I was unconsious 20 minutes ago, but I'm ok now..

[qstor]

Do you mean healing surges in general (as in not quite liking the concept of being able to self heal) or

I really dislike this. It's one of my primary reasons for disliking 4e. I still can't think of a RPG system where you can do this. Not 2e/3e/GURPS or CoC.

Mike

 

[DreamChaser]

I think the following is a possible problem. Let's say there was no magical healing whatsoever in the game. Then you'd have this "weakest link" problem, in that whoever got beat down first would trigger the end of the adventuring day. Player A: (on death's door) "Man, we have to get out!". Players B-E (who are relatively fine) "Grumble, grumble, I guess so."

With 1E-3E clerics & curing items, healing is a party-wide resource. If one person takes some unlucky shots, they get more healing, and the party keeps going. It promotes teamwork & cohesiveness. Everyone's tracking that resource and helping the overall party to stay in fighting shape. Only when all the communal healing is gone does the party as a group retreat.

With 4E "healing surges" you're back in the first situation, where healing is siloed to each individual. One person will take more damage over a few encounters, and that will trigger a party retreat, even if everyone else is fine. There will be a bit of a disconnect because Players B-E will be feeling heroic and brave but they have to turn tail because one person burned up all their healing surges. Most people's healing surges will not get used in any adventuring day.

IMO, this argument is fallacious because for #2 (1st - 3rd ed) the determiner becomes 1 character's spells per day rather than 1 character's hit points AND that character is hamstrung into being the bandage for the whole party, making it a party-impacting loss of daily resource every time a non-healing spell is cast. Thus, we still have the length of a day determined by 1 person and that person ends up not having any real say about what powers they use.

With 4e, the characters are more individually resilient (more HP) and more able to keep themselves going. The "healers" can help keep them going longer but eventually if things turn against them, they turn against them. Plus, they aren't giving anything else up to be healers. A cleric can heal as a minor action and still move and attack (or use another power).

4e = better IMO.

DC

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