New D&D Survey: What Do you Want From Older Editions?

WotC has just posted this month's D&D feedback survey. This survey asks about content from older editions of D&D, including settings, classes and races. The results will help determine what appears in future Unearthed Arcana columns.

The new survey is here. The results for the last survey have not yet been compiled. However, WotC is reporting that the Waterborne Adventures article scored well, and that feedback on Dragon+ has been "quite positive".

"We also asked about the new options presented in the Waterborne Adventures installment of Unearthed Arcana. Overall, that material scored very well—on a par with material from the Player’s Handbook. Areas where players experienced trouble were confined to specific mechanics. The minotaur race’s horns created a bit of confusion, for example, and its ability score bonuses caused some unhappiness. On a positive note, people really liked the sample bonds and how they helped bring out the minotaur’s unique culture.

The mariner, the swashbuckler, and the storm sorcerer also scored very well. A few of the specific mechanics for those options needed some attention, but overall, players and DMs liked using them.

Finally, we asked a few questions about the Dragon+ app. We really appreciate the feedback as we tailor the app’s content and chart the course for future issues. The overall feedback has been quite positive, and we’re looking at making sure we continue to build on our initial success."

 

[RotGrub]

Yes.
I'd be happy with just temporary hit points as they work better with my sense of verisimilitude. And they seem to match the flavour of the ability by allowing the warlord to inspire allies before a battle allowing his friends to fight longer and take more hits, to fight on despite their injuries and not remove them.

Plus, that's what I did for my warlordy fighter subclass.

sounds like you'd also be happy with a magical warlord.

 

[Remathilis]

Yes.
I'd be happy with just temporary hit points as they work better with my sense of verisimilitude. And they seem to match the flavour of the ability by allowing the warlord to inspire allies before a battle allowing his friends to fight longer and take more hits, to fight on despite their injuries and not remove them.

Plus, that's what I did for my warlordy fighter subclass.

Awesome. Seems like a solid subclass, with more emphasis on "makes others look cool" than than the battlemaster.

The thing is if you ask people what was the selling point of the warlord, I think most would agree martial healing. It was a leader class. Its only "locked" class ability was inspiring word. In PHB 1, it was the only alternative to the cleric for said role. I think the class got very stuck in the "healer" paradigm for that reason. I'm not sure at this point you could separate it again. Which means WotC, if it ever does decide to try to take a stab at the warlord again, has to face this elephant in the room. I don't think they can avoid it again. Which means if they do opt to make a new warlord, its going to have to either go full martial healing haters be damned and find a way to explain it in game (via some form of supernatural power like magic, psionics, ki, or martial adepts) or do some sort of half-measure (like KM's HD method) which will make them inferior in said role.

Neither is going to prove popular, and I doubt WotC will bother when it can claim "battlemaster" and be done.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Which means if they do opt to make a new warlord, its going to have to either go full martial healing haters be damned and find a way to explain it in game (via some form of supernatural power like magic, psionics, ki, or martial adepts) or do some sort of half-measure (like KM's HD method) which will make them inferior in said role.

This is already in the game. Eldritch Knight + Magic Initiate (Cure Light Wounds). Boom! Bob's your uncle, a magical healing fighter.

I think the Healer feat is far better but you asked for supernatural.

 

[Obryn]

Yes.
I'd be happy with just temporary hit points as they work better with my sense of verisimilitude. And they seem to match the flavour of the ability by allowing the warlord to inspire allies before a battle allowing his friends to fight longer and take more hits, to fight on despite their injuries and not remove them.

Plus, that's what I did for my warlordy fighter subclass.

I can't understand how pretend hit points are more sim-friendly than actual hit points. What does a temp HP even look like if you're using an HP = meat paradigm, anyway?

At any rate, temp HP and actual healing are significantly different, tactically speaking. Temp HP can't get you back up from zero, and are best used before combat even starts. This means they are also easily wasted if you give them to the wrong guy, unlike healing.

If you're dead set against healing 'real' ([emoji38]) hit points, reactive damage mitigation serves a much closer purpose. Or, something like a party pool of temp hp that anyone can draw from.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I can't understand how pretend hit points are more sim-friendly than actual hit points. What does a temp HP even look like if you're using an HP = meat paradigm, anyway?

Extra binding energy.

 

[The_Gneech]

This is a total tangent, but that is one of the things that is great about the Healer feat, especially on a Fast-hands Thief who can do it with Cunning Action. The "get d6+4+HD HP back" is limited to once per short rest, but the "get your ally back up from 0 HP to 1 HP" has no limit of any kind on it.

