D&D 5E Should 5E have Healing Surges?
- Thread starter Oni
- Start date
That's effectively the 4E model. Everyone gets x more hp each day.
That's the model that a significant percentage of players, even 4E players, have issue with.
Ability to recover most of your ablative damage shield post-combat, without someone having to be The Cleric = thumbs up from me.
Healing surges as written = thumbs down.
I favor a wound/vit system, but I'm open to other possibilities. For that matter, I'd be okay with the surge mechanic as long as healing surges, hit points, and other "heal" and "damage" effects were renamed to bring the flavor in line with the mechanics.
Healing surges as written = thumbs down.
I favor a wound/vit system, but I'm open to other possibilities. For that matter, I'd be okay with the surge mechanic as long as healing surges, hit points, and other "heal" and "damage" effects were renamed to bring the flavor in line with the mechanics.
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Ahnehnois
First Post
Healing surges present several problems.
Like all forms of healing they assume a certain degree of entitlement, the idea that characters are supposed to have full hp at all times.
They also remove what was already a perilously weak sense of consequence after fighting a battle.
The special nature of divine healing becomes trivialized, altering the role of religion in the game world.
They posit some arbitrary "per-time" resource that creates a sense of capriciousness and unbalance.
The absurdity of wounds healing over in a second, an extension of the conceptual failure that is the hit point system itself, it really just adding insult to injury.
If you go the vitality/wound route, quick healing of vitality, even second winds, is definitely doable. But the healing surge idea as it exists in print now should be gone.
Like all forms of healing they assume a certain degree of entitlement, the idea that characters are supposed to have full hp at all times.
They also remove what was already a perilously weak sense of consequence after fighting a battle.
The special nature of divine healing becomes trivialized, altering the role of religion in the game world.
They posit some arbitrary "per-time" resource that creates a sense of capriciousness and unbalance.
The absurdity of wounds healing over in a second, an extension of the conceptual failure that is the hit point system itself, it really just adding insult to injury.
If you go the vitality/wound route, quick healing of vitality, even second winds, is definitely doable. But the healing surge idea as it exists in print now should be gone.
So will we see squealing SkinnyTwinks if we don't?
I chose the poll's last option.
I can accept Healing Surges as a rare resource- as rare or rarer than Action Points- but felt the number PCs had in 4Ed was ridiculous.
I can accept Healing Surges as a rare resource- as rare or rarer than Action Points- but felt the number PCs had in 4Ed was ridiculous.
While 4e has the problem, I felt it was a problem in earlier editions too, except the entitlement was in expecting the cleric to heal them, the "social pressure" to make the cleric into a heal bot.
Thinking about it more, I could see the second wind mechanic being used with temporary hitpoints. In that way its not true "healing", but at least for the immediate combat it does the same thing, allowing the PC to absorb more damage than he would otherwise be capable of doing.
Flavorwise, it represents that second surge of power, letting the PC do more than he would normally be capable of, because that's what heroes do. But ultimately without true healing, that surge would fade and the PC would be as hurt as he was before.
El Mahdi
Muad'Dib of the Anauroch
I don't play 4E, and I don't use the healing surge mechanic in my house rules, but I actually do want healing surges in 5E.
I think it's a mechanic that if included in core, is still very easy to just ignore if one doesn't like it.
If it's included as a modular add-on, I think it's a very simple mechanic to add on.
There isn't much difficulty either way, but in this case I think it works better if included from the start. If one doesn't like them or wants a grittier game, then ignore them and poof, you've got what you want...especially if the games structure/math is designed with the idea of surges included. I usually follow the philosophy that it's easier to add mechanics than take away, but in this case I believe it works better the other way.
I think it's a mechanic that if included in core, is still very easy to just ignore if one doesn't like it.
If it's included as a modular add-on, I think it's a very simple mechanic to add on.
There isn't much difficulty either way, but in this case I think it works better if included from the start. If one doesn't like them or wants a grittier game, then ignore them and poof, you've got what you want...especially if the games structure/math is designed with the idea of surges included. I usually follow the philosophy that it's easier to add mechanics than take away, but in this case I believe it works better the other way.
Li Shenron
Legend
I prefer not to have them.
It's ok to have additional sources of healing, but healing surges were just kind of gross.
Probably the problem lies in how Hit Points are interpreted. Unfortunately there is no amount of good reasoning that can convince people that hit points damage from a sword is not a wound but is just a "moral drop". Otherwise the game would also have characters able to deal HP damage by speaking to the opponents.
But HP are sort-of naturally, spontaneously interpreted by everyone as your measure to withstand physical punishment...
But... IF they can make healing surges optional in a way that the game works well both with and without them, then I'm fine. It would certainly be good for everyone if you can opt for a game without healing surges (the default), if the group wants the classic D&D adventure type, OR add-on the healing surges rules module if the group wants adventures with fights after fights after fights with a "recharge" mechanism.
It's ok to have additional sources of healing, but healing surges were just kind of gross.
Probably the problem lies in how Hit Points are interpreted. Unfortunately there is no amount of good reasoning that can convince people that hit points damage from a sword is not a wound but is just a "moral drop". Otherwise the game would also have characters able to deal HP damage by speaking to the opponents.
But HP are sort-of naturally, spontaneously interpreted by everyone as your measure to withstand physical punishment...
But... IF they can make healing surges optional in a way that the game works well both with and without them, then I'm fine. It would certainly be good for everyone if you can opt for a game without healing surges (the default), if the group wants the classic D&D adventure type, OR add-on the healing surges rules module if the group wants adventures with fights after fights after fights with a "recharge" mechanism.
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Not in 4E, it isn't. Healing surges are deeply integrated into the game. Very nearly every form of healing available relies on healing surges. That's not to say you can't remove them from the game, but it would be quite a bit of work.
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