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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 5947600" data-attributes="member: 996">Well, and because there's really nothing wrong with them.  Actually, there is something wrong with healing surges, and Vancian casting, and AEDU.  Daily resources.  Daily resources dictate pacing, which limits the kinds of campaigns the DM can run, presents players with metagame incentives, and restricts the kinds of 'stories' you can collectively tell (if you're into RPGs as collective storytelling).  Aside from that, though, there's nothing wrong with surge mechanics that wouldn't require fixing a lot of other stuff, too.  Getting rid of surges could be advisable as part of a design shift to encounter-balancing or adventure-based resources management.  5e doesn't show any inclination in that direction, so should probably at least keep HD, if not bring them closer in function to surges.  In particular, keeping party healing resources separate from the Cleric's spell resources.A cleric using Vancian mechanics to cast Cure "Light" Wounds on his mortally-wounded (1 hp away from actual death, say), companion, over and over again until he's perfectly fine (possibly going and 'resting' another whole day to memorize some more of them because he rolled a couple '1's on his d8s) /isn't/ gamist and verisimilitude-busting?  The only thing that makes the old Clerical healing seem tolerable is familiarity.  At least, it's the only rationale I feel comfortable attributing to someone I'm having a polite discussion with.It's the approach you just advocated.  And, just upping clerical healing spells isn't going to fix it.  The problem is having healing traded off for other spells of the cleric.  Healing is a whole-party resource, making one character bear that whole burden is imbalancing.  If you make healing so potent that the cleric needs few spells to fully heal his party, then when he does devote his spells to healing their staying power goes over the top.  If you make healing require much of the cleric's spells, but give him other abilities to compensate, then when there are other sources of healing (like a second or third cleric, or those WoCLW), and spells can be devoted to non-healing applications, the cleric becomes over powered.  It's just not a workable paradigm.  Healing Surges are.  Hit Dice, if they acted as an ultimate healing limit, like healing surges did, could be, just at a level that'd make for shorter adventuring 'days' due to lack of healing. The various Cure...Wounds spells did add your level, and did have 'Mass' versions.So, yeah, it's all been tried.  Nothing worked.  Healing surges did.  Maybe they worked a little too well or seemed aesthetically unpleasing to some people, but they were a functional mechanic.</blockquote>

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