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Post by sparkusclark on Feb 12, 2016 22:20:09 GMT
Working with my players we've started talking about less than magical means of regaining HP.
Here's what we've got so far:
A healing poultice can be purchased for 10sp from the Healer in Phandalin. It is a one-use item that heals 1hp for every half-hour it's left on (16hp during a long rest).
- Downsides are that it's slower than a healing potion, and will leave a scar. Plus you'd need proficiencey with an herbalism kit to make your own.
-Upsides are that they are cheaper than the 50gp potions of healing, leave you with a cool scar, and can be readily made by a party member who is proficient with an herbalism kit.
A character that can make a poultice can only make a certain number a day, but the more time and effort they put into it can result in better poultices that heal more hp/half-hour. Though I'm currently not too sure on the game mechanics for this (DC #'s, making ones that are useful at a higher level too early, etc.)
Thoughts?
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gmsamuel
Squire
Got on after over six months away, feels like Dja vu.
Posts: 44 
Favorite D&D Class: Held at the RPG academy
Favorite D&D Race: The Marathon
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Post by gmsamuel on Feb 16, 2016 3:16:18 GMT
Sounds cool. I think this might break some things in your world. If any commoner can go spend 10 days of wages to get something that can heal them for more then max hp in less then one day that would break disease mechanics, as you would just be able to get one of these to prevent disease damage.
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DMForeclosure
Squire
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Gnome
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Post by DMForeclosure on Feb 16, 2016 16:24:18 GMT
Sounds cool. I think this might break some things in your world. If any commoner can go spend 10 days of wages to get something that can heal them for more then max hp in less then one day that would break disease mechanics, as you would just be able to get one of these to prevent disease damage. I think that spending 10 days wages on a daily, single-use medicine would probably be back-breaking for most commoners (who would presumably be spending that money on food), so I'm not sure you'd have to worry too much about those disease mechanics. Sure it means the rich are more healthy than in a "standard setting," but that's fairly true to life (as is 10-days wages for medicine in certain eagle-mascoted countries  ). |
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Post by joatmoniac on Feb 16, 2016 20:35:52 GMT
If you are playing with the 5E rules wouldn't a long rest restore all their lost hit point and hit dice? If that has been removed then these are amazingly helpful for the party. I also agree with DMForeclosure, and have seen it come up several times, in that you have to suspend belief a little in terms of healing items as they should be more prolific even as healing potions. You would think that there would easily be a healing potion production facility that would heal the ailments of the world, but alas there is not!
I think they are great for interim times and being able to facilitate more activities in a single day. Where normally the cleric runs out of spells, it's nap time! This way you can have them get to the next place and be ready to fight. The other question I would ask, or rather thing to make sure is clear to your players, is how many they can use at one time? I'm assuming that it's one at a time, but would make sure my players know so that the one guy who you know would doesn't put on five at a time, and get 10hp an hour, haha. This is a great idea to put the healing back into the players hands that are as costly as healing potions, and would have a better feel about using whenever is needed instead of hoarding the healing potions for the "right time."
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DMForeclosure
Squire
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Gnome
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Post by DMForeclosure on Feb 17, 2016 14:16:50 GMT
Had a random thought for a mechanic for something like this that I thought I'd throw out.
Healing Poultice: On use, grants 15 temporary HP to user. This temporary HP cannot exceed the character's maximum HP. After every encounter, up to 3 temp. HP becomes real HP. The effect occurs until no temp. HP remains
This mechanic relies on "meta-time" (time between encounters rather than time passed for the characters), but it encourages a character to resolve an encounter by sneaking, diplomacy, and/or ambush. Also it reflects the non-magical idea of this substance: you're buying a lot of "energy" that makes you feel at your best (the temp. HP) with the promise that, if you rest, you will eventually recover. However, if you are NOT restful, you'll be back to where you were... or worse (since spells can't heal temp. HP).
Thoughts?
