistance.)

I've never seen a special rule about NPCs and monster healing, so by RAW the horse can spend its surge/s during a short rest. After an extended rest, it recovers all HPs and surges.

Depending on responses, horses (or equivalent mounts, I'm running a setting without them) would be far more vulnerable to hit & run attacks than PCs. (It also illustrates why you should travel with companions rather than NPCs as, say, caravan guards; the latter aren't able to fight more than once or twice a day.)

Yes, equine friends would be very vulnerable to hit and run tactics unless the horse in question is a ranger's companion or some such. If mounts play a big part in your game, I'd suggest using companion-like rules to lend them some staying power.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Heal doesn't require SW at all, so epic level veterinarians are good to go!

No, but the only function of Heal that CAN grant hit points is "trigger Second Wind" which NPCs and monsters don't have. You could house rule this a bit to allow allied NPCs to spend a surge when this check is made, but by RAW you can't heal an NPC in combat with a skill.

I've never seen a special rule about NPCs and monster healing, so by RAW the horse can spend its surge/s during a short rest. After an extended rest, it recovers all HPs and surges.

Agreed. There's no difference except NPCs have very few surges to spend. Monsters that escape for instance can spend their surge by resting, etc.

Yes, equine friends would be very vulnerable to hit and run tactics unless the horse in question is a ranger's companion or some such. If mounts play a big part in your game, I'd suggest using companion-like rules to lend them some staying power.

Yeah, though honestly it is hard to imagine it being a big deal. Every attack the enemy makes on your mount is one they didn't make on you. Unless losing your mount is so critical it is tantamount to defeat you're probably better off having the enemy fooling with your mount's hit points instead of your own. Even if the mount goes down, well, the enemy still has to deal with YOU. They might well be better off just sniping at the PC to start with. PCs certainly are more resilient, but they face the same issue in the long run, each bit of damage is going to require an HS to fix.

 

[Ryujin]

Can't say that I've ever gotten more than one use out of any horse that I've bought, in four editions of the game. That's why the Phantom Steed ritual is so good

Creatures have healing surges, but no way to trigger them. We typically play it that you can use a healing power in them, or use a Heal skill check, to trigger the use of a surge.

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

No, but the only function of Heal that CAN grant hit points is "trigger Second Wind" which NPCs and monsters don't have. You could house rule this a bit to allow allied NPCs to spend a surge when this check is made, but by RAW you can't heal an NPC in combat with a skill.

Oops, that was a total brain fart on my part. Seeing Heal with the capital H made me think of the epic cleric prayer.

Yeah, though honestly it is hard to imagine it being a big deal. Every attack the enemy makes on your mount is one they didn't make on you. Unless losing your mount is so critical it is tantamount to defeat you're probably better off having the enemy fooling with your mount's hit points instead of your own. Even if the mount goes down, well, the enemy still has to deal with YOU. They might well be better off just sniping at the PC to start with. PCs certainly are more resilient, but they face the same issue in the long run, each bit of damage is going to require an HS to fix.

Agreed; in a typical campaign, killing PCs' mounts in largely pointless. But if Psi were to run a campaign where mounts somehow have strategic importance, killing mounts might slow someone down over long distances. (This is assuming time-sensitivity of the non-"at the speed of plot" variety.)

Anyway, just food for thought.