Warlords Heal?

[Li Shenron]

So... the only way to give a martial character healing abilities without explaining it with magic, is to reconsider the meaning of "hit points". To see "damage" as something more abstract than just wounds and bruises, and/or to see HP as the ability to resist damage in a variety of ways that might actually include any explanation, without the need to give the explanation exactly to each blow.

It sounds to me very OD&D. And incidentally it sounds to me also a critical step away from "videogameyness". Me loves it

edit: And if "bloodied" becomes the threshold under which you indeed start picturing damage taken as real significant wounds, then this is WAY more acceptable than I thought the "bloodied" thing was going to be...

 

[mhensley]

Good idea for a boss enemy.

Only if you want the party to lose.

Badly.

Really, really badly.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Okay, so if hit point damage is supposed to be abstract things like "Your morale is down and you feel less inspired to fight" or "you luck is running out/your getting tired and soon you will take actual deadly injuries" then Cure spells should not work to help those people== since all they do is knit bone and heal lacerations. Cure spells only help someone down to 10% or less of their hp, since that is when your character is actually taking real injuries according to the abstraction theory-- which means that its good that the warlord is coming along.

Before that, Clerics could only heal the most critically injured people, and all the other hit point damage representing luck, tiredness, etc was unable to be healed except through long periods of rest and reflection. Now someone can actually heal that "what is my motivation?" damage that cure spells and heal skills were powerless against!

lame

Or, alternatively, awesome.

Actually, my wound point system (see sig) does this a bit better. Hit points really are motivation, fatigue, morale, and luck. Eventually your luck runs out, you slow down, and people get in good solid hits that do real damage. If you can get through a combat without taking a wound, you just shake it off, get your wind back, and you're good for the next combat. If you take a wound, you'll be feeling it all day. Too many wounds and you'll be hobbling around.

Cure spells in my game do two different things. If you cast them in combat, they're a refresher. They perk you up, make you feel less run down, and invigorate you. If you cast them as part of a longer treatment regimen, they slowly knit bones, mend torn muscles, etc. over the course of a night.

 

[Riley]

Only if you want the party to lose.

Badly.

Really, really badly.

He'll be a recurring enemy, but he'll fall one day - and the glories of that day will be sung by heralds and bards for years to come.

 

[Stone Dog]

Like I pointed a page ago, it feels a bit strange spells like good hope, bless, prayer or bard songs don't heal at all since they, too, uplift the spirit.

There is a big difference between being made to go on fighting when all your reserves are gone and being inspired to actually produce results greater than you normally could.

Curing magics are permanent. They restore your reserves of body and spirit in a way that stays until something else brings you back down.

Blessings and bardics and what not are temporary. They IMPROVE your skills and abilities until the buzz wears off.

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Although I'm not sure what scares me more: the thought of cheerleaders walking around with greatswords, or a hairy, mighty-thewed barbarian in Kim Possible's cheer uniform.

After thinking for a couple of seconds of cheerleaders with greatswords, that second description worked like a bucket full of ice water.

 

[Falling Icicle]

HP as an abstraction make even less sense to me then a martial class magically healing wounds in a non-magical way. I get hit by a fireball and burned and I.. am not burned? I'm just discouraged? That's pretty absurd, IMHO.

 

[rounser]

I get hit by a fireball and burned and I.. am not burned? I'm just discouraged? That's pretty absurd, IMHO.

Attitude is so hot right now.

 

[Aloïsius]

HP as an abstraction make even less sense to me then a martial class magically healing wounds in a non-magical way. I get hit by a fireball and burned and I.. am not burned? I'm just discouraged? That's pretty absurd, IMHO.

Yup. Especialy if one round later, because someone said "Yarr ! we will kill them" you suddenly don't feel the burn anymore...

4e sounds promising enough to hope people won't recover from a severed arm because their captain just said "Chaaaaarge"....

 

[Falling Icicle]

Yup. Especialy if one round later, because someone said "Yarr ! we will kill them" you suddenly don't feel the burn anymore...

4e sounds promising enough to hope people won't recover from a severed arm because their captain just said "Chaaaaarge"....

What you're describing sounds more like temporary HP to me. And temporary HP make alot more sense for a class like the Warlord to have. Permanent healing does not, imo.