Question regarding healing/hp mechanics [Archive] - Wizards Community

Question regarding healing/hp mechanics [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Thangor
03-23-07, 12:37 AM Hi everyone.

(I haven't played any d20 modern, just d&d, so please forgive my ignorance)

It's my understanding that magical healing is rare if available at all in many d20 modern games. Is this correct?

And, if so, how are the mechanics balanced so that the PCs can survive?

See, I DM and I'm considering running a game with little or no magical healing. I started brainstorming ideas about how this would work, but realized maybe Wizards has already provided a viable balanced way to do this with d20 modern.
:confused:
spyone
03-23-07, 09:26 PM As far as I know, the usual solution to this is to say that "people die a lot" is not a flaw in a setting without magical healing, it just describes reality. :)

Sort of like when Dragonlance came out for 1st edition: Since there are NO clerics, everybody just got really paranoid about not taking damage, and resting up between battles. And a character with high hit points became REALLY valuable because he could keep on fighting when other people were beginning to fear their own mortality. (IIRC, my character had more than twice the hit points of the next highest in our group, and most of our battle plans centered on me standing in the front and trying to keep the attention of the biggest & baddest mosters we were facing.)

some systems use the "Vitality & Wounds) system instead of Hit Points. I believe they first appeared in the Star Wars game, and WotC was kind enough to license them to some thirs-part publishers, and eventually made them Open Content (but I'd check that thoroughly before using them as Open Content, 'cause I could be wrong). Basicly, it seperates the Hit Points that represent your physical body (Wounds) from the Hit Points that represent things like luck and the favor of the gods (Vitality). Attacks normally go to Vitality unless you have no Vitality left, but critical hits go to Wounds (instead of double damage). Note that this actually makes combat much more deadly, not less, and is intended to better model situations where one good shot could kill even a high level character (such as firearms and lightsabers).
But I believe you make Vitality heal much faster than normal, so without magical healing characters can still face several encounters in a short peroid of time (like a few days).
Ranger REG
03-24-07, 03:48 AM Hi everyone.

(I haven't played any d20 modern, just d&d, so please forgive my ignorance)

It's my understanding that magical healing is rare if available at all in many d20 modern games. Is this correct?

And, if so, how are the mechanics balanced so that the PCs can survive?
If your players are going to play the game like they did in D&D, they're going to die soon. They should have a different mindset when it comes to playing a game without a magical healer.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Thangor 03-23-07, 12:37 AM	Hi everyone. (I haven't played any d20 modern, just d&d, so please forgive my ignorance) It's my understanding that magical healing is rare if available at all in many d20 modern games. Is this correct? And, if so, how are the mechanics balanced so that the PCs can survive? See, I DM and I'm considering running a game with little or no magical healing. I started brainstorming ideas about how this would work, but realized maybe Wizards has already provided a viable balanced way to do this with d20 modern. :confused:
spyone 03-23-07, 09:26 PM	As far as I know, the usual solution to this is to say that "people die a lot" is not a flaw in a setting without magical healing, it just describes reality. :) Sort of like when Dragonlance came out for 1st edition: Since there are NO clerics, everybody just got really paranoid about not taking damage, and resting up between battles. And a character with high hit points became REALLY valuable because he could keep on fighting when other people were beginning to fear their own mortality. (IIRC, my character had more than twice the hit points of the next highest in our group, and most of our battle plans centered on me standing in the front and trying to keep the attention of the biggest & baddest mosters we were facing.) some systems use the "Vitality & Wounds) system instead of Hit Points. I believe they first appeared in the Star Wars game, and WotC was kind enough to license them to some thirs-part publishers, and eventually made them Open Content (but I'd check that thoroughly before using them as Open Content, 'cause I could be wrong). Basicly, it seperates the Hit Points that represent your physical body (Wounds) from the Hit Points that represent things like luck and the favor of the gods (Vitality). Attacks normally go to Vitality unless you have no Vitality left, but critical hits go to Wounds (instead of double damage). Note that this actually makes combat much more deadly, not less, and is intended to better model situations where one good shot could kill even a high level character (such as firearms and lightsabers). But I believe you make Vitality heal much faster than normal, so without magical healing characters can still face several encounters in a short peroid of time (like a few days).
Ranger REG 03-24-07, 03:48 AM	Hi everyone. (I haven't played any d20 modern, just d&d, so please forgive my ignorance) It's my understanding that magical healing is rare if available at all in many d20 modern games. Is this correct? And, if so, how are the mechanics balanced so that the PCs can survive? If your players are going to play the game like they did in D&D, they're going to die soon. They should have a different mindset when it comes to playing a game without a magical healer.