D&D 5E Second Wind

[fanboy2000]

I hate 5e healing rules, for me every character having a chance
to heal back to full with just one hour rest is absurd and frustrating.
It's kindergarden mode, there is no tension, you know you
will be fine soon if you have at least 1 hp.

Well, there's a chance, but it's not guaranteed.

Take a first level rogue with 10 hp (8 hp at first level + 2 from con). After one or more encounters they are down to 1 hp. Time to spend a hit die. They roll the d8 and get a 1, add their +2 con modifier and they recover a whopping 3 hp. They now have a total of 4 hp out of 10. There are not further hit dice to spend.

And they don't get that hit die back after a long rest! You get half your hit dice after a long rest and you always round down unless told otherwise. Well, guess what dosen't tell you otherwise? The recovering hit dice after a long rest rule. RAW, you will not recover that hit die until you reach second level. Better keep adventuring!

So, at first level, after a long rest, the rogue will have 10 hp, but no hit dice to recover further hit points with. That is not kindergarden mode, that is not wolverine mutant abilities.

Edit: forgot an important not.

 

[TwoSix]

I hate 5e healing rules, for me every character having a chance
to heal back to full with just one hour rest is absurd and frustrating.
It's kindergarden mode, there is no tension, you know you
will be fine soon if you have at least 1 hp.

Most players disagree, they want their characters to heal
fast and raw assure that's exactly what is going to happen.
it's just a matter of playstyle.

A DM can put new monsters where they shoul not be to
prevent a group from resting, but i don't want to do that,
what's left for me is house rule these easy healings out.

But it is too soon yet, DMG will maybe bring some optional
rules to fix things, let's wait and see.

A simple rule (one of several options I'm considering) is to have a short rest take 6 hours (essentially overnight) and a long rest take a full 24 hours, and must be in a safe location.

 

[Mistwell]

I think there should be a clause in there that says you can only second wind during a combat where you took damage, or within 1 minute after combat ends wherein you took damage during that combat.

 

[Vowtz]

A simple rule (one of several options I'm considering) is to have a short rest take 6 hours (essentially overnight) and a long rest take a full 24 hours, and must be in a safe location.

That's a good suggestion, I might use that!

This isn't really a problem if you assume that their actual hit point total is equal to the hit points on their sheet * 2 - which is what their hit points really are. The whole "healing mechanic" disguises what is going on - which is that characters have roughly twice as many hit points as what it says they have on their character sheet.

Your logic is sound. It's like you can use only part of your
real hit points in a fight. The actual whole is represented
by you full hit point's plus your healing dices.

but that leaves two problems.

1. A character that was almost dead will realize later
(after a short rest) that he was not so badly hurt.

2. 8 hours will still instantly heal 75% of your wounds (full
hp + half dices)


I'll try to double hit points and extend rests, Combining
these two suggestions may suffice for me, I will try next
time, thanks!

 

[Lalato]

That's a good suggestion, I might use that!



Your logic is sound. It's like you can use only part of your
real hit points in a fight. The actual whole is represented
by you full hit point's plus your healing dices.

but that leaves two problems.

1. A character that was almost dead will realize later
(after a short rest) that he was not so badly hurt.

2. 8 hours will still instantly heal 75% of your wounds (full
hp + half dices)


I'll try to double hit points and extend rests, Combining
these two suggestions may suffice for me, I will try next
time, thanks!

Do you consider a character with 1 HP as "almost dead", if so... how does the character know that they were almost dead when they are 100% effective at 1 HP or at 100 HP? They can jump just as high, hit just as hard, etc. So... as far as the character is concerned, they were never almost dead. Only the player knows that they were close to real injury... because we track that with HP. The character doesn't know what an HP is... They are either 100% effective or unconscious or (with enough damage) dead.

 

[Tormyr]

Well, there's a chance, but it's guaranteed.

Take a first level rogue with 10 hp (8 hp at first level + 2 from con). After one or more encounters they are down to 1 hp. Time to spend a hit die. They roll the d8 and get a 1, add their +2 con modifier and they recover a whopping 3 hp. They now have a total of 4 hp out of 10. There are not further hit dice to spend.

And they don't get that hit die back after a long rest! You get half your hit dice after a long rest and you always round down unless told otherwise. Well, guess what dosen't tell you otherwise? The recovering hit dice after a long rest rule. RAW, you will not recover that hit die until you reach second level. Better keep adventuring!

So, at first level, after a long rest, the rogue will have 10 hp, but no hit dice to recover further hit points with. That is not kindergarden mode, that is not wolverine mutant abilities.

Mike Mearls clarified that you recover a minimum of 1 hit die.

 

[fanboy2000]

Mike Mearls clarified that you recover a minimum of 1 hit die.

That's good to know. That was probably what I was going to go with anyways.

Of course, now this means that you only recover one hit die until you reach fourth level. Man, third level sucks from a natural healing perspective.

 

[Vowtz]

Do you consider a character with 1 HP as "almost dead", if so... how does the character know that they were almost dead when they are 100% effective at 1 HP or at 100 HP? They can jump just as high, hit just as hard, etc. So... as far as the character is concerned, they were never almost dead. Only the player knows that they were close to real injury... because we track that with HP. The character doesn't know what an HP is... They are either 100% effective or unconscious or (with enough damage) dead.

Hit point rules are not perfect, if realism was demanded
all characters should be impaired once they got severely
hurt.

D&D let this realism aside to favor simplicity/epicness.
I like this way.


But once recovering from wounds becomes trivial all
this epicness vanish, if a spear pierce someone's chest
leaving him severely hurt (1hp) that fact should not
be so unremarkable to the point of 8 hours later it is
like nothing happened without magical, or even
medical aid.

The remaining damage is an indication that someone
is still hurt, even if the rules don't have depth enough
to represent this otherwise (like penalties)

But that is just my personal opinion, and does not
comes even close to represent majority. Most
players want healing, so developers conceded
their wishes.

In Ad&d natural healing was not easy, 3e the same,
4e I bought the books but disliked the system so much
I played only two sessions.

Maybe 5e is being developed for younger
audiences, I don't know, but i bet there are ways
to adapt, probably even in DMG when it comes out.

 

[variant]

I've always been a fan of negative hit points that heal much slower unless magic is involved. If you drop below zero hit points, you slowly lose hit points and negative effects occur. Second wind simply couldn't heal these.

 

[Lalato]

You can't use second wind when you're in negative.