Should a NPC cleric heal himself?

[cmanos]

GM Code of Ethics? What a load of crap.

If the enemy cleric has a spell that would heal him prepared, of COURSE he should heal himself.

 

[WarlockLord]

Of course he should heal himself. Pcs do it all the time.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

In our game yesterday the party fought an undead cleric. I wanted to make it more of a challange. The cleric had an inflict serious wounds spell. I used it to heal the cleric. I heard groans from most of the people at the table. One went as far to say that it was against "the GM code of ethics" (which I never heard of) for a cleric to heal himself like that. Another arguement he had was it prolongs the battle.

My defense is 1. This was the BBEG. It should have been a big battle with lots of effort and drama. 2. Why shouldn't an intellegent being use what they had available? 3. PC's are allowed to do it to prolong a battle.

I try to make it a challenge for them.

NPC clerics should be terrifying. If they don't want him healing himself, they need to bust out the silence spells and other ways to prevent spellcasting.

 

[Drowbane]

In our game yesterday the party fought an undead cleric. I wanted to make it more of a challange. The cleric had an inflict serious wounds spell. I used it to heal the cleric. I heard groans from most of the people at the table. One went as far to say that it was against "the GM code of ethics" (which I never heard of) for a cleric to heal himself like that. Another arguement he had was it prolongs the battle.

My defense is 1. This was the BBEG. It should have been a big battle with lots of effort and drama. 2. Why shouldn't an intellegent being use what they had available? 3. PC's are allowed to do it to prolong a battle.

I try to make it a challenge for them.

Sounds like some whiny players.

 

[WayneLigon]

Of course he should heal himself; it's just given that he will try to survive as long as possible against his foes. Shoot, I used a vampire assassin one time that had four potions of inflict moderate wounds. She drank two of them in the ensuing series of fights and was obviously healed. Why the badly damaged guy at the end of the fight thought one would work for him, I dunno....

 

[SpiderMonkey]

Of course he should heal himself; it's just given that he will try to survive as long as possible against his foes. Shoot, I used a vampire assassin one time that had four potions of inflict moderate wounds. She drank two of them in the ensuing series of fights and was obviously healed. Why the badly damaged guy at the end of the fight thought one would work for him, I dunno....

I'm totally stealing this.

 

[Harmon]

Saturday (7/22) during Queen of Lies we got discovered as not being Drow, a fight broke out, the wizard (my character) fired one shot from his crossbow on one round and Sonic Orbed on another as he was trying to flee. He was dropped to –7, the following round our only Cleric dropped to –4 or something like that. Everyone but one fighter was on another floor (guarding paralyzed PCs or being paralyzed), and he was dropping hp fast then the evil cleric stepped up and Cure Serious-ed or Healed (I missed which one) the big bad evil fighter.

DarthJaye said- “sorry guys,” to my wife and I and his character made a run for it.

I felt that it was a logical move for the evil cleric to make, and I felt that DJ’s character waited to long to run, though I know why he tried to stay, it was a battle he could not win.

 

[wingsandsword]

One went as far to say that it was against "the GM code of ethics" (which I never heard of) for a cleric to heal himself like that.

Say what? There is no such thing as "the GM code of ethics". There are things that it is generally seen as bad form for a GM to do, but having NPC's use their abilities to their benefit while attacking the PC's is certainly not one, especially when those abilities are quite standard and integral to the game.

Of course a Cleric is going to heal himself. If I was in a game and we took down a powerful Cleric, who after rounds of combat never once tried to heal himself, I'd be wondeirng what was up, and thinking that either the Cleric wanted to die, or the DM was being sub-competent. I'd expect a self-targeted Heal (or Harm if an undead cleric) or other serious curing spells to be used in a big fight. That's what counterspelling, Silence spells, and other anti-spellcasting tactics are there for.

Perish the thought that NPC's might use tactics, use their spells wisely, and be more than speed-bumps with HP that dispense XP and GP when swords are thrust through them.

 

[kenobi65]

Perish the thought that NPC's might use tactics, use their spells wisely, and be more than speed-bumps with HP that dispense XP and GP when swords are thrust through them.

Exactly. If it's a tactic that the PCs themselves can (and do) use, it's eminently fair game for intelligent NPCs to use.

 

[AuraSeer]

They're right, it was totally unethical to have him heal himself. Enemy spellcasters are not allowed to use magic of any sort, because that's unfair to the PCs. Similarly, NPC rogues must paint themselves pink and wear loud jingly bells at all times, to prevent them from unfairly sneaking up on the party. Fighters are restricted to Nerf weapons and harsh language.