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Slow Natural Healing in actual play
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<blockquote data-quote="clearstream" data-source="post: 8978258" data-attributes="member: 71699"><p>For me, your last sentence makes an important point. The model is incomplete (well, technically <em>all</em> models are incomplete) and contains contradictions. On the other hand, play is a symbolic and analogic activity: for many purposes it has to pass-off-as rather than be realistic.</p><p></p><p>Poison attacks are an example of on-hit effects. Here's the poisoning on-hit effect from Giant Spider:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>A poisoned creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. A paralyzed creature has additional problems. Strangely, the <em>poison spray</em> spell does not bestow the poisoned condition. As an aside, I like the use of poisoned and charmed in 5e to chain to other effects.</p><p></p><p>My general view is that at all times when playing RPG we're dealing with impressions of a non-existent situation. Each person at the table will have different impressions. Hopefully only slightly different, but probably - were it interrogated - containing both substantial differences and outright contradictions. We continually revise our picture in the direction of our interests and to match that of others. The impression - sometimes called shared imagined space - always, under every RPG system - contains a myriad of omissions and contradictions that we constructively fail to notice so long as they're not important to our play. On-hit effects are one of the known contradictions with D&D hit points. That's not new to 5e.</p><p></p><p>In this light, what counts as gritty realism or slow natural healing? It's not especially realistic. The healing isn't natural. In my home campaigns I have recently been sticking with an additional tweak - characters gain a maximum of six hit dice. One die per level up to level 6. Hit points aren't gained past that (not from Con, not from Tough). I've added a wounded condition, that like poisoned and charmed will chain to other effects (e.g. <em>healing word</em> can't benefit wounded creatures.)</p><p></p><p>My concern isn't that the game feel more or less grittily realistic, it's that fights are palpably risky. I want players to not be too keen to get into one, and to know when they've been in one. If you've ever played the <em>Bushido</em> RPG, you might have a sense of what this can feel like. I'm also aiming for something you summarise quite well:</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>The DMG and XGE provide a range of examples of what might be done in downtime, and I'm also interested in far more social interaction. Bearing a few wounds is unlikely to hinder a character making their way through social circles. Those wounds might even form a good conversation starter. It's all about purposes. Going back to the OP, "grittier" perhaps isn't a well-defined purpose. It helps to have in mind what grittier means. It might not mean realistic. So far as GR and SNH go, it readily leads to something more aligned with a more leisurely campaign arc, with more going on in downtime from adventuring.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="clearstream, post: 8978258, member: 71699"] For me, your last sentence makes an important point. The model is incomplete (well, technically [I]all[/I] models are incomplete) and contains contradictions. On the other hand, play is a symbolic and analogic activity: for many purposes it has to pass-off-as rather than be realistic. Poison attacks are an example of on-hit effects. Here's the poisoning on-hit effect from Giant Spider: A poisoned creature has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks. A paralyzed creature has additional problems. Strangely, the [I]poison spray[/I] spell does not bestow the poisoned condition. As an aside, I like the use of poisoned and charmed in 5e to chain to other effects. My general view is that at all times when playing RPG we're dealing with impressions of a non-existent situation. Each person at the table will have different impressions. Hopefully only slightly different, but probably - were it interrogated - containing both substantial differences and outright contradictions. We continually revise our picture in the direction of our interests and to match that of others. The impression - sometimes called shared imagined space - always, under every RPG system - contains a myriad of omissions and contradictions that we constructively fail to notice so long as they're not important to our play. On-hit effects are one of the known contradictions with D&D hit points. That's not new to 5e. In this light, what counts as gritty realism or slow natural healing? It's not especially realistic. The healing isn't natural. In my home campaigns I have recently been sticking with an additional tweak - characters gain a maximum of six hit dice. One die per level up to level 6. Hit points aren't gained past that (not from Con, not from Tough). I've added a wounded condition, that like poisoned and charmed will chain to other effects (e.g. [I]healing word[/I] can't benefit wounded creatures.) My concern isn't that the game feel more or less grittily realistic, it's that fights are palpably risky. I want players to not be too keen to get into one, and to know when they've been in one. If you've ever played the [I]Bushido[/I] RPG, you might have a sense of what this can feel like. I'm also aiming for something you summarise quite well: The DMG and XGE provide a range of examples of what might be done in downtime, and I'm also interested in far more social interaction. Bearing a few wounds is unlikely to hinder a character making their way through social circles. Those wounds might even form a good conversation starter. It's all about purposes. Going back to the OP, "grittier" perhaps isn't a well-defined purpose. It helps to have in mind what grittier means. It might not mean realistic. So far as GR and SNH go, it readily leads to something more aligned with a more leisurely campaign arc, with more going on in downtime from adventuring. [/QUOTE]
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