Slower magical healing

[Master of the Game]

I'd like to include a rule in my new game that makes magical healing non-instantaneous. More like a fast regeneration up to the amount rolled when the spell is cast. It seems to me that I've seen such a rule somewhere, and if I can avoid it I'd rather not have to make one up whole cloth, so does anyone have any ideas where I might find such a thing?

 

[Pyrex]

Just how much slower do you want to make healing?

One option would be to throw out all the Cure spells and replace them with the Vigor series (from Complete Divine, they provide Fast Healing instead of instantaneous curing)

Another option (which is even slower) is to have Cure spells convert damage from Lethal damage to Non-Lethal damage (which natural healing takes care of in hours of rest instead of days).

 

[dungeondweller]

I've not seen a previous article on this topic, but I think the base idea deserves some serious thought before any decision is made... Do you plan to change the Divine casting classes in some way to compensate for "nerfing" their healing spells? I ask not authoritatively, but from the perspective of a player... They're going to see this rule change as something having been taken away and expect it to be counterbalanced somehow.

 

[airwalkrr]

You could accomplish this using the vigor spells. I would recommend making sure there is a vigor spell for each spell level though.

 

[airwalkrr]

One other note: using reserve points in conjunction with vigor spells would probably be a fair alternative. If you are unfamiliar with reserve points, each character receives a reserve of hit points they can call on at any time that is a function of their level. The system is in Unearthed Arcana.

 

[Master of the Game]

Thanks for the advice.

Magic in our campaign world is lower powered, but more frequent. Caster Level is around half what it would be in a typical DnD game, but casters can throw spells much more often.

This is actually intended as a nerf to melee classes, not healers. Clerics and mages were already hurt a bit in their direct combat ability, and since my warriors are all light fighters with low AC and hit points, slow healing hurts them more than the casters, and will force them to change tactics a bit.