D&D 5E House rule for in combat healing and yoyo at 0 HP

[Reynard]

I wish you were right, but I don't think you are. I think saving your healing spells until someone goes down is absolutely the correct strategy under the 5e rules as written. When a player gets reduced to -20 hit points and you Healing Word them for 4, you end up healing then for 24. How is that not the correct plan?


That's a pretty good idea! Extremely simple but effective.

There is no -20 hp in 5E.

It's bad action economy because healing a downed PC eats the actions of both characters, while healing a standing PC eats the action of one character (the healer). Action economy is far and away the most important element of 5E combat and giving up actions because you are willing to get dropped is bonkers.

 

[Vendral]

It's bad action economy because healing a downed PC eats the actions of both characters, while healing a standing PC eats the action of one character (the healer).

I don't understand in what way it eats the actions of both players. As I see it a PC goes down and usually gets healed (at least in our games) before their next turn. On the downed PCs next turn they have been healed, use their free item interaction action to pick up their dropped weapon, stands up for half of their movement and have their action, bonus action and half of their movement remaining.

 

[FrogReaver]

I don't understand in what way it eats the actions of both players. As I see it a PC goes down and usually gets healed (at least in our games) before their next turn. On the downed PCs next turn they have been healed, use their free item interaction action to pick up their dropped weapon, stands up for half of their movement and have their action, bonus action and half of their movement remaining.

Really depends on initiative order and where the PC was downed in the initiative order.

Anytime the PC is downed where his turn comes next before the Clerics turn, then he's lost an action. The more PC's with healing word the less likely this occurs, but the risk is never eliminated.

Then there's the issue of healing him and him being downed again before his next turn. That also causes him to lose an action.

However - even if using actions on healing spells mid combat could prevent your ally from dropping (likely won't as they don't heal enough for that), you've essentially lost your action by healing and this is 100% of the time, whereas there's still a risk the enemies output enough damage to down your ally despite your heal.

All things considered, under basic 5e rules (unless the threat of enemies attacking downed PC's is a real possibility) - then it's going to amount to better action economy to healing word downed allies mid combat than to try and prevent them from being downed.

That said there is are at least 2 notable exceptions, a life cleric can output enough healing on a single turn with their channel divinity such that a low hp PC is brought to half hp - which will often be enough to prevent them being downed next turn. Paladin's lay on hands is similar.

Outside those options though - we are really back to the healing word analysis.

 

[FrogReaver]

One thing I've not seen considered as a solution to whack a mole is to have healing spells provide a 1 turn defensive buff to conscious allies.

Say +2 AC, or disadvantage vs the next attack or something like that.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

My house rule:
If you fall unconscious from reaching 0HP, you do not automatically regain consciousness by being healed to 1HP or more. Instead, roll 1d4 at the start of your turn, if the result is equal to or higher than the number of turns since you lost consciousness, you wake up.
If an unconscious character is healed to at least half of max HP, the character wakes up immediately.

(It's deliberate that I count turns from when the character first fell unconscious and not from when they were healed, I don't want a player to sit out of the combat any longer than neccessary. The goal is to add some uncertainity so that letting characters hit 0 and healing them is no longer the obvious strategy)

 

[Distracted DM]

Exhausting wounds: If reduced to zero hitpoints a character must succeed on a Constitution save or gain a level of exhaustion. DC is half the damage dealt by the attack, minimum DC 10.

 

[FrogReaver]

My house rule:
If you fall unconscious from reaching 0HP, you do not automatically regain consciousness by being healed to 1HP or more. Instead, roll 1d4 at the start of your turn, if the result is equal to or higher than the number of turns since you lost consciousness, you wake up.
If an unconscious character is healed to at least half of max HP, the character wakes up immediately.

(It's deliberate that I count turns from when the character first fell unconscious and not from when they were healed, I don't want a player to sit out of the combat any longer than neccessary. The goal is to add some uncertainity so that letting characters hit 0 and healing them is no longer the obvious strategy)

IMO. With most combats being 3-4 rounds, a PC falling unconscious in round 2 is most likely going to be out of the rest of the combat.

 

[TerraDave]

My directly related house rule: Incapacitated for 1 round after being restored (when I remember).

Somewhat related rules: Be dropped on a crit automatically leads to a failed death save; Potions can be used as a bonus action. I also have restrictions on resting.

 

[Reynard]

If the goal is to stop the yoyo, the solution is to not let characters get back up.

 

[FrogReaver]

If the goal is to stop the yoyo, the solution is to not let characters get back up.

There’s other ways to stop yo-yo.

a. Don’t drop characters at all - make 0 hp function differently.
b. Target downed PCs. (Well that kind of be construed as ‘ not letting characters get back up’)