Pacification damage type + Pacifist Healer

[Garthanos]

Pacifist healer makes the second half of any fight hell for the pacifist (once all enemies are bloodied, any attack the pacifist lands will stun him) whereas stunned by the finishing blow is much less painful (since it will usually occur less than once per enemy per fight).

What if it doesnt have to be the pacifist doing the lethal finishing blows .. any ally doing a deadly finishing blow distracts and draws his attention he wants to convince the ally not to kill among other things he might be fighting against his own need to be practical etc.

We could give him a save based on the number of deaths (the wizard wipes out a hoard of minions and looks at the pacifist heal who is now quite incapacitated himself in shock).

 

[Garthanos]

This would make it doubly hard for that healer to hang out with all them blood thirsties it gets worse as they get better at clearing out the minions.

 

[Fanaelialae]

What if it doesnt have to be the pacifist doing the lethal finishing blows .. any ally doing a deadly finishing blow distracts and draws his attention he wants to convince the ally not to kill among other things he might be fighting against his own need to be practical etc.

We could give him a save based on the number of deaths (the wizard wipes out a hoard of minions and looks at the pacifist heal who is now quite incapacitated himself in shock).

I think that could work, but I'm not certain.

Per RAW, the pacifist could spend 1/4 of the fight stunned (fine while the enemies are above bloodied, then stunned every other round as he attacks bloodied enemies). Since fights aren't really that simplistic odds are he won't, but it still limits the cleric's options for about half the fight (restricting the cleric to attacks against non-bloodied targets or using non-damaging attacks like Astral Seal and Aid Another).

I'm not sure how often the feat is meant inconvenience the cleric. A careful and smart cleric using the RAW feat could potentially avoid stunning completely by limiting his actions to those that won't trigger the stun. If the cleric's party can trigger it, odds are the cleric will spend at least some time stunned in most combats (since he has to make a save each time an enemy is killed).

The above could give the pacifist a healthy hatred of controllers and minions. Though it is a pretty fitting idea (cleric is stunned by his companions' bloodthirst) it would probably be more enjoyable to leave whether to risk being stunned or not up to the cleric.

On the other hand, there's nothing to say he has to take the feat, so there's that too...

 

[Garthanos]

On the other hand, there's nothing to say he has to take the feat, so there's that too...

It is a matter of creating the right balancing point... he could be working on convincing the wizard to use the mass sleep spell (you know the reskinned large area cold magic).... when he realized the wizard actually killed them with it the battle could be all over ;-), snicker.

 

[Garthanos]

I suspect real pacifists would spend large amounts of time in stunned shock in an arena of war.

He could take a feat called innured to the brutality of others ;-) to improve his saving throws.

 

[Garthanos]

I'm not sure how often the feat is meant inconvenience the cleric.

Either avoiding it or doint it having to make the save are both inconveniences though arguably differing degrees or hard to compare.

. If the cleric's party can trigger it, odds are the cleric will spend at least some time stunned in most combats (since he has to make a save each time an enemy is killed).

We could make it once per round... (with a penalty based on the number of deaths). I dont like rolling that many dice.

On the other hand, there's nothing to say he has to take the feat, so there's that too...

While it generates a form of conflict with the "assumed nature" of the party. (note similarity with the term "war party").

The unicorn force is what I call a god of healing and freedom... in D&D its sort of exemplified by healing without healing surges.. without restriction. The most powerful healing magics of my game world heal everything in the area... not just your allies.. is annoys warriors to no end. Think of the conflict on that old tv series mash. It was about healers in war..

 

[Garthanos]

If we allow skinning to make any attack of the pac healer non-lethal and not trigger his guilt complex... then we have to give him broader empathy than just what he himself does... or as you say just disallow the feat. I think the feat has some cool fundamental flavor and could result in some seriously interesting dynamics (roleplaying ones)

We could add a unicorns temptation.... if the healer saves one of those dying enemies they can add a serious bonus to the next saving throw.

 

[Fanaelialae]

If we allow skinning to make any attack of the pac healer non-lethal and not trigger his guilt complex... then we have to give him broader empathy than just what he himself does... or as you say just disallow the feat. I think the feat has some cool fundamental flavor and could result in some seriously interesting dynamics (roleplaying ones)

It depends heavily on your group. Some groups might just agree to all make non-lethal attacks (and perhaps when the pacifist isn't looking have the rogue sneak back and execute the unconscious creatures; seems like it could be straight out of Nodwick ). That would still generally allow the pacifist to ignore the drawbacks (lots of bonus healing for no real penalty).

Some groups wouldn't care so long as it doesn't look like they'll need a heal next round (and maybe not even then). In this case it could easily end up being more of a penalty than intended.

Worst case is that it causes a TPK. Second worst is that the pacifist either doesn't take it or retrains it because he finds the penalty too severe. Third worst is that he finds a way to render the penalty meaningless and makes the game a bit easier.

Personally, I'd recommend either using the feat as written (perhaps a little weird, but mechanically sound) or banning it. You could do a rewrite, but you'll likely have to play around with it to find what works, since it hinges on several factors.

 

[Garthanos]

It depends heavily on your group. Some groups might just agree to all make non-lethal attacks (and perhaps when the pacifist isn't looking have the rogue sneak back and execute the unconscious creatures; seems like it could be straight out of Nodwick ). That would still generally allow the pacifist to ignore the drawbacks (lots of bonus healing for no real penalty).

I mentioned the wizard swapping out the blessings of mother night sleep A (knocks em out) for the into the arms of the goddess (permanant sleep) how would the healer know the difference .

Some groups wouldn't care so long as it doesn't look like they'll need a heal next round (and maybe not even then). In this case it could easily end up being more of a penalty than intended.

Worst case is that it causes a TPK.

more likely for the callous ones than not...

Second worst is that the pacifist either doesn't take it or retrains it because he finds the penalty too severe.

Realistic that might be ... quite a burden pacifism is.

Third worst is that he finds a way to render the penalty meaningless and makes the game a bit easier.

or the other pcs connive to make it so...

Personally, I'd recommend either using the feat as written (perhaps a little weird, but mechanically sound) or banning it. You could do a rewrite, but you'll likely have to play around with it to find what works, since it hinges on several factors.

I have too many issues with using as is... and since I really think non-lethal skinning is very appropriate - your very first recommendation - and very inappropriate to trigger the pacifist guilt effect .... something else is called for. I do hate banning things you know.

A side note.
Perhaps I could have a Unicorns Blessed feat which increased the amount of an area effect healing magic or one caused by a healing spirit effect .... but made it affect all creatures in the area... and if an enemy is adjacent to your healing spirit the enemy will be healed too.. similar to the feats which affect multiple powers in similar ways...

 

[Garthanos]

The Unicorns Blessed, idea is to make a feat with a drawback that clever choices and maneuvering in battle can get you around.

Mass Cure Light wounds increase radius of effect by 2 and add Charisma + d6 to the amount healed. And change text to "each creature in a burst."