[Houserule] Longer healing times

[Kzach]

For each uninterrupted 8 hour rest period within which the character does nothing more strenuous than talking within every 24 hours, the character regains 1HD up to their maximum. This HD can be used to regain hit points if the player wishes but only with one use of a healer's kit or if a DC 10 healing check is made successfully.

 

[john112364]

I like this one:

After an 8 hour long rest you regain hit points equal to your current total.


To me this reflects the abstract nature of hit points. The less hit points you have the more hurt you are therefore the longer it takes you to heal.
So if you're down to half your hit points you're fatigued but a good rest will have you back on your feet. But if you're down to your last hit point you are really hurting. It's going to take you a while to feel like stomping critters again.

 

[Sir Brennen]

For each uninterrupted 8 hour rest period within which the character does nothing more strenuous than talking within every 24 hours, the character regains 1HD up to their maximum. This HD can be used to regain hit points if the player wishes but only with one use of a healer's kit or if a DC 10 healing check is made successfully.

I've always hated in past editions when it took longer for a high level hero to heal than a 1st level schmuck. That's what this rule here would do.

My first thoughts on house ruling long rests would be you get all your hit dice back, but no hit points. Hit points can be regained by rolling hit dice the same as after a short rest.

 

[Draloric]

I think the suggestion Mike Mearls made for playing a more OSR-style game, while not perfect, has at least some merit: Remove HD from play. After a long rest, a character regains hit points equal to his level + Con modifier.

 

[Viking Bastard]

I think the suggestion Mike Mearls made for playing a more OSR-style game, while not perfect, has at least some merit: Remove HD from play. After a long rest, a character regains hit points equal to his level + Con modifier.

Yeah, or [highlight]Con modifier + (Level * X)[/highlight] where X is the dial for HP gain.

 

[BobTheNob]

I will say this up front : Im firmly in the "I like easy healing camp". That stated, IF I was to model for extended healing periods, my concern is to get rid of the "high level=longer healing period" effect.

Whatever approach one would take, my preference would be for something that incorporates Con, Level AND hit dice type. Personally, I would not be adverse to recovering all Hit Dice on extended rest as it achieves all these things by just getting rid of the "all HP at extended rest" bit, which creates a sense of attrition and consequence (though certainly not to the same degree as others would expect, but thats where preference comes into the game).

 

[Kzach]

I think the suggestion Mike Mearls made for playing a more OSR-style game, while not perfect, has at least some merit: Remove HD from play. After a long rest, a character regains hit points equal to his level + Con modifier.

So wizards heal faster than fighters...

 

[Draloric]

So wizards heal faster than fighters...

This is, you'll note, why I said it's not perfect. Wizards, I suspect, won't necessarily have a high Con modifier; likewise, many fighters will. This, then, goes some of the way in mitigating the difference in HD values (and the disparity in hit point totals per level because of them). That said, a fighter with no Con modifier would heal more slowly than a wizard with one, and, combined with the fact that a wizard will have fewer hit points in total than the fighter, most likely means the wizard will be fully healed first.

I suppose the simplest way to handle healing so that hit points are gained at an equal rate among all classes is simply to say that each class regains 10% (or some other percent value, rounded down) of their hit points back after each long rest.

 

[CleverNickName]

I think we will end up houseruling it as follows. First, I would reword the second paragraph of the "Long Rest" entry (pg. 13) to read:

"At the end of the rest, you regain all of the Hit Dice you expended before the rest. Long rests do not restore lost hit points."

Then, if max healing is still an issue, I will create a new type of rest, called "Bed Rest," like this:

Bed Rest
"Bed rest" follows the same rules and requirements for Long Rest, except your character spends an entire 24-hour period confined to bed. At the end of the 24-hour period, you regain half of your lost hit points and all the Hit Dice you expended before the rest. If you or another character is tending your wounds with a healing kit, you recover all lost hit points and Hit Dice after a 24-hour bed rest."

 

[Draloric]

Then, if max healing is still an issue, I will create a new type of rest, called "Bed Rest," like this:

Bed Rest
"Bed rest" follows the same rules and requirements for Long Rest, except your character spends an entire 24-hour period confined to bed. At the end of the 24-hour period, you regain half of your lost hit points and all the Hit Dice you expended before the rest. If you or another character is tending your wounds with a healing kit, you recover all lost hit points and Hit Dice after a 24-hour bed rest."

Rounded up, I suppose. That said, does this mean that a character who only lost 2 hit points in a battle gains just 1 hit point back for having spent 24 hours in bed resting up?