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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lizard" data-source="post: 4874308" data-attributes="member: 1054">It's only a problem when it works for "PCs" and "NPCs who happen to be traveling with the PCs" but not for "anyone else" (including those same NPCs if they're injured "offstage"). THEN you run into consistency issues.There was big argument along these lines before 4e came out, dealing with the idea of a high level (10+) NPC fighter or cleric being killed in a bar brawl or by falling from a horse. By the rules, that simply can't happen. The PCs, who, in character, "know how the world works", would be right to suspect Something Was Up, because you simply can't kill someone of that level with trivial damage. He was poisoned with a Con poison so his hit points were very low when he fell from the horse. A high level rogue, disguised as drunked traverngoer, did a 10d6 backstab and rolled really well. Etc. Some people argued that the rules don't apply when the PCs aren't around -- if an NPC is stabbed in a bar fight and no PC is nearby, he has no hit points. Some people (me) argue that such an attitude creates a lot of confusion, as players can't apply their knowledge of the universe and draw conclusions from it. If "the rules" may or may not apply at any given moment, the players never know whether to use their rule knowledge to see if "something is up". As I said, problems occur when PCs start to interfere with the background chatter. It's fine to say, "As you walk through the warcamp, your are assailed by the sobs of the wounded." Then the PCs say, "Poor fellows! Mass Cure Light Wounds!" (or whatever power/ability/etc they might have). Is everyone suddenly healed? If so, why hasn't the local Priest of Pelor/Knight Commander (Warlord)/Etc done anything about this? Esp. if you've established he has class levels...I've had PCs, in character, yell at NPCs for allowing wounded to suffer. I've basically stopped including hospitals (3e game) as background fluff because they make no sense if there are even a handful of low-level clerics hanging around, and most towns have them. (In small towns, a first level cleric with a decent wisdom gets 3 cure lights a day; that's a lot of healing for a town of 100 or so.)I'm not sure how I want to handle NPC healing; I am tempted to rule that "serious injuries" cannot be healed by spending surges, and it's an artifact of the game that PCs (and NPCs fighting with them) never have "serious injuries". It's the simplest solution. If anyone wants to magically heal "serious injuries", that's a ritual.</blockquote>

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