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General Tabletop Discussion
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House ruling toward simplicity
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<blockquote data-quote="The Crimson Binome" data-source="post: 7624609" data-attributes="member: 6775031"><p>Not quite. Fifth Edition (with all healing at default) lets you play a particular style of game, where you handle a particular amount of quantifiable opposition within a defined period of time. If you have more healing (twice as many healing surges, for example), then you can handle more than that. If you have less healing (no healing surges, for example), then you can handle less. Regardless of the setting, if you have more opposition than you have healing, you're going to be in trouble. If you have more healing than you need, then things are going to be slow and certain.</p><p></p><p>There's nothing sacred about the default healing rules. In fact, many people consider them to be quite problematic, because it requires such a great amount of opposition within a small period of time before the game feels tense and exciting. Ideally, the DM should tailor the availability of free healing to suit the amount of opposition the party is likely to face (such that the game is fun and exciting); and if they're going so far as to do that, then zero healing surges is more streamlined than the default healing surges.</p><p>We're not talking about thousands of tables, though. We're talking about the few tables, where the DM is proactive enough to introduce significant house rules, and who think this is a good way of streamlining things. I'm confident that such a DM who meets these specific criteria is capable of handling the ramifications of that change.</p><p>Healing basically does two things: 1) It lets you get back up to full after a fight, and 2) It helps to counteract bad luck that takes someone out of a fight regardless of your best precautions. Traditional healing (from a cleric) addresses both issues. Healing surges only address the first thing. (Cheap wands of Cure Light Wounds, from Pathfinder, also address the first thing; and thankfully are not an issue in 5E.) The occasional healing potion can address the second thing. </p><p></p><p>Getting everyone back up to full, after every fight, is not necessarily a good thing from a game design standpoint. It works against the attrition model. It necessitates a bunch of filler combat in order to wear the PCs down before attrition can even begin to kick in. That's the benefit of removing healing surges (in addition to streamlining).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Crimson Binome, post: 7624609, member: 6775031"] Not quite. Fifth Edition (with all healing at default) lets you play a particular style of game, where you handle a particular amount of quantifiable opposition within a defined period of time. If you have more healing (twice as many healing surges, for example), then you can handle more than that. If you have less healing (no healing surges, for example), then you can handle less. Regardless of the setting, if you have more opposition than you have healing, you're going to be in trouble. If you have more healing than you need, then things are going to be slow and certain. There's nothing sacred about the default healing rules. In fact, many people consider them to be quite problematic, because it requires such a great amount of opposition within a small period of time before the game feels tense and exciting. Ideally, the DM should tailor the availability of free healing to suit the amount of opposition the party is likely to face (such that the game is fun and exciting); and if they're going so far as to do that, then zero healing surges is more streamlined than the default healing surges. We're not talking about thousands of tables, though. We're talking about the few tables, where the DM is proactive enough to introduce significant house rules, and who think this is a good way of streamlining things. I'm confident that such a DM who meets these specific criteria is capable of handling the ramifications of that change. Healing basically does two things: 1) It lets you get back up to full after a fight, and 2) It helps to counteract bad luck that takes someone out of a fight regardless of your best precautions. Traditional healing (from a cleric) addresses both issues. Healing surges only address the first thing. (Cheap wands of Cure Light Wounds, from Pathfinder, also address the first thing; and thankfully are not an issue in 5E.) The occasional healing potion can address the second thing. Getting everyone back up to full, after every fight, is not necessarily a good thing from a game design standpoint. It works against the attrition model. It necessitates a bunch of filler combat in order to wear the PCs down before attrition can even begin to kick in. That's the benefit of removing healing surges (in addition to streamlining). [/QUOTE]
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