D&D 5E Should the Fighter's "Second Wind" ability grant temporary HP instead of regular HP?

Should "Second Wind" grant temporary HP instead of HP?

  • Yes.

    Votes: 58 23.0%
  • No.

    Votes: 118 46.8%
  • I'm not bothered either way.

    Votes: 76 30.2%


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AARGH!! Can't XP Remathilis, have to spread it around! Some else do it!

Covered for you. Should have added some of my own. :D

This is the thing that completely baffles me. AD&D, as written, is full of rules that are virtually incomprehensible. Initiative rules, I'm looking at you. Yet, fans of the system gloss over this, and talk about how the system is so friendly to being kit bashed and modified.

Fair enough. If that's a criteria for how good a game is for you, I can totally get behind that.

But, for some reason 5ed (and 4e before it) gets criticised even though modification is far, far easier. The system is so transparent that you can make all sorts of changes and it will still work. That's the point of having robust, transparent mechanics. You KNOW what the effect is of changing the healing rules. You KNOW what the effect will be if you futz about with the plusses on magic weapons. That's the whole point.

Making the changes that you want to the system are ludicrously easy and require a sentence, maybe two. BryonD outlined a perfectly viable change to the rules to make them do what he wants. Granted, where I disagree is why he cannot apply the same thing to 4e, but, hey, whatever, it's not a major deal.

Again, I have to ask, just how much hand holding are people expecting from the rules? If the rules don't specifically call out whatever option you want, but make making the changes easy and quick, isn't that enough? I mean, good grief, I bolted on 1e style morale rules onto 4e and it works like a charm. I will likely do the same in 5e because I like morale rules. But, I know that while I like morale rules, not everyone does and apparently they won't be supported out of the gate.

Fair enough. I'll add 'em back in. That's what running a game is all about - owning the rules. So, again, just how much hand holding do people need?
 

Yes because losing a customer that hasn't bought a new DnD product in over ten years is a major loss.

If you think businesses today wouldn't rather chase the money of people who don't buy their products over people who already do, you haven't seen a major Hollywood movie lately. ;)
 

If you think businesses today wouldn't rather chase the money of people who don't buy their products over people who already do, you haven't seen a major Hollywood movie lately. ;)

Yeah, because Hollywood never makes sequels. Transformers 4 is all about trying to get new viewers. We've got Marvel movies scheduled every quarter for the next decade. DC has movies into the 2020's scheduled. I saw that Pacific Rim 2 just got announced.

Sure, Hollywood is all about chasing new markets.
 

I favor proportional healing based upon the level of the target. Your CLW will actually do more hit points when cast on a 10th level character than it does on a 2nd level character.

<snip>

This system has stood me well for all versions of D&D except 4e and 5e.
As far as I know 4e is the only version of D&D to support proportional healing.
 

If you think businesses today wouldn't rather chase the money of people who don't buy their products over people who already do, you haven't seen a major Hollywood movie lately. ;)

Does that winky smiley indicate you are being sarcastic/ironic? Otherwise I am very confused by this statement. Most bigger-budget Hollywood movies seem to be chasing the same few known audiences (albeit it with varying degrees of success).
 

I'm sure there are plenty of one-issue voters who won't buy it for a multitude of reasons. I'm sure there are plenty who will buy it. At the risk of Mistoprophecizing, I think the latter will outnumber the former. Time will tell.

For me, it's not just one issue. There's a plethora of things that add up to too many things to houserule. There's too many things that break immersion. Second wind is just one of many rules that each on it's own might not keep me away from 5e, but taken together, by the time I remove them all, there's not much left. Also, I don't always dm, it's not always up to me what rules to exclude.

Time will indeed tell. My money is on 5E lying in the dustbin of D&D history, buried not quite as deep as 4e.
 

Time will indeed tell. My money is on 5E lying in the dustbin of D&D history, buried not quite as deep as 4e.

"The dustbin of D&D history"? ;)

Are there any editions not in there? I'm pretty sure every edition will still be being played ten or twenty years from now, and none of the current editions will still be considered "current" by WotC (certainly twenty years, but I'd be surprised if WotC stretched 5E to ten years, myself). Unless there's some huge secret OSR community who don't post on the internet (which seems unlikely), BD&D, 1E, 2E and their OSR clones are each and together less popular than either 3.XE/PF or 4E, in terms of actually being run, based on the last surveys I've seen.

(A complicating factor is OSR non-clone stuff like DCC and ACKS, but I'm not sure on the popularity levels of that, as well as D&D-like stuff like 13th Age)

If you think 6E is going to resemble your personal preferences any more than 5E does, I'd be very interested to hear your reasoning.
 
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As far as I know 4e is the only version of D&D to support proportional healing.

I was unclear again. I accepted the healing rates of pre-4e fine. They didn't affront my sensibilities. I just prefer a bit more proportion in that area. I prefer a bit more proportional one though surges are not the rate I want. I'd prefer just level be the multiplying factor.

The reason I don't think 4e and now 5e hit points support my playstyle is that they force you to accept non-magical rapid healing. From Second Wind to HD heal ups at short rests. The feel of the game is never going to be right with those things in it.

They've clearly said Second Wind won't change. That means whatever the rate it is going to be a fighter making a decision to heal himself. Never going to work in my game.
 

They've clearly said Second Wind won't change.
Can you link to this?

The only relevant info I've seen is the Tweet where Mearls, in answer to the question "[do] the alternative modules somehow affect second wind?", replied "No - in general, mods affect the core system in ways that ripple back to character abilities."

And that is not a clear statement that Second Wind won't change. It's an obscure statement which leaves it open that changes to the healing system may "ripple back" to affect Second Wind.
 

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