D&D 5E The "everyone at full fighting ability at 1 hp" conundrum

[Lanefan]

That was another rule that to me very much implied that cure spells were not really patching wounds. You could have full hit points AND still be incapacitated.

How?

If you were incapacitated the cures didn't give you back any hit points, because your body couldn't take 'em. All you could do was rest back your one per day until 4 weeks had passed, at which point you'd jump to full if not there already.

 

[Tony Vargas]

How?

If you were incapacitated the cures didn't give you back any hit points, because your body couldn't take 'em. All you could do was rest back your one per day until 4 weeks had passed, at which point you'd jump to full if not there already.

When dropped below 0 you could receive healing and be restored to full hps, but still required a week of rest ('bed rest' it might even have been, explicitly?). There was no stipulation that the hp gain was delayed until the end of the rest that I recall. I suppose I'll be checking the 1e DMG again.

 

[Lanefan]

You can have 1 hit pt and be completely functional

Which is exactly the problem this whole thread has (in theory!) been trying to focus on, and find ways to fix. And it's a problem that's been around since 0e, only it's become more of an issue with 4e-5e's completely over-the-top recovery speeds.

and have full hit points and be incapacitated from injury

Er...wha? How in the world can you get to this condition?

 

[Garthanos]

Which is exactly the problem this whole thread has (in theory!) been trying to focus on, and find ways to fix. And it's a problem that's been around since 0e, only it's become more of an issue with 4e-5e's completely over-the-top recovery speeds.
Er...wha? How in the world can you get to this condition?

you were incapacitated for a week if you went below zero hit points in AD&D even if a spell brought you to full hit points

 

[Lanefan]

When dropped below 0 you could receive healing and be restored to full hps, but still required a week of rest ('bed rest' it might even have been, explicitly?). There was no stipulation that the hp gain was delayed until the end of the rest that I recall. I suppose I'll be checking the 1e DMG again.

Just checked mine and - surprise, surprise - it doesn't actually say; and so it's open to interpretation.

I guess we always interpreted it that the fact a resting character could basically do nothing other than rest implied that said character was at a very low hit point total* and that cures short of a full Heal didn't help this (and by extension, didn't restore any hit points). What the DMG doesn't cover - and which would make this all much clearer - is what happens if a resting character somehow finds itself under attack, other than it can't defend itself.

* - in our system with body-fatigue points it's easy: the character recovers to full bodies (usually 2-5 h.p.) but no further until the allotted time has passed; this is backed up by the DMG describing the character as unable to do anything in the least bit tiring.

 

[Garthanos]

If you were incapacitated the cures didn't give you back any hit points

That wasnt the rule (are you perhaps remembering a house rule?).

Ah it looks like you were no problem.

 

[Lanefan]

That wasnt the rule (are you perhaps remembering a house rule?).

Ah it looks like you were no problem.

There's no way of telling whether your interpretation was the rule either. The DMG flat-out doesn't say, so all we're left with is our own interpretations and house rules.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Which is exactly the problem this whole thread has (in theory!) been trying to focus on, and find ways to fix. And it's a problem that's been around since 0e, only it's become more of an issue with 4e-5e's completely over-the-top recovery speeds.

Less of an issue, I'd think. Being whittled down to 1hp and still fully functional is more consistent with being fine again the next day, then would being badly-disabled below half hps.

Similarly, wound penalties from the first hit, spiraling in severity as your current hps drop until you're virtually helpless as you approach 0, would be consistent with very long recovery times.

 

[3catcircus]

Less of an issue, I'd think. Being whittled down to 1hp and still fully functional is more consistent with being fine again the next day, then would being badly-disabled below half hps.

Similarly, wound penalties from the first hit, spiraling in severity as your current hps drop until you're virtually helpless as you approach 0, would be consistent with very long recovery times.

Which is exactly why the idea that you are A-OK until you hit 0 hp or below, stabilize while near death, and then suddenly spring back to being your same old self after a single night's rest is such a ridiculous concept to me.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Which is exactly why the idea that you are A-OK until you hit 0 hp or below, stabilize while near death, and then suddenly spring back to being your same old self after a single night's rest is such a ridiculous concept to me.

Because it's more self-consistent than having terrible penalties for being wounded, then fine the next day? Or because it'd be more consistent with terrible penalties to have longer healing times?

I mean, as long as your preferred alternative is penalties & other consequences for being wounded to go with extended convalescence it sounds reasonable enough. It's when we're OK with no penalties down to -1, but freaked by fast recovery that I wonder.