Turning the HP/Healing Dial

[CM]

We all know that HP and Healing are one of the biggest hurdles for WotC to overcome in D&D Next's development. The number of threads on this topic on this forum alone proves the point. Some people want it gritty, old-school, realistic, simulationist (or whatever you want to call it). Others want characters to be action movie heroes who can take a beating and get up again, seemingly good as new.

Below is my take on what the dial on the HP and Healing system could possibly look like for the next D&D. It's purely hypothetical, and I try to account for the existing playtest rules without posting any of them in order to avoid breaking the playtest agreement. Unless otherwise indicated, each method uses the normal playtest rules as-written.

I'm going to try to post a poll with this, but haven't ever done one before, so bear with me...

Method I (similar to early editions):

• Starting HP: Characters have starting HP equal to their Hit Die roll result (optionally, maximum) plus their CON modifier.
• Hit Dice: Characters have only a single Hit Die (as it applies to healing) and do not gain more per level.
• Short Rest: Characters do not heal during a short rest.
• Long Rest: Characters eligible to take a long rest regain HP equal to their CON modifier (minimum 1). A character with the Healer’s Touch feat using the tending-wounds-during-rest portion of that feat can allow the character to roll their hit die and take that result if it is higher than their CON modifier, instead of the feat’s default ability.
• Below 0 HP: When healing a character at negative HP, add the healing amount to the negative number. For example a character at -5 HP who is healed for 4 HP is now at -1 HP. Characters below 0 HP regain HP according to the normal playtest rules for stabilized.

Method II (default, but no total HP recovery on full rests)

• Default playtest rules as-written except:
• Long Rest: Before resting, characters eligible to take a long rest can spend any number of remaining Hit Dice as per playtest rules for short rests. Characters regain HP equal to their level plus CON modifier (minimum 1). The character’s Hit Dice refresh, and the character can spend these hit dice on additional healing if necessary as per the rules for short rests.

Method III (same as default playtest rules)

Method IV (similar to 4th edition):

• Starting HP: Characters have starting HP equal to their maximum Hit Die value plus their CON score plus 6.
• Hit Dice: Characters have a number of Hit Dice equal to 6 plus their level.
• Second Wind: A character can use their action to spend one hit die and regain HP equal to the die result plus their CON bonus. Every four levels the character can choose spend an additional hit die while using Second Wind (up to two Hit Dice at level 4, three at level 8, four at level 12, and so on), adding their CON bonus to each hit die. This action can be combined with the Dodge action. This ability is not affected by the Healer’s Touch feat. This ability cannot be used again until the character takes a short rest.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Of the above options, the first is by far the most D&D-ish and the best from a game balance perspective. I am, of course, not a fan of hit points and I think it would be quite easy to do better with a different health system.

 

[Mengu]

I guess #4 is the closest to what I want, but it's still not quite there. I definitely want options though.

Here is one idea I was tinkering with, there only really need be two levels of hit points, high, and low. Fighters, Paladins, Barbarians, etc. get high, rogues, wizards, clerics, etc. else get low. I also want more static values, none of this Con stuff and hit dice stuff, or dice rolling stuff.

Method LXXXVIII:

• Starting HP: Characters start with 20 (low) or 25 (high) hit points. Then they gain 5 (low) or 6 (high) hit points per level.
• Resting: During a rest characters regain hit points at the rate of 1 hit point per level per minute. This is explained by a healer in the party, or a magic item, in the absence of a healer, or in some cases, self healing, whatever seems to best fit the flavor of the campaign.
• Second Wind: Twice per day (and one additional time per 5 levels), as an action, a character can regain 5+(2xlevel) hit points.

It's just hypothetical I haven't thought too hard on the numbers. I'm sure everyone here hates this, but it's the heroic type stuff I'd want to use in a campaign I run. And when I play, I don't really have a problem with whatever the DM picks to fit his style. We could really all make our own version of how we want hit points to work. I don't know... Maybe the system could even encourage this.

