D&D 5E (2014) House Rules - magic healing

[Ezequielramone]

Basically set all the bones and hold the parts together prior to the healing.
Magical healing speeds up the healing process and magically cures poisons/diseases.

A broken bone will be healed... but crooked if you didn't do it right.
Even in real life, some doctors need to break bones in order to re-set bones that have healed wrong.

This, I like this explanation.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I also take care to explain that magical healing isn't a perfect solution. Just like it doesn't normally regenerate lost limbs, it also isn't doesn't instantly cure everything. You can be at max HP and still have a broken leg, a new scar, or maybe trouble keeping food down from a recent dose of poison.

Currently, I don't enforce any mechanics for that stuff, preferring instead to just add it to descriptions. Such as "you move to hit hit the Orc, ignoring the pain in your leg from the last fight" or "two of you work to set camp, and it seems like a good idea to give the rogue some space after his botches attempt at extracting the wyvern poison earlier in the day." That kind of stuff.

I am seriously considering adding some medicine and possibly survival checks during short and long rests to help illustrate some of the more mundane aspects of the adventuring life. Maybe somehow tying it into the healing done during a short rest.

If serious injuries have no real impact then I wouldn't bother with them. I would say a broken leg would result in moving at a maximum of 15' per round or half speed whichever is less and carrying equipment would reduce this even more. If a serious wound doesn't impact adventuring in any way then it isn't much of an injury.

 

[discosoc]

If serious injuries have no real impact then I wouldn't bother with them. I would say a broken leg would result in moving at a maximum of 15' per round or half speed whichever is less and carrying equipment would reduce this even more. If a serious wound doesn't impact adventuring in any way then it isn't much of an injury.

It's also just a game where the focus is supposed to be on roleplaying. If taking into account injuries using a simple system that doesn't require more character sheet space, or GM tracking, can be used to enhance that roleplaying (even if it's as simple as aiding the GM in providing more vivid and interesting descriptions), then it's fine with me.

Now if your group is all about using the rules to simulate as much about combat as possible, then obviously you'd want to make sure every little thing has a mechanical impact. Scars that give penalties or bonuses to charisma checks, gimped legs that reduce movement, poor vision, bad hearing, the crabs, lice, etc, all have a place in a game where that's important stuff to track.

I just don't think D&D is anywhere close to that, and I offered a suggestion for handling magical healing that can enhance the game and not change it so drastically with all the complexity that comes with injury systems.

 

[ExploderWizard]

It's also just a game where the focus is supposed to be on roleplaying. If taking into account injuries using a simple system that doesn't require more character sheet space, or GM tracking, can be used to enhance that roleplaying (even if it's as simple as aiding the GM in providing more vivid and interesting descriptions), then it's fine with me.

Now if your group is all about using the rules to simulate as much about combat as possible, then obviously you'd want to make sure every little thing has a mechanical impact. Scars that give penalties or bonuses to charisma checks, gimped legs that reduce movement, poor vision, bad hearing, the crabs, lice, etc, all have a place in a game where that's important stuff to track.

I just don't think D&D is anywhere close to that, and I offered a suggestion for handling magical healing that can enhance the game and not change it so drastically with all the complexity that comes with injury systems.

I don't bother with specific injuries or anything with D&D. Hit points work fine enough for me at this level of abstraction. I just don't think cosmetic fake injuries enhance anything.

 

[discosoc]

I don't bother with specific injuries or anything with D&D. Hit points work fine enough for me at this level of abstraction. I just don't think cosmetic fake injuries enhance anything.

They enhance nothing if you don't incorporate them into descriptions, or if you are the kind of player that cares more about the tactical combat than the roleplay.

 

[ExploderWizard]

They enhance nothing if you don't incorporate them into descriptions, or if you are the kind of player that cares more about the tactical combat than the roleplay.

Descriptions are meaningless and don't have much to do with role play. There is more to role play and adventuring than tactical/ combat applications also.

So your character has a broken leg, yet has the following adventuring day:

Hikes a mountain trail keeping up with all companions.

Climbs a steep rock face wall without undue difficulty.

Hikes back down the mountain trail after completing the objective at the summit.

Goes to the Baronial ball that evening and wins the dancing competition.

Lest we not forget the the "role play", the player remembers to say "OW!" during the entire process.

There was no fighting, and nothing would have played any differently had the character been uninjured. If serious injuries ARE used then they should actually impact appropriate activities. If not then all flowery description is just hot air.