D&D 5E (2014) Should 5E have Healing Surges?

[Rbuse]

Interest has been expressed with doing away with roles and letting players play whatever they want. I don't know how they can accomplish this without healing surges or some new form of self healing built into the mechanics of the game. I was never a huge fan of healing surges, I don't even have a good reason perhaps resistance to change. What I am less of a fan of is what clerics are now versus what they were in earlier editions. I'm all about restoring the cleric class to its former glory.

What are ways healing surges can be improved or modified to be more fitting?

-or-

What are a few ideas to replace the healing surge as a new form of self healing?

maybe there has been something anounced i've just missed?

anyone?

 

[Naszir]

One in-game is lame.

It's lame in the faulty way you perceive it. I would considered them lame if they were explained that way as well.

If 1e through 3e hit points were considered only physical damage where the hero can take 6 to 10 arrows to the chest and keep fighting, then I would consider that lame.

Extremes aside it still seems that 4e tried to give some credance to the fact that not all damage was physical in relation to hit points. Luck, resolve and exhaustion shouldn't take weeks to recover from if you didn't have magical healing available.

 

[Naszir]

Interest has been expressed with doing away with roles and letting players play whatever they want. I don't know how they can accomplish this without healing surges or some new form of self healing built into the mechanics of the game. I was never a huge fan of healing surges, I don't even have a good reason perhaps resistance to change. What I am less of a fan of is what clerics are now versus what they were in earlier editions. I'm all about restoring the cleric class to its former glory.

What are ways healing surges can be improved or modified to be more fitting?

-or-

What are a few ideas to replace the healing surge as a new form of self healing?

maybe there has been something anounced i've just missed?

anyone?

I would propose a version of damage reduction. Give players heroic surges, a kind of action point, that would allow them to reduce the amount of damage taken from a hit. Narratively it allows the players some control but as a limited resource they would have to make their choices count.

Basically the player gets to describe how the character managed to avoid most of the damage.

 

[KarinsDad]

Extremes aside it still seems that 4e tried to give some credance to the fact that not all damage was physical in relation to hit points. Luck, resolve and exhaustion shouldn't take weeks to recover from if you didn't have magical healing available.

It was already that in 1E through 3E.

A sword did D8 (D6 real early on).

The fighter has 40 hit points.

It would take 9 shots on average with the sword before he fell. Why? Because of luck, resolve, changing a heavy hit into a glancing blow, etc. But he was still taking actual wounds as well and it took a long time to heal up.

4E went into the weird world of shouting people healthy and auto-regeneration for all PC humanoids. It took actual damage completely out of the equation except for the Quantum Mechanics world of unconsciousness.

There is no actual damage in 4E except if the PC is unconscious and even there, he can sometimes wake up on his own and quickly be totally fine (unless of course he's dead).

I'm sorry, but that's just lame. It would be funny if it were not so sad how many people bought into this. It's 8bit theater for all PCs.

I'm not dead. I'm not. I'm getting better. I don't want to go on the cart. I feel fine. I think I'll go for a walk. I feel happy. I feel happy.

 

[Hassassin]

I would propose a version of damage reduction. Give players heroic surges, a kind of action point, that would allow them to reduce the amount of damage taken from a hit. Narratively it allows the players some control but as a limited resource they would have to make their choices count.

Basically the player gets to describe how the character managed to avoid most of the damage.

"Hey guys, should we fall back? I'm all out of narrative control points."

No, please. Hero/action/fate points are even worse than healing surges. (Slightly.)

 

[Rbuse]

"Narrative control points"

 

[Naszir]

It was already that in 1E through 3E.

A sword did D8 (D6 real early on).

The fighter has 40 hit points.

It would take 9 shots on average with the sword before he fell. Why? Because of luck, resolve, changing a heavy hit into a glancing blow, etc. But he was still taking actual wounds as well and it took a long time to heal up.

The game doesn't always deal in averages though. When the 40hp fighter gets one shotted by a dragon where was his luck, resolve and ability to change the hit to a glancing blow.

"Actual wounds"? What actual wounds? There are no ill effects from losing hit points. You are either up and fighting at full strength or you are unconscious. The ill effect is that the closer you are to 0 the closer you are to being unconscious.

4E went into the weird world of shouting people healthy and auto-regeneration for all PC humanoids. It took actual damage completely out of the equation except for the Quantum Mechanics world of unconsciousness.

I'll agree with you on some of this. But again D&D has always had some of this weirdness.

There is no actual damage in 4E except if the PC is unconscious and even there, he can sometimes wake up on his own and quickly be totally fine (unless of course he's dead).

I'm sorry, but that's just lame. It would be funny if it were not so sad how many people bought into this. It's 8bit theater for all PCs.

Where is there actual damage in any version of D&D? just because it took longer in older versions of D&D to heal up didn't mean it accurately reflected damage. Healing from a deep sword wound naturally isn't going to take weeks maybe months if ever.

I still think that buying into what healing surges are isn't lame. Could it have implemented better? Sure. Some people have a hard timing dealing with it. However some of us saw it as progress. Perfect progress, no, but it gave us a different way of dealing with the abstractness of hit points.

 

[Naszir]

"Hey guys, should we fall back? I'm all out of narrative control points."

No, please. Hero/action/fate points are even worse than healing surges. (Slightly.)

Wait but we have been told that Hit Points are already considered this as well. What this difference between falling back because you are low on hit points or low on any other resource?

 

[Hassassin]

Wait but we have been told that Hit Points are already considered this as well. What this difference between falling back because you are low on hit points or low on any other resource?

"Hey, we must fall back! Mialee is hurt and my healing magic is all spent."

 

[KarinsDad]

"Hey, we must fall back! Mialee is hurt and my healing magic is all spent."

Yes precisely. Narrative reasons for PC actions.