PCs using their abilities - a favor to the party?

[Doug McCrae]

Likewise, I believe that anyone who yells at another person because of his own expectations is a rude jerk.

Or maybe he's a few seconds from dying and rather concerned about that. Yelling 'Heal me!' in that situation doesn't make him a jerk imo.

But we're talking about fantasy PCs and not real "lives on the line," so it's nothing personal, right?

Are you talking about the player interactions then, not the PC interactions? The objection to 'Heal me!' is because it's the player yelling? And you don't like that, so you use your character's actions to 'take revenge' on the offending player. Even though it would be implausible for your character to act that way.

If this is the case wouldn't a better solution be to handle it player to player, rather than using the characters as proxies?

 

[Desdichado]

I don't understand. It's not the DM's responsibility to hand out healing or deal with intra-party ructions.

No, it's the GM's responsibility to run a fun game.

If that means telling a player how he needs to run his character, even if it's indirectly (i.e., unless you run your character this way, the entire group will fail) then the GM sucks.

For the record, most of the time in my group nobody plays a cleric. And half the time (more, if it were entirely up to me) we play games other than D&D where magic healing isn't a given.

There's more than one way to handle the need for healing than "the DM handing out healing." You can structure the game so that it isn't as much an issue, by not using the "gradual depletion of resources" model, for instance. You can have encounters turn up more healing potions than you otherwise would. You can tweak the rules, like switching HP's to VP/WP that heal quickly, or do all kinds of other things.

Plenty of ways to handle it. A GM that says, "no, the only acceptable way to handle the healing issue is you've got a cleric and he needs to heal you even if the character's player doesn't want to run that kind of character" is a lousy GM.

If there's interparty conflict because of that, then I place the blame squarely on his shoulders.

 

[Bullgrit]

But not all groups play with the cleric running around healing every round in combat.

My campaign currently has two clerics: one is a battle-priest type, the other (an NPC) is strictly there for healing. The healer quite often goes multiple rounds, and sometimes entire fights, never healing anyone*. About half the time she casts a cure spell, it's after combat is over. Now, granted, rarely does she cast a non-cure spell, and she's usually tapped out of spells after three or four fights.

*Edit: This is because she doesn't need to heal anyone. She jumps in and heals when someone needs it.

Bullgrit
Total Bullgrit

 

[Driddle]

My campaign currently has two clerics: one is a battle-priest type, the other (an NPC) is strictly there for healing. The healer quite often goes multiple rounds, and sometimes entire fights, never healing anyone. About half the time she casts a cure spell, it's after combat is over. Now, granted, rarely does she cast a non-cure spell, and she's usually tapped out of spells after three or four fights.

Please clarify for others on this thread: Which cleric is being played the "right" way?

 

[Kahuna Burger]

Please clarify for others on this thread: Which cleric is being played the "right" way?

would you care to name names and post quotes for these others who you are speaking for?

 

[Gort]

No, it's the GM's responsibility to run a fun game.

If that means telling a player how he needs to run his character, even if it's indirectly (i.e., unless you run your character this way, the entire group will fail) then the GM sucks.

What? I don't think anyone ever mentioned the GM saying, "Someone has to play a cleric or you'll fail!" It's the players who'll say stuff like that. A good GM will balance the fights so the massive boost in power that having a cleric healer around provides is not expected.

Plenty of ways to handle it. A GM that says, "no, the only acceptable way to handle the healing issue is you've got a cleric and he needs to heal you even if the character's player doesn't want to run that kind of character" is a lousy GM.

If there's interparty conflict because of that, then I place the blame squarely on his shoulders.

Again, nobody was saying that their GM told them they have to play their cleric as a healbot. It's just that the game often requires it, so the players require it of each other.

 

[Desdichado]

What? I don't think anyone ever mentioned the GM saying, "Someone has to play a cleric or you'll fail!" It's the players who'll say stuff like that. A good GM will balance the fights so the massive boost in power that having a cleric healer around provides is not expected.

No one said that? I think, actually, that you did in the very next paragraph. Emphasis mine:

Again, nobody was saying that their GM told them they have to play their cleric as a healbot. It's just that the game often requires it, so the players require it of each other.

No, it doesn't. The game requires nothing of the sort. I've been running D&D without anyone playing a cleric for years. Works great.

Requires a little tweaking on my end, but that's what's required of any GM that I consider competent.

Giving the cop-out "the game requires it" is exactly equivalent to saying "if you don't have a cleric and don't play him this way, you will fail."

Exactly.

 

[fusangite]

Clerics have to spend a way larger portion of their time foregoing to chance to do cool things in order to help other party members. Unsurprisingly, they are therefore crankier about it.

 

[Zurai]

No, it doesn't. The game requires nothing of the sort. I've been running D&D without anyone playing a cleric for years. Works great.

Requires a little tweaking on my end

If you have to tweak the game to make not having a cleric work, then yes, having a cleric (or healer, at least) is required.

 

[Driddle]

Clerics have to spend a way larger portion of their time foregoing to chance to do cool things in order to help other party members. Unsurprisingly, they are therefore crankier about it.

If the player feels as though his character isn't doing anything cool as a cleric, then he probably picked the wrong class. The fault isn't the game itself, but in the expectations and attitudes of the cranky player.