Actually, when I saw the emphasis on "bring back a fallen foe," the Healer feat ability was the first thing that jumped into my head. It could be made into a class feature fairly easily, and could be tied to Inspiration/Superiority (or "Leadership") dice. Something like:

Stand the Fallen. On your turn, when you take an action to stabilize a dying creature, that creature regains 1d6 hit points plus a number of hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You must take a short rest before you are able to use this ability again.​

Or instead of waiting for a short rest, it's a CM ability and expends a Superiority Die, rolling that instead of the d6. If once per short rest isn't enough, maybe it's a number of times equal to your Cha mod, or maybe this is the 1st level version and you get more uses as your level goes up, etc.

-The Gneech

PS: I just picked the feature name as a nod to the past, rather than being a direct correlation.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Actually, when I saw the emphasis on "bring back a fallen foe," the Healer feat ability was the first thing that jumped into my head. It could be made into a class feature fairly easily, and could be tied to Inspiration/Superiority (or "Leadership") dice. Something like:

[strong]Stand the Fallen.[/strong] On your turn, when you take an action to stabilize a dying creature, that creature regains 1d6 hit points plus a number of hit points equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum 1). You must take a short rest before you are able to use this ability again.

Why the rate-limiter? As written it's weaker than the Healer feat, except for not needing medical supplies. The way it's written, it wouldn't break anything for Stand the Fallen to be an at-will ability.

 

[The_Gneech]

Why the rate-limiter? As written it's weaker than the Healer feat, except for not needing medical supplies. The way it's written, it wouldn't break anything for Stand the Fallen to be an at-will ability.

Because it was a first draft off the top of my head, and I prefer to err weak and buff things up when messing around with rules.

With an ability like this, you need to compare it not only to the Healer feat, but also to Cure Wounds, Healing Word, and healing potions. 1d6+mod is a pretty hefty heal if you compare it to the other options!

Healer feat: A critter w/ 0 hp gains 1 hp, no limit (other than healer kits, which are fairly trivial), OR you grant 1d6+4 hp to anyone with an action but that's all they get for that use.

Cure Wounds: Grant 1d8+mod hp to anyone with an action and use up a spell slot.

Healing Word: Grant 1d4+mod hp to anyone within 60' with an action and use up a spell slot.

Healing potion: Grant 2d4+2 hp to anyone with an action, costs 50 gp.

Given that the ability only comes into use when you're stabilizing a fallen ally, however, I can see an argument for either beefing it up or allowing more uses. The point is to make it a meaningful ability without making it the "obviously always superior" choice.

-The Gneech

 

[Obryn]

Extra binding energy.

Yeah, I still have no idea what that means. I'm going to guess you're making a joke, but really I have no idea.

I mean, if your paradigm is that, if you lose hit points to a sword, the sword has cut into you and you're hurt, what does it look like when a sword hits you and it's temp HPs? Do you worry about poison effects? Ghoul paralysis? What's being hit, anyway? Is it still your flesh? Did it actually miss you? Should your AC actually have been adjusted instead of your hit points, in the first place? What's happening that's somehow more sensible than recovery of 'real' (still ) hit points?

As for me, I'm totally fine with the "hit points are hit points, and they model hit points" philosophy, so I'm all for looking at them as just different game mechanics. But there's nothing particularly ... verisimilitudinous? ... about temp HPs that I can see. The opposite, really.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Yeah, I still have no idea what that means. I'm going to guess you're making a joke, but really I have no idea.

I mean, if your paradigm is that, if you lose hit points to a sword, the sword has cut into you and you're hurt, what does it look like when a sword hits you and it's temp HPs? Do you worry about poison effects? Ghoul paralysis? What's being hit, anyway? Is it still your flesh? Did it actually miss you? Should your AC actually have been adjusted instead of your hit points, in the first place? What's happening that's somehow more sensible than recovery of 'real' (still ) hit points?

Nope, I'm completely serious. At my table, HP represent the extra binding energy of lifeforce, over and above the mechanical durability inherent in your flesh and bone. A 20th level fighter with 200 HP is literally more durable than the corpse of a 20th level fighter. He has a higher tensile strength, higher shearing strength, is harder to rip/tear/cut, etc. A 168-joule bullet that would penetrate 6 inches into the corpse's chest might only penetrate half an inch into the fighter's chest, but in the process it would ablate some of that energy until eventually he becomes a corpse.

This "life force" is the same stuff that prevents enemy wizards from burning all your clothes off with fireballs, and also makes objects immune to certain spells as long as they are being worn by a creature.

Therefore, poison affects you normally ("the ghoul's claw penetrated your flesh, so the poison is in your blood stream").

In short, HP is HP, and temp HP is also HP but it's temporary and non-additive. Nothing complicated, it's just what it says on the tin.