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marsden_online) wrote2016-03-21 11:03 pm
marsden_online) wrote2016-03-21 11:03 pm
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A few more points on Healing in D&D3E
There are a few leftovers from the previous couple of posts on healing in D&D3E that I wanted to express.
One is to comment on another quirk of the way D&D3 almost-but-not-quite completely abstracts hit-points from Constitution; by modifying total Hp based on CON but making the natural healing rate dependent only on level it winds up with the rather counter-intutitive situation where a low CON character recovers full health faster than an otherwise identical high CON character. It is also the case that higher level characters suffer a dis-proportionally greater setback from CON loss - taking as an extreme example a 1st level wizard losing 2 points of CON loses 1 Hp or 25%, at 20th level the same wizard having rolled average Hp would lose 20 from 52 Hp or ~40%.
This has very little practical effect because magical healing is almost always the order of the day. I've been in very few situations in-game where the amount of hit-points gained over a rest period has been relevant, and those generally at lower levels. I do try and engineer them from time to time in my games though. (Another reason I like Arcana Unearthed is that despite all spellcasting classes having access to healing, spell power is generally sufficiently limited that there is a considered trade off especially at lower levels. Also at what point you become unconscious / die is also tied to your CON.)
At higher levels any benefit from adding your CON bonus is probably outweighed by the amount of your level (although since CON bonuses of 5+ can easily be achieved that would still be a 25%+ improvement in healing rate); at lower levels a good CON could double, triple or quadrupule your natural healing rate. The flip side of this is that a poor CON could cripple it; for that reason if I house ruled that in I would also rule a minimum healing rate = 1 Hp per level/hit die in the same way that there is a minimum of 1 Hp per Hd.
~~~
Two is floating a variant damage system which is slightly less lethal and more likely to leave characters badly injured/unconscious/bound for slavery/the stew pot - but not dead. I'm not really a fan of killing PCs without dramatic, consensual circumstances although it has been happening a bit in my games recently.
1. Subdual damage works the same way as currently
2. Max Hp are affected by CON as currently, but dropping below 0 simply leaves you in an unconscious, badly wounded state. The minimum you can reach is -10, after this any blow inflicting regular damage or failure to stabilise instead inflicts 1 point of CON damage.
3. CON damage only affects your Hp total not your current Hp, unless your new total is below your current in which case the latter drops to equal the former. The minimum is still 1Hp/Hd
4. Critical hits do the critical modifier of the weapon directly in CON damage (in addition to regular damage). A coup de grâce does weapon damage directly to CON.
5. CON = 0 is dead. Break out the funerary rites or Raise spells.
I don't think this makes CON significantly more important as an ability score than it already is, and it saves having to add a third damage stat. Pressing on while injured (down CON) or chosing to hole-up for a day or two /does/ become more of a thing however, as does bed-rest after an adventure.
Taking advantage of the earlier mentioned dis-proportional affect of CON damage on higher level characters this also makes otherwise mookish opponents slightly more of a threat.
(One variant that I have seen has different types of weapons inflict their critical damage to different physical ability scores; slashing to STR, bludgeoning to DEX, piercing to CON. This does mean that your choice of weapon can significantly affect /how/ you reduce your enemy to immobility and whether or not you actually kill them outright.)
Ability-score restoring spells and items /would/ become more valuable/sought after. Regeneration effects would rationally need to be modified to affect ability scores in some way. A Ring of Regeneration which restored Constitution* might be worth that 90,000 gold.
* simultaneously lifting your max Hp and lifting your current Hp by that amount but not affecting any of the other abstracts which Hp supposedly represent
~~~
This brings me to three: alchemical and herbal healing items. I possess the "Ultimate Equipment Guide" (Mongoose Publishing) which has a few of these, typically between 50gp and 100gp per dose. They are mostly ingestibles but there are salves for easing sore muscles and pastes for stopping bleeding and forming a false-skin over wounds to allow them to start healing.
The most obvious use of these, in keeping with leaving the really fast healing to magic, is to increase the rate of natural healing. This might be as little as by 1Hp per night of rest (still potentially doubling the healing rate of a first-level character or commoner) and available for a few silver a dose (still quite a bit of money to a commoner). /Generally/ doubling the natural healing rate of a resting character for 8 hours seems it might be worth 1 use of a Healers Kit (so about 10 gold individually), for balance capping out at a total healing rate of say 10 (suggesting physical health plays an increasingly irrelevant part of Hp abstraction after 5th level).
There is also place for
- stimulants: giving temporary Hp boosts (enough to get an unconscious or dying character back on their feet long enough to look after themselves perhaps) or a short term bonus (+2) to an attribute or certain type of skill check.
- purgatives: providing bonuses against the secondary effects of certain poisons if taken quickly enough
- medicines: providing bonuses to the saves against other ongoing conditions such as diseases
The UEG also has several examples that fit within these categories, often with moderately unpleasant side effects after the fact. I would probably price these as potions of 0th or 1st level spells.
In a world seeped in magic and lore there will doubtless be more powerful concoctions, requiring rare ingredients collected, prepared and mixed under certain conditions which perform the similar effects to "truly" magical potions. I'm certain there will already have been feats and NPC classes written up around being able to create these, but I would price them as the equivalent potion. Their presence in a game is simply a reflection of the flavour of the world.