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Post by galakan on Feb 17, 2016 15:27:33 GMT
Had a random thought for a mechanic for something like this that I thought I'd throw out. Healing Poultice: On use, grants 15 temporary HP to user. This temporary HP cannot exceed the character's maximum HP. After every encounter, up to 3 temp. HP becomes real HP. The effect occurs until no temp. HP remains This mechanic relies on "meta-time" (time between encounters rather than time passed for the characters), but it encourages a character to resolve an encounter by sneaking, diplomacy, and/or ambush. Also it reflects the non-magical idea of this substance: you're buying a lot of "energy" that makes you feel at your best (the temp. HP) with the promise that, if you rest, you will eventually recover. However, if you are NOT restful, you'll be back to where you were... or worse (since spells can't heal temp. HP). Thoughts? I think it's a good idea, although how would you explain why it works flavor wise? Encounters can be a long time apart depending on what the characters are doing. |
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DMForeclosure
Squire
Posts: 33
Favorite D&D Class: Wizard
Favorite D&D Race: Gnome
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Post by DMForeclosure on Feb 18, 2016 3:14:29 GMT
Had a random thought for a mechanic for something like this that I thought I'd throw out. Healing Poultice: On use, grants 15 temporary HP to user. This temporary HP cannot exceed the character's maximum HP. After every encounter, up to 3 temp. HP becomes real HP. The effect occurs until no temp. HP remains This mechanic relies on "meta-time" (time between encounters rather than time passed for the characters), but it encourages a character to resolve an encounter by sneaking, diplomacy, and/or ambush. Also it reflects the non-magical idea of this substance: you're buying a lot of "energy" that makes you feel at your best (the temp. HP) with the promise that, if you rest, you will eventually recover. However, if you are NOT restful, you'll be back to where you were... or worse (since spells can't heal temp. HP). Thoughts? I think it's a good idea, although how would you explain why it works flavor wise? Encounters can be a long time apart depending on what the characters are doing. I guess the GM can rule it at that point? I know my encounters are spaced pretty broadly, but if you're playing with the 5e-suggested encounter frequency, they should be fairly close together (I think I'm remembering that correctly...). |
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Post by sparkusclark on Feb 19, 2016 3:05:47 GMT
If you are playing with the 5E rules wouldn't a long rest restore all their lost hit point and hit dice? If that has been removed then these are amazingly helpful for the party. I also agree with DMForeclosure, and have seen it come up several times, in that you have to suspend belief a little in terms of healing items as they should be more prolific even as healing potions. You would think that there would easily be a healing potion production facility that would heal the ailments of the world, but alas there is not! I think they are great for interim times and being able to facilitate more activities in a single day. Where normally the cleric runs out of spells, it's nap time! This way you can have them get to the next place and be ready to fight. The other question I would ask, or rather thing to make sure is clear to your players, is how many they can use at one time? I'm assuming that it's one at a time, but would make sure my players know so that the one guy who you know would doesn't put on five at a time, and get 10hp an hour, haha. This is a great idea to put the healing back into the players hands that are as costly as healing potions, and would have a better feel about using whenever is needed instead of hoarding the healing potions for the "right time." Currently running 'Lost Mines of Phandelver' which is a level 1-5 adventure. So far the party is at level 3, have only found 1 potion of healing, and found that the town, Phandalin, doesn't sell any adventuring goods over 25gp. Since they are headed for an encounter where they have a 30% chance of finding a single potion of healing. So, yeah, I'm introducing poultices as a stop gap. I know I could just have them find more potions or have the stores selling at a lower price, but this seemed the more realistic/fun/lore-building route. |
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Post by sparkusclark on Feb 19, 2016 3:18:23 GMT
I think it's a good idea, although how would you explain why it works flavor wise? Encounters can be a long time apart depending on what the characters are doing. I guess the GM can rule it at that point? I know my encounters are spaced pretty broadly, but if you're playing with the 5e-suggested encounter frequency, they should be fairly close together (I think I'm remembering that correctly...). Encounters can come quite frequently. However, since we only play for 3hrs/game it's usualy only one encounter per session with quite alot of rp'ing inbetween. Heck, once when they were traveling the random table threw an owlbear at them one day and a troupe of goblins the next (nothing on any of their nights). It took the entire session, but we left it with them arriving at their destination and a discovering the dozen or so zombies cliffhanger |
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