No Healing?

Kindling · June 06, 2006, 07:51:16 AM

I need some advice...

I don't like healing potions. They might crop up occasionally, but having them all over the place, and easily purchased form "town" makes things seem to computer-game-ish.

However, conventional divine magic and it's associated healing abilities won't really find too much of a place in anything I'm likely to create.

So, do you think that the game is playable without fast, easy healing magic, or should I come up with some new source of "quick fix" healthcare?

CYMRO · June 06, 2006, 08:39:25 AM

Since I did away with the Pally in Altvogge, I turned his laying on of hands into a feat available to all with a few ranks in the Heal skill. You could give such a "faith healing" feat a cure rate of 1d8 X times per day, and allow a successful heal check a minimal (1d2) cure rate.

Lmns Crn · June 06, 2006, 09:08:59 AM

You might want to consider the implications of a VP/WP system. Among other things, this speeds most nonmagical healing, as VP recover at a much more rapid rate than HP under the traditional system.

If you wanted to go a step further and cheat the VP/WP system ever so slightly, you could always reintroduce supernatural "healing" effects that restore vitality points only. Since you're not really wounded until you start taking wound point damage, VP restoration still keeps characters on their feet, but the effect is one of invigoration and energization, not true healing. (Of course, this is pretty similar to what you're trying to avoid; we're treading on iffy ground.)

One of the projects that has been on my back burner for years is the development of some sort of mechanism, probably, a small feat chain, that would support nonmagical medical care and begin to phase out a reliance on magical healing. The idea involves characters with some ranks in the heal skill learning how to perform crude surgery, but the details are very sketchy at this point.

limetom · June 06, 2006, 12:27:28 PM

Amother system, aisde from Vitality Points/Wound Points, is Reserve Points. Reseve points give a character the capacity to heal themselves after battle, but not during.

Both VP/WP and Reserve Points have their pros and cons, and the "better" one depends on your play style.

Rules for VP/WP can be found here.

Rules for Reserve Points can be found here.

Epic Meepo · June 06, 2006, 02:07:17 PM

I second the notion of either wounds points or reserve points. Faster natural healing of all but the worst wounds just makes sense. Every mid- to high-level party has enough cure light wands to heal themselves all the way up between each fight anyway, so why not just forgo the wands and let them do it naturally?

Xeviat · June 07, 2006, 03:30:15 PM

In a wound vitality system, you can also introduce a more practical application of the heal skill:

Bind Wounds (DC 15+): As a full round action, a character with the heal skill can attempt to bind their, or another creature's wounds. A successful check changes a number of wound points to vitality points; A DC 15 check changes 1 wp to 1 vp, and an additional 1 wp is transfered for every 2 points you exceed this Heal check.

This allows in combat healing to be done, to keep someone from dying from a second crit, and it allows WP to heal faster (since VP heal at a rate of 1 point/hour/level). Try it out.

Kindling · June 08, 2006, 12:21:29 PM

The VP/WP system looks perfect, but the Bind Wounds thingy has me confused. What exactly does it mean by changing a wound point to a vitality point?

Xathan · June 08, 2006, 03:08:54 PM

Definitily go with VP/WP. Best system ever, plus it's more realistic and makes describing battles more fun. I've been using VP/WP since I first played the Star Wars d20 game.

Xev, I don't get your skill. Does it mean convert WP damage to VP damage?

Lmns Crn · June 08, 2006, 03:31:42 PM

That's the way I read it: converting WP damage to VP damage, or if you prefer, healing WP by damaging VP. The amount of woundage is the same, but its degree is less, so it heals faster.

CYMRO · June 10, 2006, 06:07:48 PM

Quote from: Xeviat TranionIn a wound vitality system, you can also introduce a more practical application of the heal skill:

Bind Wounds (DC 15+): As a full round action, a character with the heal skill can attempt to bind their, or another creature's wounds. A successful check changes a number of wound points to vitality points; A DC 15 check changes 1 wp to 1 vp, and an additional 1 wp is transfered for every 2 points you exceed this Heal check.

This allows in combat healing to be done, to keep someone from dying from a second crit, and it allows WP to heal faster (since VP heal at a rate of 1 point/hour/level). Try it out.

Cool idea.

The Campaign Builder's Guild

News:

No Healing?

Kindling

CYMRO

Lmns Crn

limetom

Epic Meepo

Xeviat

Kindling

Xathan

Lmns Crn

CYMRO