What I don't want, is I don't want a million different ways to heal, in the way of healing spells, or self healing. I want it to be confined to a simple mechanic that refers back to the design choice that was made when selecting how we want healing to work. It might be a complex design, but once the selection is made for the campaign, it should be easy to resolve, and it should work with the intended balance.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Surely Method I's healing rate needs to be made proportionate to total hit points? Otherwise you have the problem that a 100 hit point character reduced to 50 hit points recovers a lot more slowly than a 10 hit point character on 1 hit point, assuming equal Con scores.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I prefer Method MM: Everything is the same as in the playtest rules, but each night's rest a character heals an amount of HP equal to his character level + his Con modifier (minimum 1 HP). Seems like a pretty nice solution.

I don't get the hate for mundane healing hit dice, as the only thing that allows you to heal mundanely is the healer's kit. Surely it's more "the healer's kit mechanic" than "the hit dice mechanic," and if you don't like it you can just not have the healer's kit, or rule that the healer's kit is magical.

 

[Blood & Bones]

Chose method II AND special snowflake! I like method II, but I also have different idea...

Here's what I'm thinking. Wound Points = to Constitution. Starting Hit Points is 6 for Wizards, 15 for Clerics/Rogues, and 21 for Fighters. Wizards gain an additional 3 per level, Clerics & Rogues gain 5, and Fighters gain 7. Wizards have a 1d4 hit die, Clerics & Rogues have 1d6, and Fighters have 1d8.

Short rest brings back any number of hit dice worth of damage, as before. Long rest brings back all hit points and one wound point.

If you run out of hit points, damage goes to wounds. When you are subject to a critical hit, you take 1 point of wound damage. When your wound points are less than your constitution score, you can only take one action per turn (instead of two).

Yes, it's a little more involved... But I think it's interesting.

 

[Bagpuss]

Method II (default, but no total HP recovery on full rests)

• Default playtest rules as-written except:
• Long Rest: Before resting, characters eligible to take a long rest can spend any number of remaining Hit Dice as per playtest rules for short rests. Characters regain HP equal to their level plus CON modifier (minimum 1). The character’s Hit Dice refresh, and the character can spend these hit dice on additional healing if necessary as per the rules for short rests.

The main problem with this method is it encourages the 15 minute adventure day, as if the Mage goes nova you are more likely to have those Hit Dice resources remaining to spend them.

Secondly if you do actually use them then you are down to just level plus CON mod, which won't keep pace with hit points and unduly punishes fighters and those with higher hit points.

Given the choice what party starts adventuring on less than full resources? So you are just going to slow everything down as the party sit around in town waiting to heal up. You have to go back to town now as any interruption cancels the benefit of a long rest, so once there way not stay as long as needed?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Method XXI: every time characters rest, the DM rolls randomly to determine how well they rest. Good rest recovers HP; poor rest causes additional HP loss. This can be mitigated through the selection of the Like a Log, Dream walker, or Narcolepsy feats.

 

[FireLance]

I could live with methods II, III or IV. I'm broad-minded and flexible. Go me.

What I would like to see is for other "daily" resources to refresh at the same rate as hit points. If the fighter and the rogue have to take one week off to regain all their hit points non-magically, the wizard and the cleric ought to have to take one week off to regain all their spells, too.

Let's not have any more of this, "I'm low on hit points and it's going to take too long to heal naturally, so we'll just rest eight hours, the cleric can regain all his spells and he will heal me to max" nonsense.

 

[CM]

Surely Method I's healing rate needs to be made proportionate to total hit points? Otherwise you have the problem that a 100 hit point character reduced to 50 hit points recovers a lot more slowly than a 10 hit point character on 1 hit point, assuming equal Con scores.

Secondly if you do actually use them then you are down to just level plus CON mod, which won't keep pace with hit points and unduly punishes fighters and those with higher hit points.

Given the choice what party starts adventuring on less than full resources? So you are just going to slow everything down as the party sit around in town waiting to heal up. You have to go back to town now as any interruption cancels the benefit of a long rest, so once there way not stay as long as needed?

I wanted to have the option, as this is almost exactly how 2e (and I think 1e) do it: 1 HP per day, or 3 if you get bed rest. So it's actually even more generous than 2e, as you get to use your CON bonus if it's higher than 1. It wasn't until 3e that you got to add your level to HP restored per day (which is what method II does).

Not that I would find such a game enjoyable, but that's the way it worked back in the day.