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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Manbearcat" data-source="post: 6248004" data-attributes="member: 6696971">One thing we have in my home game, which is pretty central to our playstyle and what it produces, is a Healing Surge economy.  Basically consider them as fungible, metagame assets akin to Luck/Fate/Plot points that you can cash out (thus putting you in greater danger of running out of Healing Surges and putting you in a spot later in the day), for a bonus of some kind.  Given that HPs are in large portion luck (plot protection), the Healing Surge as luck/divine intervention/manifest destiny et al works well.  They talk about this a bit in DMG, specifically in the Skill Challenge section and cashing in a healing surge to improve your chances, but it would have been nice if they normalized this and made it a standard part of gameplay.  In my home game it basically breaks out as this:- 1 Healing Surge can always be invoked by PCs to gain a + 2 bonus on a single to hit roll, saving throw, or skill check.  This is player side so it is not an offer from me and they don't need my approval.  They do not have to ask but they do have to announce it in play.- 2 Healing Surges can be requested to be spent by a PC to create a scene element that changes the fictional positioning to their (or their group's) advantage.  For instance, they're in a rooftop chase trying to corner a bad guy.  The guy knows the urban layout well and once they crest the top of the building, they see he is already across to the next building and is about to disappear down a trap door.  The alley spanning the building is a High Athletics check to jump.  One player requests to spend 2 Healing Surges for a "shrodinger's board" to be flat against the rooftop retaining wall.  I agree that its a cool idea and certainly genre relevant.  Boom, the PCs span the alley with the board and they can now do Group Acrobatics check at the Medium DC.- A player may request or I may make an offer to them to spend 2 Healing Surges for a step down in a Skill DC (eg from High DC to Medium DC).- Every Surge spent/invoked in this way gives me a + 2 that I can use on any roll as I see fit.  By the end of the "work day", I will have typically gained 5-6 of these to spend.Works great for my game and ends up putting a lot of strain on the aggregate surges for the group on a daily basis.  This, in turn, makes end of the "work day" conflicts more tense.</blockquote>

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