D&D 5E New DM Help

[Tony Vargas]

But the problem. Is this Cleric of life power. Whenever she casts a spell that heals, Druid Goodberry, they restore Hitpoints equal to 1 + spell level. So she casts it at level 1 and gets 10 berries that restore 3HP each.

Well, or the berries stay at 1 hp each and the extra 1+slot level hps come in the form of more berries - so 12 instead of 10. DMs get to make those kinds of rulings.

She mostly uses her 1st and 2nd level spells for goodberries.
Or if she didnt need to use a bunch of powers she creates the goodberries which last for 24 hours before losing their potency.

Yeah, that's been a fun part of the spell since it first came out way back when. Then the duration could get even longer at mid-high levels so you could 'bank' a lot of goodberries...

 

[Mort]

How would you rule the Life domain ability works with Mass Cure Wounds? Does only one recipient get the bonus or do all of them?

The key here is in the 'restore hitpoints to a creature'. I'm using the goodberry spell to restore hitpoints to a character - therefore, they get the bonus healing. You could argue that it only happens once per creature per spell, but then you're keeping track of goodberry lots and who's had one from which. Yuck.

Difference is Mass cure wounds was clearly intended to work with this ability whereas goodberry was not. So yes, mass cure wounds adds the extra 2+spell level per creature cured and goodberry adds 2+level to each creature cured too, once not 10 times (that's still a pretty big boost from what I stated earlier but it does track with the reading of the ability). As for yuck, well if you start mixing different mechanics (as you are doing here) be prepared for a bit of ickiness.

But, RAW aside, yes, it's a big loophole, but it's also out of combat healing. While continued pressure won't prevent effective healing, it will still strain short rest ability recovery, and that's usually a bigger factor. If you assume that your players will be at full hitpoints for every fight, you can plan and work with that fairly easily.

It's not out of combat healing though. Sure an action lost in combat is not worth it for 1HP a pop but for 4 (or more) a pop, it's absolutely worth it - especially at low level!

Next, assuming the group can heal to full HP with minimal resource loss without a full rest is a BIG departure and a radical change. Sure you can account for it, but why should a 1st level spell force the issue?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Next, assuming the group can heal to full HP with minimal resource loss without a full rest is a BIG departure and a radical change. Sure you can account for it, but why should a 1st level spell force the issue?

Avoiding a long rest for hp healing is something of a self-correcting problem, though, as it just allows the party to cram more encounters into the day, bringing them closer to the hypothetical 6-8 encounter/day balance point that much more easily. Skipping short rests, though, can be kinda problematic for the short-rest-recharge-heavy classes in the party...

 

[Mort]

Avoiding a long rest for hp healing is something of a self-correcting problem, though, as it just allows the party to cram more encounters into the day, bringing them closer to the hypothetical 6-8 encounter/day balance point that much more easily. Skipping short rests, though, can be kinda problematic for the short-rest-recharge-heavy classes in the party...

But they don't have to "avoid" a long rest. It just means they approach each fight between the long rest with low to no HP attrition. Normally to achieve this requires significant resource cost (cure spells, healing potions, a short rest and HD expenditure) that is a big balancing factor in itself, but with this you can bypass that easily.

 

[Phion]

I can feel your pain on this one. Honestly there is way too much min maxing from the sound of it, what even is the multiclass character at this point? Is there a reason she is such a mix? What is in her story/ progression to justify this build?

One rule I have is for multiclassing as DM is it has to make sense or it can be justified through the story. And no one complains because
a) my players have not been the type to make a fuss over nothing.
b) it makes sense.
Now if they can give me a good backstory as to why they are multiclass than fair play. But if they are just trying to justify their power build I would know and pull them up about it.

 

[DragonKnight88]

I can feel your pain on this one. Honestly there is way too much min maxing from the sound of it, what even is the multiclass character at this point? Is there a reason she is such a mix? What is in her story/ progression to justify this build?

One rule I have is for multiclassing as DM is it has to make sense or it can be justified through the story. And no one complains because
a) my players have not been the type to make a fuss over nothing.
b) it makes sense.
Now if they can give me a good backstory as to why they are multiclass than fair play. But if they are just trying to justify their power build I would know and pull them up about it.

Credit where its due, she is a fantastic Roll Player, The short version of Her backstory was that of a "Combat Medic". She fought in the wars for her home kingdom and was almost killed in a battle. Losing her whole team and on the brink of death she was rescued by a grove of Druids who took her in and taught her their ways, IE she started as a 2nd level paladin 2nd level cleric, 1st level druid.

 

[DragonKnight88]

I want to avoid the sudden ruling of, your powers no longer work. Mostly because the Barbarian is a good guy, but can be a rules lawyering and i want to steer clear of starting an argument about the rules after having let this particular piece go on for as long as it has. I just wont let it happen in any future games I run.

I think i will do the simple thing and I am just going to Sit everyone down at the beginning of next game and see where they feel they are at in terms of having fun/ not having fun. After which I will decided how far i should increase the difficulty of the game or if perhaps we should all take a break and come back, maybe run a module or something simple. I dont want things to escalate to an insane level where I throw something crazy like a CR 20 at them and they one shot him.... I have read some horror stories in my time perusing the forums here.

 

[Tony Vargas]

But they don't have to "avoid" a long rest.

Long rest was not what you meant by "full rest?"

Did you mean short rest? Because I agree that can be problematic.

It just means they approach each fight between the long rest with low to no HP attrition. Normally to achieve this requires significant resource cost (cure spells, healing potions, a short rest and HD expenditure) that is a big balancing factor in itself, but with this you can bypass that easily.

Healing potions and HD expenditure aren't usable for anything else, and Short Rests recover more than just hps, and are assumed every other encounter or so.

Again, skipping Short Rests would certainly have consequences.

Conserving spell slots is the only other issue. And, I don't think spells get used for between-combat healing a whole lot. They're too valuable a resource relative to HD.

But, yes, if the net effect is to give daily casters (Bards, Druid, Clerics) more spell slots to spend on things other than healing, and to reduce the number of short rests the party takes between long rests, that'll distort balance among the classes (those three classes will benefit, short-rest-recharge classes like BM, Monk, & Warlock, will suffer).

 

[Harzel]

2nd Level Paladin, 3rd Level Cleric/ Life Domain, 3rd Level Druid/ Spell Caster build. She recovers 2 spell slots once per day on a short rest.

You probably know this, but those are not arbitrary spell slots - it should be 2 1st level slots or 1 2nd level slot.

 

[BluejayJunior]

I suggest taking a look at everyone's abilities and making sure they are being used correctly. Then when you sit down with them, you can say "Hey I realized that we have been doing this incorrectly, so some things my change slightly." As long as you're respectful and not blaming anyone, it should go over well. And definitely see how your group is viewing their fun. Depending on how things go, you can make changes to how goodberries and other things work that may change the balance of encounters going forward.