D&D (2024) The Problem with Healing Powercreep

[EzekielRaiden]

I see "thinking of story" to mean the taking of a wider view of authorship than just one's own character.

If I'm "thinking of story" I'm not just thinking of what my character is going to do or say right now, I'm thinking of how those words or actions might affect the story or plot down the road, maybe similar to how a chess player looks several moves ahead to asses the downstram effects of the move she's making right now.

If I'm "thinking of character" I'm just doing/saying what my character would in the moment and letting any downstream story or plot effects take care of themselves.

How can you have a character thinking about what that character desires without thinking about the consequences of the character's actions?

Like...attempting to fulfill one's desires is pursuing a consequence. The character can do so well or poorly within the limits of their abilities (pobody's nerfect), but even the most dunderheaded fool thinks at least a little bit about the future, albeit oftentimes very poorly.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

In 5e both the bard's song of rest and the chef feat trigger extra healing when you use a HD, so this is a reason for rationing your HD over several rests, so that you can trigger this many times.

That would be covered by "assuming you have no other source of healing." Song of Rest and Chef would be other sources of healing, even if they are riders atop.

 

[pemerton]

Are you saying you can't decide not to spend one?

Well, in 4e it doesn't come up. You take a short rest, you spend surges, you regain hp. There's no game-play logic to not spending your surges.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

How can you have a character thinking about what that character desires without thinking about the consequences of the character's actions?

Like...attempting to fulfill one's desires is pursuing a consequence. The character can do so well or poorly within the limits of their abilities (pobody's nerfect), but even the most dunderheaded fool thinks at least a little bit about the future.

Yes, but we also do this in the real life, yet one would not normally describe living your life as creating a story (though one could perhaps poetically describe it so.) So I think this is what @Lanefan means by simply inhabiting and acting as the character not being story creation. (This is a semantic difference though, and I think both way of thinking this are coherent.)

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Yes, but we also do this in the real life, yet one would not normally describe living your life as creating a story (though one could perhaps poetically describe it so.) So I think this is what @Lanefan means by simply inhabiting and acting as the character not being story creation. (This is a semantic difference though, and I think both way of thinking this are coherent.)

I mean, we literally have the principle that every character is the hero of their own story. So it's not like this isn't a way people think about it, nor that it isn't a way that helps writing things. Hell, one perspective on the fundamental attribution bias IS that people effectively see themselves as the protagonist and everyone else as, functionally, supporting cast or extras.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Well, in 4e it doesn't come up. You take a short rest, you spend surges, you regain hp. There's no game-play logic to not spending your surges.

Well, spitefully damaging your own character is an option. God knows that showed up a lot on the old WotC boards to prove things about 4e. "Look, if I ignore what the designers explicitly stated is how things are supposed to work, sometimes in a post directly about mine, things don't work. Checkmate. Now to put sugar water in my gas tank to show how Toyota doesn't know how to make cars."

 

[Micah Sweet]

I should hope not, as that's not true. It is, however, fairly accurate to say that you have no reason not to if you can take a short rest. Much as characters in 5e have no reason not to spend hit dice (assuming they have no other source of healing) when they take a short rest. Like. You could choose not to. But there's literally zero benefit to doing so, and very major risk of death for not doing so. Unless the character is suicidal, there is no reason not to.

4e did actually add mechanics later where you might consider not spending surges to heal up to near-max because you might need the surge for something else, but that would be pretty niche.

I have on more than one occasion not spent hit dice if I was down a very small amount, on the assumption that I would need it more for an encounter later that day.

 

[Micah Sweet]

How can you have a character thinking about what that character desires without thinking about the consequences of the character's actions?

Like...attempting to fulfill one's desires is pursuing a consequence. The character can do so well or poorly within the limits of their abilities (pobody's nerfect), but even the most dunderheaded fool thinks at least a little bit about the future, albeit oftentimes very poorly.

But they do that from the characters point of view, not from the perspective of the story elements they want to emphasize.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I mean, we literally have the principle that every character is the hero of their own story. So it's not like this isn't a way people think about it, nor that it isn't a way that helps writing things. Hell, one perspective on the fundamental attribution bias IS that people effectively see themselves as the protagonist and everyone else as, functionally, supporting cast or extras.

But just because one can think about their in-character choices in those terms doesn't mean you have to, or that it's the only way. I have not once made decisions for a PC in terms of the story I want to tell.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I have on more than one occasion not spent hit dice if I was down a very small amount, on the assumption that I would need it more for an encounter later that day.

That would be how healing surges work. You may spend surges during a rest. Nothing's making you.

There's also a few other things that you can spend surges on as well.