How to handle healing

[mboshears]

I am returning to the hero system afte several years of being away. I am going to GM a short campaign to introduce it to some of my friends. I can't decide on the best way to handle healing.

 

What do you guys use in your campaigns? Straight dice rolls, simplified healing, healing per wound. What works to make it a viable spell but not so common place that everyone does it or too combersome that it is frustrating.

 

Thanks in advance

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: How to handle healing

 

The 5th edition, revised, handles it well by default - Each character with Healing (From any source) can only heal an injured character once per day. Being able to heal more often than that is a steep advantage.

 

Repeated stacking of healing effects is disallowed in general. In addition, I'd call character concept if all of your PCs end up with healing.

[Killer Shrike]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Well, it depends on what level of grittiness you are going for. Are you running a hardcore low fantasy game, a foot slogging epic game, a bulging bicep sword & sorcery game, a high-flying swashbuckler game, a big magic High fantasy game, etc?

 

The level of lethality you desire to match the intended tone of your campaign / setting should drive this decision.

 

 

 

As one of the primary drivers of tone, Healing is one of the items on my Paradigm worksheet, which you might want to check out:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/campaignParadigms.aspx

 

 

 

You might also find this series of documents on Lethality in the HERO System useful:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/shrikeLethalityOptions.aspx

[JohnTaber]

Re: How to handle healing

 

I use healing per wound with only one roll per wound. I do not allow the healer to max out the healing dice by taking time as mentioned in the rules.

 

We'll see how it works out long term...this rule has worked fine for me in the past.

[CorpCommander]

Re: How to handle healing

 

The Iron Kingdoms world has an interesting take on Healing - it is very close to necromancy and healing always has negative side effects. Mainly injury to the healer! I find that concept really interesting in it certainly limits what can happen. I think there are many ways in which you can limit healing. Too much healing can be quite bad as the heroes always emerge unscathed. It is a pretty awesome ability.

[Outsider]

Re: How to handle healing

 

What I used was pretty much dice rolls and healing per wound.

 

But then, I never had a player interested in plating a healer as character either, so major healing was pretty much only available "in town" between expeditions.

 

Healing "in the field" was limited to expendable items, which weren't nearly as powerful, and which I could control the availability of.

 

Healing with adders (ie replacing/restoring lost limbs) was possible

[Sepia]

Re: How to handle healing

 

I have used two different kinds of healing in my Fantasy games, both are simplied healing:

 

1) This one involves a lot of GM interaction because the priest or priestess that is calling on the dieties power to heal is subject to the whim of the diety and can not be abused for fear of retribution-Yes, the GM plays god . When does a god feel that you are starting to abuse healing a friend? That is the tough part.

 

2) Let the players try to use healing as much as they need to, but the Magic skill roll gets harder and harder (I usually use -2 or -4 per casting based on power level) when used on the same person. Failure will result in damage to both the character trying to be healed and the caster. This makes them hesitate on abusing it naturally.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How to handle healing

 

You can also apply the Cumulative Advantage to Healing.

[Hyper-Man]

Re: How to handle healing

 

5er page 111

 

Cumulative: Characters should not apply Cumulative to Adjustment Powers that increase a Power or Characteristic (such as Aid or Absorption), since they have their own rules for how many Character Points they can add to a particular Characteristic or Power and how and at what rate they’re added. They can apply Cumulative to Adjustment Powers that decrease a Power or Characteristic (such as Suppress).

 

5er page 188

 

Cumulative: Characters cannot apply this Advantage to Healing; see page 111.

[azato]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Killer, I will be glad the day you come clean and finally admit that you are multiple people running the same account. Then the rest of us can feel better about our comparatively meager output.

 

Well, it depends on what level of grittiness you are going for. Are you running a hardcore low fantasy game, a foot slogging epic game, a bulging bicep sword & sorcery game, a high-flying swashbuckler game, a big magic High fantasy game, etc?

 

The level of lethality you desire to match the intended tone of your campaign / setting should drive this decision.

 

 

 

As one of the primary drivers of tone, Healing is one of the items on my Paradigm worksheet, which you might want to check out:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/campaignParadigms.aspx

 

 

 

You might also find this series of documents on Lethality in the HERO System useful:

 

http://www.killershrike.com/FantasyHERO/HighFantasyHERO/shrikeLethalityOptions.aspx

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How to handle healing

 

5er page 111

 

Quote:

Cumulative: Characters should not apply Cumulative to Adjustment Powers that increase a Power or Characteristic (such as Aid or Absorption), since they have their own rules for how many Character Points they can add to a particular Characteristic or Power and how and at what rate they’re added. They can apply Cumulative to Adjustment Powers that decrease a Power or Characteristic (such as Suppress).