One is to comment on another quirk of the way D&D3 almost-but-not-quite completely abstracts hit-points from Constitution; by modifying total Hp based on CON but making the natural healing rate dependent only on level it winds up with the rather counter-intutitive situation where a low CON character recovers full health faster than an otherwise identical high CON character. It is also the case that higher level characters suffer a dis-proportionally greater setback from CON loss - taking as an extreme example a 1st level wizard losing 2 points of CON loses 1 Hp or 25%, at 20th level the same wizard having rolled average Hp would lose 20 from 52 Hp or ~40%.
This has very little practical effect because magical healing is almost always the order of the day. I've been in very few situations in-game where the amount of hit-points gained over a rest period has been relevant, and those generally at lower levels. I do try and engineer them from time to time in my games though. (Another reason I like Arcana Unearthed is that despite all spellcasting classes having access to healing, spell power is generally sufficiently limited that there is a considered trade off especially at lower levels. Also at what point you become unconscious / die is also tied to your CON.)
At higher levels any benefit from adding your CON bonus is probably outweighed by the amount of your level (although since CON bonuses of 5+ can easily be achieved that would still be a 25%+ improvement in healing rate); at lower levels a good CON could double, triple or quadrupule your natural healing rate. The flip side of this is that a poor CON could cripple it; for that reason if I house ruled that in I would also rule a minimum healing rate = 1 Hp per level/hit die in the same way that there is a minimum of 1 Hp per Hd.
~~~
Two is floating a variant damage system which is slightly less lethal and more likely to leave characters badly injured/unconscious/bound for slavery/the stew pot - but not dead. I'm not really a fan of killing PCs without dramatic, consensual circumstances although it has been happening a bit in my games recently.
1. Subdual damage works the same way as currently
2. Max Hp are affected by CON as currently, but dropping below 0 simply leaves you in an unconscious, badly wounded state. The minimum you can reach is -10, after this any blow inflicting regular damage or failure to stabilise instead inflicts 1 point of CON damage.
3. CON damage only affects your Hp total not your current Hp, unless your new total is below your current in which case the latter drops to equal the former. The minimum is still 1Hp/Hd
4. Critical hits do the critical modifier of the weapon directly in CON damage (in addition to regular damage). A coup de grâce does weapon damage directly to CON.
5. CON = 0 is dead. Break out the funerary rites or Raise spells.
I don't think this makes CON significantly more important as an ability score than it already is, and it saves having to add a third damage stat. Pressing on while injured (down CON) or chosing to hole-up for a day or two /does/ become more of a thing however, as does bed-rest after an adventure.
Taking advantage of the earlier mentioned dis-proportional affect of CON damage on higher level characters this also makes otherwise mookish opponents slightly more of a threat.
(One variant that I have seen has different types of weapons inflict their critical damage to different physical ability scores; slashing to STR, bludgeoning to DEX, piercing to CON. This does mean that your choice of weapon can significantly affect /how/ you reduce your enemy to immobility and whether or not you actually kill them outright.)
Ability-score restoring spells and items /would/ become more valuable/sought after. Regeneration effects would rationally need to be modified to affect ability scores in some way. A Ring of Regeneration which restored Constitution* might be worth that 90,000 gold.
* simultaneously lifting your max Hp and lifting your current Hp by that amount but not affecting any of the other abstracts which Hp supposedly represent
~~~
This brings me to three: alchemical and herbal healing items. I possess the "Ultimate Equipment Guide" (Mongoose Publishing) which has a few of these, typically between 50gp and 100gp per dose. They are mostly ingestibles but there are salves for easing sore muscles and pastes for stopping bleeding and forming a false-skin over wounds to allow them to start healing.
The most obvious use of these, in keeping with leaving the really fast healing to magic, is to increase the rate of natural healing. This might be as little as by 1Hp per night of rest (still potentially doubling the healing rate of a first-level character or commoner) and available for a few silver a dose (still quite a bit of money to a commoner). /Generally/ doubling the natural healing rate of a resting character for 8 hours seems it might be worth 1 use of a Healers Kit (so about 10 gold individually), for balance capping out at a total healing rate of say 10 (suggesting physical health plays an increasingly irrelevant part of Hp abstraction after 5th level).
There is also place for
- stimulants: giving temporary Hp boosts (enough to get an unconscious or dying character back on their feet long enough to look after themselves perhaps) or a short term bonus (+2) to an attribute or certain type of skill check.
- purgatives: providing bonuses against the secondary effects of certain poisons if taken quickly enough
- medicines: providing bonuses to the saves against other ongoing conditions such as diseases
The UEG also has several examples that fit within these categories, often with moderately unpleasant side effects after the fact. I would probably price these as potions of 0th or 1st level spells.
In a world seeped in magic and lore there will doubtless be more powerful concoctions, requiring rare ingredients collected, prepared and mixed under certain conditions which perform the similar effects to "truly" magical potions. I'm certain there will already have been feats and NPC classes written up around being able to create these, but I would price them as the equivalent potion. Their presence in a game is simply a reflection of the flavour of the world.