Healing Surge sub-system - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Healing Surge sub-system

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
Matt_James
Nov 05, 2009 18:05:36
In the circles I run around in, there is a lot of pouting for ways to effectively challenge super-optimized PCs. Now, I know there are any variable amount of ways to accomplish this; I am not arguing that. This is merely one more way that I have found to be extremely fun and demented. It also adds some spice. Please check it out, try it out, and let me know your experience.

Healing Surge sub-system - Loremaster
#2
bone_naga
Nov 06, 2009 13:59:59
Seems kind of odd that the PC would receive an injury while being healed, not while taking damage. If anything, I would say that system would be better incorporated into a critical hit chart. It also seems like it would slow down play too much to keep stopping, looking up a chart and rolling percentile dice all to resolve a minor action from the healer.
#3
Matt_James
Nov 06, 2009 14:02:57
Yeah, I thought of that too after I posted. I am thinking it would be better to use the chart if a PC takes damage equal to or greater than their surge value.
#4
bone_naga
Nov 06, 2009 14:08:28
I think that would work better.
#5
blacksheepcannibal
Nov 08, 2009 12:32:55
This seems to me to go against the grain of how hit points work in 4e. They aren't supposed to represent actual bloody injury or arrows sticking out of your butt, but more the sheer resolution, grit, and pain tolerance to keep going forward.

There is also the problem with players that have lots of healing surges will start off very rarely taking additional injuries, but players with fewer surges will be taking them much more commonly. You can easily say this is related to the overall toughness of the character, but it does seem to punish low-con characters unfairly.

Perhaps an alternate system would simply be the "bloodied" condition. That is actually supposed to represent that a blow has landed particularly hard, that something -has- had an effect on your charachter. Instead of the bookwork of keeping track of how many surges you have left, and then rolling percentile dice, you could simply say "whenever you get critically hit while bloodied you take an additional status effect". That means that while your character is vulnerable, every time they get hit it's a straightline 5% chance of bad stuff happening.

You may also want to raise the ante: Ongoing 5 damage/tier (bleeding out), Slowed, Weakened, Dazed, Prone, forced movement, or even "lose 1 healing surge". A successful heal check allows a free save, as per regular heal check rules. -1 to one defense is more of a book-keeping annoyance than a real danger, and -1 speed probably won't come into play too often either - but dazed, slowed, or weakened are the bane of players.

I use a variant of this myself: The first time (and only the first time) a player gets blooded in an encounter, they lose a healing surge. While they are bloodied, if they are critically hit, they lose another surge. It makes healing a slightly more pressing issue, and gives more than a "100% OK or 100% dying on the ground" feel to the game as well, and emphasizes that "bloodied" means you actually got -hurt-. This also makes temp hit points so much more valuable, because it provides a buffer of hit points before you would get bloodied, instead of just healing back up easily from 25% hp.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Matt_James Nov 05, 2009 18:05:36	In the circles I run around in, there is a lot of pouting for ways to effectively challenge super-optimized PCs. Now, I know there are any variable amount of ways to accomplish this; I am not arguing that. This is merely one more way that I have found to be extremely fun and demented. It also adds some spice. Please check it out, try it out, and let me know your experience. Healing Surge sub-system - Loremaster
#2 bone_naga Nov 06, 2009 13:59:59	Seems kind of odd that the PC would receive an injury while being healed, not while taking damage. If anything, I would say that system would be better incorporated into a critical hit chart. It also seems like it would slow down play too much to keep stopping, looking up a chart and rolling percentile dice all to resolve a minor action from the healer.
#3 Matt_James Nov 06, 2009 14:02:57	Yeah, I thought of that too after I posted. I am thinking it would be better to use the chart if a PC takes damage equal to or greater than their surge value.
#4 bone_naga Nov 06, 2009 14:08:28	I think that would work better.
#5 blacksheepcannibal Nov 08, 2009 12:32:55	This seems to me to go against the grain of how hit points work in 4e. They aren't supposed to represent actual bloody injury or arrows sticking out of your butt, but more the sheer resolution, grit, and pain tolerance to keep going forward. There is also the problem with players that have lots of healing surges will start off very rarely taking additional injuries, but players with fewer surges will be taking them much more commonly. You can easily say this is related to the overall toughness of the character, but it does seem to punish low-con characters unfairly. Perhaps an alternate system would simply be the "bloodied" condition. That is actually supposed to represent that a blow has landed particularly hard, that something -has- had an effect on your charachter. Instead of the bookwork of keeping track of how many surges you have left, and then rolling percentile dice, you could simply say "whenever you get critically hit while bloodied you take an additional status effect". That means that while your character is vulnerable, every time they get hit it's a straightline 5% chance of bad stuff happening. You may also want to raise the ante: Ongoing 5 damage/tier (bleeding out), Slowed, Weakened, Dazed, Prone, forced movement, or even "lose 1 healing surge". A successful heal check allows a free save, as per regular heal check rules. -1 to one defense is more of a book-keeping annoyance than a real danger, and -1 speed probably won't come into play too often either - but dazed, slowed, or weakened are the bane of players. I use a variant of this myself: The first time (and only the first time) a player gets blooded in an encounter, they lose a healing surge. While they are bloodied, if they are critically hit, they lose another surge. It makes healing a slightly more pressing issue, and gives more than a "100% OK or 100% dying on the ground" feel to the game as well, and emphasizes that "bloodied" means you actually got -hurt-. This also makes temp hit points so much more valuable, because it provides a buffer of hit points before you would get bloodied, instead of just healing back up easily from 25% hp.