Mournland Healing: A New Approach [Archive] - Wizards Community

Mournland Healing: A New Approach [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
WotC_Andy
06-14-07, 07:02 PM Recently, I was preparing for my 15th-level team of adventurers to head off into the Mournland for a dungeon crawl.

They'd been before (many levels earlier), so they knew the big no-healing drawback, and they'd pored over various books to find potential loopholes to let them restore damage without bailing out of the adventure.

(In other words, they wanted to keep having fun. Go figure.)

Mere minutes before the session started, I fell upon a solution which both I and the players ended up finding rather entertaining.

Shortly before getting on the airship that would take them to their destination, the characters were approached by an agent of the Cabinet of Tricksters (one of the PCs is a changeling who also belongs to that organization). The group had heard of their imminent departure and offered them the use of a magic item that they had "borrowed" from Cannith R&D.

This item, called a lifewell, was a tiny coin-sized disk. When pressed into the flesh above the heart, the lifewell disappeared into the owner's body, attuning itself with his life-force. Once attuned, the lifewell couldn't be removed (but it'd dissolve over the course of a week or so).

In game terms, the lifewell provides a reservoir of 100 hit points that the character can draw upon by using healing magic...even when in the Mournland or a similar area where "healing" magic doesn't work.

For instance, if you drink a potion of cure light wounds while you have an active lifewell, you'd regain 1d8+1 hp (just like normal), and the lifewell's reservoir would be reduced by the same amount.

The catch that I introduced (both to reflect the item's story as an "experimental" trinket and to provide an interesting in-game decision) was that each time you drew on the lifewell, there was a chance that it also sucked up a little bit of your own life-force.

Each time a character benefited from a healing effect that drew from the lifewell, I rolled d%. If the result equalled or exceeded the number of points they'd drawn from that lifewell, the character lost 1 hp.

Permanently.

The lifewell still gave the healing (and didn't stop working), but now you were just a little less healthy than before.

I didn't explain the drawback before the game started (but hinted at the fact that these were imperfect items that might have negative ramifications). The players fairly quickly doped out what was happening and why, which was perfect.

As 15th-level characters, the loss of 1 hp stung, but didn't prevent the characters from using the lifewells when needed. It did, however, mean that they tended to delay healing until needed, and used bigger healing effects when they could (since I rolled each time they used an effect).

All in all, it proved a very interesting variant approach to the Mournland, resulting in tense decision-making but way more fun. (We actually got to string together four encounters, including the day's big finale.)

Obviously, you'd want to adjust the size of the reservoir based on your characters' levels. You might tweak the drawback resolution mechanic (I really liked the slightly random feel of the d%, but YMMV).

If you were spending a lot of time in the Mournland, you'd probably also want to change the permanent loss to a temporary loss (maybe -level to max hp until you rest outside the Mournland?).

And if you want PCs to be able to put their hands on these, they'd need a price. I liked the idea of them being one-shot special freebies, but you might need/want 'em more frequently.

That's all. Hope somebody finds that useful.
The Fireballed Mage
06-15-07, 12:52 AM While not exactly the same, the whole thing reminds me of the jade 'fingers' used in Oriental Adventures to protect one from the Taint of the Shadowlands. I liked the idea there and like what you've done here.

Make the device out of targath (ECS 127) and I think we've got an in-setting winner. (Because it has to be mined from Argonnessen that limits it to however much the DM wants to be available.)
gensuke626
06-15-07, 09:18 PM I really like the idea of a lifewell...
If it were me though, I think I'd make it a flat 10% chance with each healing effect...though I'd up the ante a bit and have them take a point of Con damage. maybe 2 points of con damage...maybe make it based on a fort save...

A few varients come to mind immediately as far as experiments into how the lifewell actually circumvents the No-healing rule...

Xoriat Attuned - The lifewell uses the reality bending nature of the realm of madness to warp the already bent nature of the Mournlands into the user's favor. Instead of HP or Con damage, the user suffers Wisdom damage when the device malfunctions, and must pass a will save or gain a point of Taint (Heroes of Horror).

Mourning Attuned - The lifewell attunes the user to the highly altered nature of the mournlands. While it is active, the character can recieve normal healing within the mournlands and will even heal naturally, but while he is outside of the Mournlands, natural and magical healing have no effect on him. The lifewell continuously alters the user's magical aura, trying to keep it "in-sync" with the Mournlands strange version of reality, but occasionally the lifewell fails to properly adjust the character's aura. Instead of the permanent HP loss, the healing spell fails outright, and the lifewell's user suffers damage equal to the spell's level (Ie, a botched Heal spell will cause 6 points of damage)

Just some ideas based on the original...Don't know if they'd work or not...just brainstorming.
Salla
06-15-07, 11:28 PM I just cast Rope Trick, climb into the extradimensional space, and heal. Since the space is extradimensional, it's not within the confines of the Mournland and, thus, works perfectly. :)
GrimAlchemist
06-16-07, 01:48 AM I just cast Rope Trick, climb into the extradimensional space, and heal. Since the space is extradimensional, it's not within the confines of the Mournland and, thus, works perfectly.

