D&D 5E Tweak Instant Cure spells to fix whack-a-mole

[Psikerlord#]

So here's the idea to fix whack-a-mole:

If you're 1 hp or above, cure spells are instant. If hp 0 or below, cure spells take 1d3 minutes to work before the target is healed.

No more whack-a-mole?

What do folks think?

 

[Horwath]

Cure spells are already bad enough and they only have usefulness when getting someone knockedout back on his feet.

Most of the time it is better to throw some spell proactively and preventing damage instead of healing the damage.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Whack a mole is not really a thing in my games. I buffed cure spells by allowing to spend and roll a single hit die in addition to normal healing.

 

[Yunru]

I just make failed death saving throws only go away on 2 (sometimes 3) conditions: Death, and resting (or Spare the Dying sometimes).

 

[Horwath]

Whack a mole is not really a thing in my games. I buffed cure spells by allowing to spend and roll a single hit die in addition to normal healing.

That is a good idea. I would even try as a variant to make you have to spend one HD per level of healing spell.
I.E. cure wounds 2nd level, heals 2d8+modifier and also you must spend let's say 2 HDs of fighter for extra healing of 2d10+2×con mod

 

[UngeheuerLich]

That is a good idea. I would even try as a variant to make you have to spend one HD per level of healing spell.
I.E. cure wounds 2nd level, heals 2d8+modifier and also you must spend let's say 2 HDs of fighter for extra healing of 2d10+2×con mod

I tried that, but it was too much in my opinion. I also don´t let them add Con modifier. It is a straight d10 for a fighter, d12 for a Barbarian. Cure spells are now where I like them.
In the playtest cure spells healed 2d8+2 per level hp. That was too frustrating as DM. Especially since our Cleric chose the life domain. It was too much up and down. I do like that combats tend to end at some point.

Edit: Only healing someone that is already down is usually very risky. Depending on initiative order that person loses a turn or miss out an opportunity attack. Collect death saving throws faster than you may think. Area damage kills downed PCs, melee attacks add two failed saves if they don´t deal enough damage to one shot you. That is not too unlikely, especially at low levels or against life draining monsters.

 

[Chaosmancer]

So here's the idea to fix whack-a-mole:

If you're 1 hp or above, cure spells are instant. If hp 0 or below, cure spells take 1d3 minutes to work before the target is healed.

No more whack-a-mole?

What do folks think?

While I personally have no issue with "whack-a-mole" this solution creates a problem in my eyes.

A character falls in combat, perhaps suddenly due to a crit. The cleric rushes over to heal them, you roll that t takes 3 minutes to heal them. 30 rounds of combat. Within 6 rounds the character is either dead (and thus the cure spell is wasted) or they are stabilized.

Meanwhile, 2 players are out of the fight.

So, the healer will now never attempt to save an ally who falls in battle. They will wait til after the fight because it is impossible to save them before the death saves will run out. This means a player who falls is left sitting the rest of the fight out, until they either know if their character died from their wounds or will survive and the party can do nothing to save them.

Unless you still allow medicine checks to stabilize, and then I have to wonder if the healer feat can still heal while their at zero, and that makes a non-magical heal more powerful than a magical one.

If your table wants the game to be that deadly, then go for it, but personally I think it is a more tense and tactical battle where the healers have to see if they can reach a fallen ally and give them enough healing to survive long enough to retreat or get out of the line of fire.

 

[GMMichael]

give them enough healing to survive long enough to retreat or get out of the line of fire.

That's about right. Healing should be done before your comrade falls. If someone goes down, that's your cue to vacate the premises, not to drop a cure spell on him and throw him back into the fight. It also tells you something about your friends if they cure you, and then abandon you to the next smash of the dire gnoll's morningstar.

 

[Umbran]

A character falls in combat, perhaps suddenly due to a crit. The cleric rushes over to heal them, you roll that t takes 3 minutes to heal them. 30 rounds of combat. Within 6 rounds the character is either dead (and thus the cure spell is wasted) or they are stabilized.

Or, you simply rule that the downed PC does not need to make death saves so long as the cleric is working on them. Say it requires concentration - if the cleric loses concentration on the spell, the spell fails and the downed PC starts making death saves again.

Using the concentration mechanic also allows the cleric to do *some* things - sling an occasional quick spell or whack someone who approaches with a weapon - while healing.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If you're 1 hp or above, cure spells are instant. If hp 0 or below, cure spells take 1d3 minutes to work before the target is healed.

It would solve the problem at hand, provided it stabilizes instantly and then the HP recovery happens later.

In general, the more characters you can remove from combat, the faster combat will go. It makes the healing character less powerful, but that works for both sides of the fight. If you're mostly in fights where the PCs have magical healing and the opposition does not, then this rule would make the encounters more dangerous for the party, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.