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Martial Healing
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<blockquote data-quote="The_Fan" data-source="post: 5186894" data-attributes="member: 11607"><p>I find. Martial healing emphasizes the idea that has been around in D&D for years, that hit points are not necessarily just damage taken, but the yadda yadda, almost every other poster has said it. When virtually all healing was magic, it was easy to get in the mindset that a cure spell was reattatching lost limbs and such. Now, since there's a possibility a character could be brought from the brink of death by a guy shouting "ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER!" you really have to put more creativity into combat descriptions.</p><p></p><p>I have it quasi-codified into a series of loose rules about combat descriptions:</p><p></p><p>1) A hit is not necessarily a hit: If it fails to bloody, doesn't deal bleed damage, etc, it may in narrative terms be a miss, parry, or other close call. Even a massive crit that somehow doesn't bloody might only result in a slow-mo limbo shot and a new haircut. If it does have a rider that requires a hit (like a poison), make it minimal, like a scratch.</p><p></p><p>2) Severity is determined by outcome (schroedinger's wound): it helps if you don't describe just how bad a wound is until its final effect is resolved. Dropping below 0 and making death saves means you took a powerful blow and are probably looking bad, but if you make that save or the warlord helps you up, turns out the fireball just took the wind out of you. All that blood was from surface vessels. The poison knocked you out, but now its time to do a honey badger impression. Etc. On the flipside, if you don't get help in time, it was exactly as bad as it looked.</p><p></p><p>3) Bloodied means something: if you are bloodied or bloody a foe, that hit should really count. It should be immediately obvious to both allies and enemies. Some hazards (like that one trap fungus) are worse when you're bloodied, so some form of open wound (even just a psychic nosebleed) is preferable. Also, this means if you're no longer bloodied, you have fixed it somehow (stopped on its own, torniquet, rubbed some dirt in it, etc).</p><p></p><p>Hmmm...there's more, but my brain just hit a ditch. Those are still some good guidelines for narrating nonmagical healing, since it will ensure no wound is greater than your capacity to overcome by a scary man shouting at you.</p><p></p><p>Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The_Fan, post: 5186894, member: 11607"] I find. Martial healing emphasizes the idea that has been around in D&D for years, that hit points are not necessarily just damage taken, but the yadda yadda, almost every other poster has said it. When virtually all healing was magic, it was easy to get in the mindset that a cure spell was reattatching lost limbs and such. Now, since there's a possibility a character could be brought from the brink of death by a guy shouting "ON YOUR FEET, SOLDIER!" you really have to put more creativity into combat descriptions. I have it quasi-codified into a series of loose rules about combat descriptions: 1) A hit is not necessarily a hit: If it fails to bloody, doesn't deal bleed damage, etc, it may in narrative terms be a miss, parry, or other close call. Even a massive crit that somehow doesn't bloody might only result in a slow-mo limbo shot and a new haircut. If it does have a rider that requires a hit (like a poison), make it minimal, like a scratch. 2) Severity is determined by outcome (schroedinger's wound): it helps if you don't describe just how bad a wound is until its final effect is resolved. Dropping below 0 and making death saves means you took a powerful blow and are probably looking bad, but if you make that save or the warlord helps you up, turns out the fireball just took the wind out of you. All that blood was from surface vessels. The poison knocked you out, but now its time to do a honey badger impression. Etc. On the flipside, if you don't get help in time, it was exactly as bad as it looked. 3) Bloodied means something: if you are bloodied or bloody a foe, that hit should really count. It should be immediately obvious to both allies and enemies. Some hazards (like that one trap fungus) are worse when you're bloodied, so some form of open wound (even just a psychic nosebleed) is preferable. Also, this means if you're no longer bloodied, you have fixed it somehow (stopped on its own, torniquet, rubbed some dirt in it, etc). Hmmm...there's more, but my brain just hit a ditch. Those are still some good guidelines for narrating nonmagical healing, since it will ensure no wound is greater than your capacity to overcome by a scary man shouting at you. Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk [/QUOTE]
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