That's just crazy enough to work. And assuming the DM allows it, the same effect could be reproduced for those groups wealthy enough to own a portable hole, since it's large enough for characters to enter, and creates an extradimensional space as well. Just.. make sure to take off your bags of holding and handy haversacks before hopping in, or you might end up with more trouble than just needing a place to heal.
gensuke626
06-16-07, 06:11 PM Actually Rope Trick and Mordenkeinen's Mansion are mentioned in Five Nations as known ways to bypass the No Healing restriction of the Mournlands. (I think it's 5 nations anyway...It might be PGtE)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
WotC_Andy 06-14-07, 07:02 PM	Recently, I was preparing for my 15th-level team of adventurers to head off into the Mournland for a dungeon crawl. They'd been before (many levels earlier), so they knew the big no-healing drawback, and they'd pored over various books to find potential loopholes to let them restore damage without bailing out of the adventure. (In other words, they wanted to keep having fun. Go figure.) Mere minutes before the session started, I fell upon a solution which both I and the players ended up finding rather entertaining. Shortly before getting on the airship that would take them to their destination, the characters were approached by an agent of the Cabinet of Tricksters (one of the PCs is a changeling who also belongs to that organization). The group had heard of their imminent departure and offered them the use of a magic item that they had "borrowed" from Cannith R&D. This item, called a lifewell, was a tiny coin-sized disk. When pressed into the flesh above the heart, the lifewell disappeared into the owner's body, attuning itself with his life-force. Once attuned, the lifewell couldn't be removed (but it'd dissolve over the course of a week or so). In game terms, the lifewell provides a reservoir of 100 hit points that the character can draw upon by using healing magic...even when in the Mournland or a similar area where "healing" magic doesn't work. For instance, if you drink a potion of cure light wounds while you have an active lifewell, you'd regain 1d8+1 hp (just like normal), and the lifewell's reservoir would be reduced by the same amount. The catch that I introduced (both to reflect the item's story as an "experimental" trinket and to provide an interesting in-game decision) was that each time you drew on the lifewell, there was a chance that it also sucked up a little bit of your own life-force. Each time a character benefited from a healing effect that drew from the lifewell, I rolled d%. If the result equalled or exceeded the number of points they'd drawn from that lifewell, the character lost 1 hp. Permanently. The lifewell still gave the healing (and didn't stop working), but now you were just a little less healthy than before. I didn't explain the drawback before the game started (but hinted at the fact that these were imperfect items that might have negative ramifications). The players fairly quickly doped out what was happening and why, which was perfect. As 15th-level characters, the loss of 1 hp stung, but didn't prevent the characters from using the lifewells when needed. It did, however, mean that they tended to delay healing until needed, and used bigger healing effects when they could (since I rolled each time they used an effect). All in all, it proved a very interesting variant approach to the Mournland, resulting in tense decision-making but way more fun. (We actually got to string together four encounters, including the day's big finale.) Obviously, you'd want to adjust the size of the reservoir based on your characters' levels. You might tweak the drawback resolution mechanic (I really liked the slightly random feel of the d%, but YMMV). If you were spending a lot of time in the Mournland, you'd probably also want to change the permanent loss to a temporary loss (maybe -level to max hp until you rest outside the Mournland?). And if you want PCs to be able to put their hands on these, they'd need a price. I liked the idea of them being one-shot special freebies, but you might need/want 'em more frequently. That's all. Hope somebody finds that useful.
The Fireballed Mage 06-15-07, 12:52 AM	While not exactly the same, the whole thing reminds me of the jade 'fingers' used in Oriental Adventures to protect one from the Taint of the Shadowlands. I liked the idea there and like what you've done here. Make the device out of targath (ECS 127) and I think we've got an in-setting winner. (Because it has to be mined from Argonnessen that limits it to however much the DM wants to be available.)
gensuke626 06-15-07, 09:18 PM	I really like the idea of a lifewell... If it were me though, I think I'd make it a flat 10% chance with each healing effect...though I'd up the ante a bit and have them take a point of Con damage. maybe 2 points of con damage...maybe make it based on a fort save... A few varients come to mind immediately as far as experiments into how the lifewell actually circumvents the No-healing rule... Xoriat Attuned - The lifewell uses the reality bending nature of the realm of madness to warp the already bent nature of the Mournlands into the user's favor. Instead of HP or Con damage, the user suffers Wisdom damage when the device malfunctions, and must pass a will save or gain a point of Taint (Heroes of Horror). Mourning Attuned - The lifewell attunes the user to the highly altered nature of the mournlands. While it is active, the character can recieve normal healing within the mournlands and will even heal naturally, but while he is outside of the Mournlands, natural and magical healing have no effect on him. The lifewell continuously alters the user's magical aura, trying to keep it "in-sync" with the Mournlands strange version of reality, but occasionally the lifewell fails to properly adjust the character's aura. Instead of the permanent HP loss, the healing spell fails outright, and the lifewell's user suffers damage equal to the spell's level (Ie, a botched Heal spell will cause 6 points of damage) Just some ideas based on the original...Don't know if they'd work or not...just brainstorming.
Salla 06-15-07, 11:28 PM	I just cast Rope Trick, climb into the extradimensional space, and heal. Since the space is extradimensional, it's not within the confines of the Mournland and, thus, works perfectly. :)
GrimAlchemist 06-16-07, 01:48 AM	I just cast Rope Trick, climb into the extradimensional space, and heal. Since the space is extradimensional, it's not within the confines of the Mournland and, thus, works perfectly. That's just crazy enough to work. And assuming the DM allows it, the same effect could be reproduced for those groups wealthy enough to own a portable hole, since it's large enough for characters to enter, and creates an extradimensional space as well. Just.. make sure to take off your bags of holding and handy haversacks before hopping in, or you might end up with more trouble than just needing a place to heal.
gensuke626 06-16-07, 06:11 PM	Actually Rope Trick and Mordenkeinen's Mansion are mentioned in Five Nations as known ways to bypass the No Healing restriction of the Mournlands. (I think it's 5 nations anyway...It might be PGtE)