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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sunseeker" data-source="post: 5882822">Didn't heal.  What if they let you avoid damage to begin with?  Maybe we'll put a twist on the name, call them "action surges", and they provide a wide array of functions except healing.  Lets say you can take an "Action Surge" to gain a +2 bonus to a defense or a rolled save, not enough to break the game, but possibly enough to turn that hit into a miss.  Or perhaps we could use an "Action Surge" to simply turn the last attack against you into an automatic miss.  Or negate a certain amount of damage, not "heal" it, but act as some form of damage resistance or reduction.Think of it like when Viggo Motensen actually reacted swift enough to deflect the mis-thrown knife of Lawrence Makoare(playing Lurtz).  Magic, nature or divinity may be the only way to heal damage, but certainly all those normal, non-magical types have skills to avoid damage when they really really really need to.Allowing players to react to attacks through using resources makes any game much more engaging than simply going "oh I got hit, I lose 10 life."  It's not a wound system, you don't lose these Action Surges when taking damage, they can't be taken from you by a condition or an ability of another.  Everyone gets a small number of them, say 1+con mod(so even the beefiest guy would only have 6 or 7 at most times).  Limit them to being used once per round, with possibly some kind of prestige class/paragon path/theme/background/skill/feat to do it more often.You don't get penalties or bonuses for having more or less Action Surges, not having them just means you rely on others for your healing, having some means you've got a little bit of gusto just in case the poop hits the fan.I don't like surge-based healing, it didn't make much sense to me.  Why is the Cleric's ability to heal limited by my ability to heal myself?  But I did like the idea of "second wind", and I think this would be a valid way to expand that system, reduce reliance on the "Holy Trinity" of party design and make them game more interactive.Thoughts?</blockquote>

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