Which makes no sense at all, since Suppress is the *only* Adjustment Power that decreases something and isn't already Cumulative.

 

Notice also the phrase "since they have their own rules for how many Character Points they can add" and that Healing, unlike the other positive Adjustment Powers, does not have a way to increase this amount. This is something that was rephrased between FREd and 5ER. IDHMBIFOM, but FREd said something like "Cumulative can only be applied to those Adjustment Powers that don't already have their own way to increase their maximum effects". The only Adjustment Powers like that are Healing, Succor, and Suppress. FREd never explicitly said you couldn't apply Cumulative to Healing. And I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be allowed.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Because healing is already cumulative. Check 'Decreased Re-Use Duration'.

 

Also, having Suppress be cumulative would be a really cheap 'I win' power.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Because healing is already cumulative. Check 'Decreased Re-Use Duration'.

Like I said, *in FREd*. There was no Decreased Re-Use Duration.

 

Also, having Suppress be cumulative would be a really cheap 'I win' power.

I agree, which makes it even more confusing as to what Steve was talking about. If you can't use Cumulative on anything but Succor, then why not say that? Why bother to say "You can only use Cumulative on Adjustment Powers that aren't X, Y, or Z" when the only such Power is Succor?

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Like I said' date=' *in FREd*. There was no Decreased Re-Use Duration.[/quote']

That wasn't entirely clear in the wording.

 

I agree, which makes it even more confusing as to what Steve was talking about. If you can't use Cumulative on anything but Succor, then why not say that? Why bother to say "You can only use Cumulative on Adjustment Powers that aren't X, Y, or Z" when the only such Power is Succor?

True - On the other hand, just disallowing Succor wouldn't cover other cases - Despite the lack of them now, there might have been more in the future then.

 

Or I dunno. My 'Telepathy: Only Versus Steve Long' isn't working.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Waitaminute! Is Healing cumulative in 5ER? It certainly isn't in FREd. If you've got 2d6 Healing and you roll 6 pips of effect on someone, and then do it again and roll 6 pips again on the same person, you don't have a total of 12 pips of effect, you have 6. At least that's the way it is in FREd - most decidedly *not* cumulative.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Er...As far as I know, you don't need to heal the same BODY loss over again.

 

Oh, right, think I know where you're coming from. Basically, in 5ER, you can heal a character once per day - Wether that's absolute, once per injury or other is up to the GM, but once per day.

 

'Decreased Re-Use Duration' can lower than all the way down to once per turn - So additional uses of healing are cumulative, because each builds on the healing already done. That's what you use instead of cumulative.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: How to handle healing

 

Er...As far as I know, you don't need to heal the same BODY loss over again.

 

Oh, right, think I know where you're coming from. Basically, in 5ER, you can heal a character once per day - Wether that's absolute, once per injury or other is up to the GM, but once per day.

If that's accurate, that would be another change from FREd to 5ER. In FREd, you can Heal someone as often as you like, but it will only have an effect if you roll higher than any of the previous rolls, and only by the amount higher that you roll.

 

With 2d6 Healing, I heal Wounded Wally, rolling 6 pips of effect. Wally gets those 6 pips of whatever back. I try again and roll another 6; nothing happens. I try again and roll a 9; he gets another 3 pips back (for a total of 9). Since the maximum I can roll on my 2d6 is 12, I can keep trying until I roll a 12, which is the maximum I can heal him in a day. Is this what you meant?

 

'Decreased Re-Use Duration' can lower than all the way down to once per turn - So additional uses of healing are cumulative, because each builds on the healing already done. That's what you use instead of cumulative.

Which still isn't "Cumulative" like everything else in the game which can be Cumulative all the way down to "per phase" or "per segment" or even "per 0 time" with multiple shots like with Rapid Fire, or Autofire. So if I actually want Cumulative Healing, I'm SOL, according to 5ER.

[Narf the Mouse]

Re: How to handle healing

 

True; I'm just saying that's the way it works, as far as building on past rolls go.

 

Thing is, you can't have healing per phase, because the number of phases per round differs per character. You could have healing per segment, but that would be rather annoying for the GM.