D&D 5E Should 5E have Healing Surges?

[Herschel]

The Healing Surge mechanic is one of the best things to ever happen to the game. I didn't like the way they "sounded" when introduced (maybe they need a better publicist. ) but after sitting down and actually playijng the game with an open mind I found that they are sensible, flexible and work far better than any healing mechanic in the game thus far.

 

[Mattachine]

I am a full subscriber of the trope, "Magic A is Magic A."

I like magic when there is a set of rules that are followed--exceptions can exist, but magic is generally predictable. Otherwise, I feel like the situation is "Oh, a wizard did it."

 

[Herschel]

This is not intended to be rude, but I cannot believe the game is destined to returned to the **** ol days where anything could be achieved by Magic, because it's......magic, whereas Non-Casters have to put up with the low-fantasy version of the game just because they "not magic".

Must
spread
XP

 

[Naszir]

I don't accept that anything is possible with magic, either. Magics that would greatly alter the world, but aren't well explained away with a corresponding cost or rarity, do cause suspension of disbelief for me.

Note: In case people think I want to deny other players their fun... I haven't played a wizard in ages. Most of my characters are fighter types. I like them non-magical, but effective. I am, however, perfectly ok with relying on other characters for support and sometimes being "just" a support character.

I'm also fine with epic fighters being supernatural and more superhero-like. I just wish there is a large enough range of levels in the lower end to play the kind of game I want.

But a healing surge wasn't necessarily magical. A healing surge could just as well be explained as magical healing or it could be explained as catching his breath. There needs to be some way to explain how you heal non-physical wounds.

 

[Izumi]

While I grew up playing all the earlier versions and as I came to understand the game more, my mind couldn't wrap itself around that if hps represent luck, skill, damage avoidance and physical damage why was healing only represented by actual wound recovery?

Why was a cleric able to heal a commoner on the brink of death at 1 hp to full health with CLW? But he was only able to heal a scratch on the heroic fighter with CLW?

The healing spells give energy to the body in order to repair damaged cells. Excess energy infustion provides our character's bodies enough energy to continue to block, dodge, evade, and if we're lucky the Cleric's deity grants us a little divine protection/luck to boot! If you are fighting at 1hp you are in desperation with all or nothing. That commoner with 1hp is a very weak and frail man even when healed fully. He doesn't have a lot of endurance obviously. He'd die quickly in a fight for his life, and excess energy wasted because he wasn't skilled enough to use it. You don't take the mortal wound until you reach 0hp and should be described as screaming for mama, your guts hanging out, and you body flopping like a fish.

 

[Siberys]

Yes. Five minutes to heal someone with magic? Sure, why not - it's magic. A five minute breather and some bandages to completely come back from a blow that sent you unconscious, bleeding, within an inch of death? Nope.

Having a supernatural character like monk self-heal his wounds with a few minutes of intense concentration I can accept (it's magic of another kind), but when I play a fighter I want a very skilled, but still essentially human character. Not a superhero.

Why can't a skilled, human warrior know how to bind his wounds after a fight? Or just fight through his pain? Even then, you're ignoring the possibility that healing surges are way open to interperetation. The cleric could invoke a minor prayer over the hurt, the wizard could slap together a potion, and the ranger send the halfling off for some herbs or whatever.

The problem here is you're fighting against healing surges; if you try to work with them, they're perfectly sensible from a nonmechanical standpoint. They're an abstraction. Nothing more.

 

[Hassassin]

But a healing surge wasn't necessarily magical. A healing surge could just as well be explained as magical healing or it could be explained as catching his breath. There needs to be some way to explain how you heal non-physical wounds.

I feel like going in circles.

 

[Hassassin]

Why can't a skilled, human warrior know how to bind his wounds after a fight? Or just fight through his pain?

Sure. Take a few ranks of heal in 3e and spend a couple of night in bed and you are good to go again.

Fighting through the pain is already IMO a part of the hp system, since loss of hp doesn't make you fight worse.

The problem here is you're fighting against healing surges; if you try to work with them, they're perfectly sensible from a nonmechanical standpoint. They're an abstraction. Nothing more.

I'm not intentionally trying to fight against them (I don't even play 4e anymore), they just don't work for me - like they don't to at least some others. That other people, like you, do like them and can explain them well enough is beside the point.

 

[Grazzt]

No healing surges was my vote

 

[Naszir]

The healing spells give energy to the body in order to repair damaged cells. Excess energy infustion provides our character's bodies enough energy to continue to block, dodge, evade, and if we're lucky the Cleric's deity grants us a little divine protection/luck to boot! If you are fighting at 1hp you are in desperation with all or nothing. That commoner with 1hp is a very weak and frail man even when healed fully. He doesn't have a lot of endurance obviously. He'd die quickly in a fight for his life, and excess energy wasted because he wasn't skilled enough to use it. You don't take the mortal wound until you reach 0hp and should be described as screaming for mama, your guts hanging out, and you body flopping like a fish.

What I was saying is how does a commoner who at max health has 5 hp but was damaged and down to 1 hp is fully healed by CLW. However, our hero who at max health has 30 hp and is down to 1 hp only gets a scratch healed by CLW?

If you don't take the mortal wound until a hit drops you to 0hp why does it take days and weeks (if you like to play old school) to recover hit points that don't represent physical injuries?

Healing surges try to take this part of the game into account.