D&D (2024) How to buff healing, make it reliable and discourage whack-a-mole?

[Stalker0]

I think you need a scaling number rather than a fixed one, which is why they use Death Saves. Fixed numbers when monster damage scales mean you just get insta-killed a ton after a certain point. Especially as hits on an incapacitated target auto-crit. I know it's off-the-cuff, just pointing out why they don't use fixed values.

I don’t think I explained it well. In general damage works the exact same as it does now when your unconscious, aka not at all.

You take a hit, you get a death failure. Take a crit, two failures. It’s just now for the purpose of healing, you need to heal an extra 10 or 20 health before they regain consciousness.

 

[Yaarel]

I mean, "brave and wise" feels excessively generous to me.

Heh, I think the characterization for the designers is deserved. I feel the beefier healing is a big change, but the right one, a sustainable one.

It's definitely a move in the right direction. I don't think it really goes quite far enough to make pre-emptive/combat healing really make sense, though. The difference between getting back up with say, 9hp, as opposed to 7hp is not going to be a huge one. I'd have preferred to see a design where Cure Wounds and Healing Word also granted limited-duration THP equal to the amount they healed for (including the stat bonus). I think the difference between 7hp + 7thp is quite a lot more than that between 7hp and 9hp.

It might be that healing could be even heftier. But I am still getting to used to math, and tend to be cautious.

I do feel more strongly about proportional healing. The amount of hit points to heal 50% of a Fighter differs from 50% of a Wizard.

In other words, like 4e, all healing does well to convert into hit dice of healing. So, the Fighter uses d10 (or 6) hp for healings, and the Wizard uses d6 (or 4) hp for healings. For example, the Cure Wounds heals 2 hit dice per spell slot level (as opposed to 2d8 hp), and can be reliable where d10 chooses 6 instead.


Converting excess-healing to temporary hit points is fine. Slots and resources are being spent, so the math endures. Meanwhile, these temp hp from healing spells tend to be less efficient that spells whose purpose is to grant temp hp.

 

[Neonchameleon]

To get pre-emptive healing I suggested that the change to Cure Wounds was good - but Healing Word should remain as is. It's always going to be more cost-effective to heal as a bonus action and from 0 with 5e rules - so Healing Words needs to do so little healing that it really just has the "bring allies back" role.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I do feel more strongly about proportional healing. The amount of hit points to heal 50% of a Fighter differs from 50% of a Wizard.

One other way you could kind of work this is to give class-based bonuses to heal received. Like maybe Wizards get no bonus, 1d8 classes get +1 HP/die, 1d10 classes get +2 HP/die, and and 1d12 classes get +3 HP/die - you'd then have to look through heals to see if that worked out but it seems like sort of way you could achieve it without out percentage maths.

 

[Yaarel]

To get pre-emptive healing I suggested that the change to Cure Wounds was good - but Healing Word should remain as is. It's always going to be more cost-effective to heal as a bonus action and from 0 with 5e rules - so Healing Words needs to do so little healing that it really just has the "bring allies back" role.

If converting all healing into hit dice:

Make Cure Wounds heal 2 hit dice per slot level, and Healing Word heal 1 hit dice per spell slot.

One other way you could kind of work this is to give class-based bonuses to heal received. Like maybe Wizards get no bonus, 1d8 classes get +1 HP/die, 1d10 classes get +2 HP/die, and and 1d12 classes get +3 HP/die - you'd then have to look through heals to see if that worked out but it seems like sort of way you could achieve it without out percentage maths.

Maybe. But using hit dice seems simpler.

The amount of effort to heal a Fighter by 10%, 50%, or 100% − seems like it should be the same as to heal a Wizard by 10%, 50%, or 100%.

Referring to hit dice as the mechanic for healing achieves this proportionality.

Hit dice make more sense narratively, are better for the game engine balance, and are a simple mechanic that everyone is familiar with.

 

[tetrasodium]

If converting all healing into hit dice:

Make Cure Wounds heal 2 hit dice per slot level, and Healing Word heal 1 hit dice per spell slot.




Maybe. But using hit dice seems simpler.

The amount of effort to heal a Fighter by 10%, 50%, or 100% seems like it should be the same as to heal a Wizard by 10%, 50%, or 100%.

Referring to hit dice as the mechanic achieves this proportionality.

Hit dice make more sense narratively, are better for the game engine balance, and are a simple mechanic that everyone is familiar with.

Multiclassing wrecks both making cure wounds heal a hit die value instead of d8s as well as the idea of giving a bonus to healing based on class of the target being healed.

 

[Yaarel]

Multiclassing wrecks both making cure wounds heal a hit die value instead of d8s as well as the idea of giving a bonus to healing based on class of the target being healed.

True about multiclass characters. Even so, use whichever class has the largest hit dice.

If a Wizard player wants to dip into a level of Fighter or Barbarian for the purpose of becoming more resilient, I dont really care. I would be surprised if such dips became a thing.

 

[tetrasodium]

True about multiclass characters. Even so, use whichever class has the largest hit dice.

If a Wizard player wants to dip into a level of Fighter or Barbarian for the purpose of becoming more resilient, I dont really care. I would be surprised if such dips became a thing.

I was thinking more about a gish & the usual MC dip builds where the bigger hitdie would make for a meaningful bonuson top of already notable ones

 

[Yaarel]

I was thinking more about a gish & the usual MC dip builds where the bigger hitdie would make for a meaningful bonuson top of already notable ones

I realize.

Narratively, when this Wizard says he is a competent Fighter and tough (therefore benefits from the higher hit die when healing), it makes enough sense to me.

Efficient Healing is a passive benefit. A player never wants to be in a situation to use this benefit. Balancewise, it is less significant than active benefits. If gishy multiclass characters gain slightly better healing rates after investing an entire level, I dont see a problem.

 

[Horwath]

I mean, "brave and wise" feels excessively generous to me.

They lost the right to that description the moment they back-pedaled on most good changes for 2024 because of "muh compatibitah", which will be thrown away anyway, one year in new revision when more than one book arrives.