NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 5943192" data-attributes="member: 2067">The distinction is a little academic at a certain point, but here's what I see:First, there's "natural healing," which we have divided into two different periods: a short rest, which recovers some of your HP, and an extended rest, which recovers it all. The rate at which this occurs is arbitrary, as long as we have a short(er) and a long(er) rest. D&D doesn't have to assume one day or one week, and they can let it be either one. Second, there's "spike healing," which comes from potions, poultices, warlords, clerics, vampires drinking blood, etc. This is a little messier, since if one character can shout another back from the brink of death, it forces #2, regardless of anything else in the game. The only kind of HP that it makes sense to have for "inspirational healing" is #2, and it cannot exist in #1.However, that doesn't, IMO, force magical, clerical, healing. Second winds and the like are easy to explain away, since by definition, those actions can only be performed when you are above 0 hp and conscious enough to use them yourself. "You take a standard action, spit on a rag, and stick it in your sucking chest wound" is mostly fine. Similarly, herbs and poultices and even sheer grit and toughness can explain someone healing themselves with their mettle and ruggedness. It's a bit "mythic" sometimes (a game that wanted to model realistic medieval combat wouldn't want it), but I think it fits with the iconography of D&D nicely.  The problem comes when others heal you, especially back from the brink of death. If you're going to leave room for #1, a warlord's high-pitched girly squeals can't heal HP. They can do other things -- negate attacks, for instance, or give you actions to spend, or grant temp HP -- things that are functionally equivalent to healing on most practical levels, but they can't restore HP for you. There's no outside energy being given to you. That kind of healing-by-inspiration needs to come in a module, in order to leave the first view viable. There's a lot of folks who want that sort of healing, so it needs to be something you can put in. But if you put it in by default, it hurts those who can't stand the thing, ruling them out of the game. That means we need to start with #1 (because we need some way to describe and define all the effects in the game that can heal you), and allow #2 as a switch you can flip, for a more cinematic, more dramatic, possibly less magical kind of game.</blockquote>

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