Reducing the Potency of Heal Spells

[ender_wiggin]

I'd like to avoid the situation where the party see-saws a tank from single digit hp to full hp round after round. Characters IMW who have just had a near-death experience should not be able to get up and continue fighting. It just isn't good for the flavor. My world is one in which, although magic can be wielded in their fullest potential by player characters, a mortal wound is still a mortal wound, not just an inconvenience.

Those of you who DM with a similar outlook -- how do you handle this issue?

 

[IndyPendant]

When I want campaigns along those lines, I run Gurps.

DND just isn't built that way, imo.

 

[yennico]

I normally have the same opinion but if I play D&D I keep my opinion out of the game, because it is too much work to change D&D to my opionion.

Are you talking about the 3.0 or the 3.5 version of heal?
If a cleric casts a heal spell, which is level 6, so the cleric is level 11, he can not attack in the same round.
He can either cast heal or do the same amount of damage to an enemy with a damage spell.

If you reduce the potency of a heal spell then you also have to reduce the potency of the harm spell.

The heal spell has two functions:
- to cure ability damage, blindess, confusion, being dazed or dazzled, deafness, disease, exhaustion, fatigue, being feebleminded, insanity, nausea, sickness, being stunned and poisoned.
- to be a powerful healing spell.

Without the heal spell the maximum hit points a cleric can cure without applying any meta-magic feats is cure serious: 3d8 + max. 15.
At high level the PCs have many hit points and monsters do much damage.
If you change heal you also have to change the damage the monsters of that levels can do.
With a modified heal resistances and DR are better than in a core game.


YMMV: D&D PCs are designed as super-hero and it is a high magic world. If you want a hero who suffers from a mortal wound then you have to play another system, because IMHO it is too much work to change in D&D.

 

[ender_wiggin]

By heal spells I meant all heal spells, including the cure line.

I don't want some complex system, just a simple house rule.

The best idea I have right now is requiring a successful heal check to be the somatic component of these spells.

 

[Ferret]

The spell heals the level bonus but converts the dice healed, to non-lethal damage.

2d8+7 from a Cure moderate wounds spell, heals up 7 points of damage, and converts 2d8 points to non-lethal. The Non-lethal damage heals at one point per level per hour.

 

[yennico]

By heal spells I meant all heal spells, including the cure line.

I don't want some complex system, just a simple house rule.

The best idea I have right now is requiring a successful heal check to be the somatic component of these spells.

A heal check at low level is very deadly.
The heal DC is 15. A cleric level 1 can have 4 ranks in heal. Not all clerics have wis 18
So a maximum bonus on his heal check (ranks + wis modifier) is +8, so this exceptional cleric (with wis 18) has a 65 % chance to heal a person with cure light wounds.
Each level the chance increases by 5% to a maximum of 95% at level 12. If the cleric takes skill focus heal the chance increases by 15 %.
At level 12 (one level after the cleric gained the heal spell) only a 5% (only die roll 1) chances exists that the cleric can not heal a person.

At low level the cleric sometimes looses a spell without an effect, at high levels the die roll is nearly only time consuming (except on a critical failure).

 

[ender_wiggin]

The spell heals the level bonus but converts the dice healed, to non-lethal damage.

2d8+7 from a Cure moderate wounds spell, heals up 7 points of damage, and converts 2d8 points to non-lethal. The Non-lethal damage heals at one point per level per hour.

I like this. I may pluck it. Any other ideas?

 

[DonTadow]

Perhaps you should put a house rule on damage and consequiences, which is sounds like what you're getting at. You could probably establish a house rule that, because of the amount of energy and effort fighters exort during battle, that a player can not recover more than half of their hp until after battle. Meaning that once a fighter drops below 100 in a battle, he can not get back above 50 until it is over. If that's not enough you can put a time limit on it as well.

House rules for flavor are not bad.

Another approach is that you can take seriously the armor damage and weapon damage rules. A body may be able to be easily recovered but armor needs to be mended and taken care of. Perhaps you keep track of how many hp their armor has left after battles. It's a tedious stat to track but it could also fix what you're getting at.

 

[TheLe]

Cooldown

How about this house rule:

--------------
Cooldown: Whenever you are healed, you immediately are effected by a cooldown equaling 10%. If you are subject to a HEAL of anykind in the same encounter, that spell is 10% less effective, and then the cooldown is immediately increased by another 10%. Each time you are subject to a heal, this cooldown increases cumulatively by 10% (after the healing effect is resolved), topping off at 60% total.

After every 3 rounds, this cooldown decreases by 10%.
--------------

This lets you get healed every round if you like, but doing so every round makes it less effective.

~Le

 

[farscapesg1]

I would say either go with the conversion to non-leathal damage.

Another idea is to make the healing take longer. Instead of letting all the wounds heal instantaneously, they mend at an accellerated rate. Mayb something like 10% of the healing magic takes effect each round. So, if a character is healed with a Cure Critical wounds for 27 hitpoints, he would recieve 3 hitpoints each round. However, you would need to make sure that the players keep track of how much damage they had when they recieved the spell. Sure, the warrior can get back up, but is at risk of taking a fatal blow if he doesn't wait for enough of the healing to mend his body.