New minis preview: Trolls regenerate differently

[amethal]

Except in practice nobody ever used fire against them in the actual combat (except as an incidental thing),

I was thinking fireballs, rather than torches, but I see your point.

 

[Li Shenron]

It's easy to forget to heal 5 damage on a creature each turn, but not so easy to forget the ability to heal 20 damage with a swift action.

Why is it easier to forget the first than the second really escapes me...

It doesn't seem to me a very significant change. The biggest difference is that probably such troll must be conscious to regenerate, and I am not even sure that's a nice change...

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Why is it easier to forget the first than the second really escapes me...

It doesn't seem to me a very significant change. The biggest difference is that probably such troll must be conscious to regenerate, and I am not even sure that's a nice change...

Once you know the basics of the game, you will probably be aware that there are Immediate, Swift, Move, Standard and Fullround Actions in the game. So you will probably alway look at what kind of actions a creature can take, even without knowing what they might be exactly.

Passive abilities like Regeneration or Fast Healing don't follow these action types (that was kind of their point. ) There are some shorthands to improve your ability to remember such abilities (like noting "Fast Healing 10" besides the HPs), but it might be a bit harder for some abilities.

We'll see if this really works in a few months, I guess.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

Why is it easier to forget the first than the second really escapes me...

I'm not entirely sure why, but I know that I forget to apply fast healing and regeneration all the time.

I think it's because when a monster begins his turn, my mindset is: "Alright, it's the Troll's turn. What does he want to do? He'll move over and attack the fighter."

I don't start the turn thinking "Is there anything that's supposed to happen before the Troll takes his turn?"

The first method allows me to look at his list of actions and say "First, he activates his abilitiy to heal as a swift action, then he moves to the fighter and attacks."

 

[Li Shenron]

I suggest that when a creature has such ability, make sure it will be the FIRST thing to do on its turn, at every turn. You cannot easily forget it, if you always do it first. Fast Healing is actually such a good ability for a monster, that it should always spring up when you prepare the adventure or read the entry in the MM, particularly now that creatures will not be so much buried under dozens of spells and special abilities.

It sounds harder for me to handle Immediate actions, since you have to look up all the time, even when it's not the creature's turn, at the list of its abilities.

 

[Imaro]

I suggest that when a creature has such ability, make sure it will be the FIRST thing to do on its turn, at every turn. You cannot easily forget it, if you always do it first. Fast Healing is actually such a good ability for a monster, that it should always spring up when you prepare the adventure or read the entry in the MM, particularly now that creatures will not be so much buried under dozens of spells and special abilities.

It sounds harder for me to handle Immediate actions, since you have to look up all the time, even when it's not the creature's turn, at the list of its abilities.

Yeah, now that you put it like that, it does seem a more complex way to do things, since you have to check or remember any actions that cause that particular monsters immediate action to take effect.

 

[Mercule]

Why is it easier to forget the first than the second really escapes me...

It doesn't seem to me a very significant change. The biggest difference is that probably such troll must be conscious to regenerate, and I am not even sure that's a nice change...

Agreed on both points. There are a few creatures in 3E that have a free/swift action that I still forget.

Plus that whole consciousness thing. I want dead trolls that get back up. Of course, it's entirely possible that this swift-heal ability is either in addition to the standard regen or is only found on this sub-species of troll.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I suggest that when a creature has such ability, make sure it will be the FIRST thing to do on its turn, at every turn. You cannot easily forget it, if you always do it first. Fast Healing is actually such a good ability for a monster, that it should always spring up when you prepare the adventure or read the entry in the MM, particularly now that creatures will not be so much buried under dozens of spells and special abilities.

It sounds harder for me to handle Immediate actions, since you have to look up all the time, even when it's not the creature's turn, at the list of its abilities.

Its just a bunch more rinky dink busy work though. When I'm running through monsters turns, particularly if theres a lot of them, writing down their 1-3 hp increase is really a waste of time. If its 20hp, I'm also more likely to remember to do it, because its a larger number. Dont even get me started on remembering what damage comes from what source and which is non-lethal vs. lethal.