Warlords Heal?

[Nifft]

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.

Temporary HP is an awesome mechanic, and much easier to balance than healing.

I'd like to see it used a lot more in 4e.

Cheers, -- N

 

[mhacdebhandia]

In at least partial agreement. I've always treated HP as actual physical damage NOT as an abstraction of any kind.

And that choice has never harmed your suspension of disbelief?

 

[I'm A Banana]

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

By the time you can survive full-frontal fireball, you can also survive a 20 foot drop.

A massive explosion in your face is more of an annoyance than actual physical pain. You know how to shut your eyes and your scars from previous battle toughen you up and you can roll with it and guard yourself with a shield. What really throws you off your game is that it kind of singed your hair.

And you do not. touch. the 'doo.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

And that choice has never harmed your suspension of disbelief?

Never.

Because I don't feel the need for it to model reality when it was clearly designed to model the unrealistic.

 

[mhacdebhandia]

Who said anything about modelling reality? I know I never did.

 

[Thundershield]

The Hit Point Mechanic is just a way - and abstract indeed - of setting a challenging threshold for when the hero buckles. If you want something more lethal or something that inflicts penalties as the hero's situation worsens, feel free to houserule that or use a different system.

But ask yourself: What makes a hero a hero? That he has a great destiny? Well, then consider the Hit Points a "destiny buffer"... Is it that he's toughened up and has learned how to survive various dangers? Then call them "survival points".. Do the Hit Points represent real wounds and blood? Then find a way to explain how the hero can contain 20 gallons of blood.

Likewise, healing will be reflected by this explanation of Hit Points. Pick one that you like and roll with it. The idea that hit points is a combination of luck, survival instincts, endurance, and perhaps even divine favor, destiny, or force of will is a simple and easy-to-explain way of making the abstraction of Hit Points plausible. And mind, it's a way that makes Hit Points work without too much fuss so you can focus on more important elements in your game, such as the actual story, for instance.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

Who said anything about modelling reality? I know I never did.

You didn't.

It was several of the previous posters who were defending the abstraction of hitpoints based on the proposition that since they don't model reality when non-abstract they must be taken abstractly. My second sentence was intended for them. I was trying to explain that I felt no need for it to model reality.

 

[Nifft]

But ask yourself: What makes a hero a hero?

The fact that he's got strings on him which are being pulled by someone who isn't the DM.

Everything else varies.

Cheers, -- N

 

[pemerton]

I'm a bit old fashioned (?) and like to think hp as something that drops when something actually damages you.

I thought hp as luck and morale was old-fashioned. This explanation of hp appears in the 1st ed DMG, for example.

If it's some sort of healing skill in the middle of combat, then that doesn't wash ("quick, I'll perform surgery on you this round in the middle of battle!"), so odds are it's a supernatural class ability.

Given the number of disparaging remarks in various Design and Development colums about anti-magic, and the need it creates to distinguish Ex, Sp and Su abilities, I'm guessing that these distinctions won't continue into 4e in their current form.

 

[pawsplay]

We don't really know how the ability works (Hey, maybe there are different kinds of 'healing' in 4E, such as dispelling Conditions), but I'm thinking Wolfspider has the right of it here. There is no 'surgery' involved since there is no actual wound he's healing; since you're not actually taking cuts and scrapes and stab wounds until the last few hit points anyway, what he's 'healing' is your ability to continue fighting via inspiration or command.

That's going to be a very interesting interpretation to maintain as each "non-hit hit" delivers a chance for, say, a spider's poison to take effect. Or spikey monters to damage attackers who hit. etc.

For all editions of D&D, hit points represent a variety of things, but in all cases, a hit still constituted a hit. I could see a sort of Warlord "heal" along the lines of, "Come on, you're not that bad off!" or "Actually, I've been leading my allies bravely into battle, causing them to shrug off glancing blows through sheer audacity" but the abstraction factor goes through the roof.