As I see it, there are three main problems with the Heal skill (or more specific, TDW):
It takes far too much time.
1 hour to treat a stab wound may be realistic, but what about simply wrapping up your fighter's abdomen to prevent his guts from spilling out? There should be some way to lower the time spent, either by a higher DC or lesser healing done.
The gain is too low.
1 hp per level. That is low. Every healing spell overshadows TDW, and at lower levels, when it is supposed to be useful, you are essentially prevented from using it thanks to the high DC.
You aren't encouraged to spend more skill ranks into Heal. (with the exception of Treat Poison/Disease)
There is no opposed checks for healing, so there is no benefit from going over the threshold. As it is, someone who maxes Heal would heal the same amount as someone who settled for +15 to take 10.
*****
I would like to get feedback on the changes I've made to TDW and the addition of Treat Lesser Wounds. I wanted to make it more attractive to keep investing into the Heal skill, while also simply making it better.
DC: 20
Requirement: You must expend two uses from a healer's kit to perform this task. You take a –2 penalty on your check for each use from a healer's kit that you lack.
When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores an amount of hit points equal to:
Creature’s Con modifier (if positive) + Creature’s level + 1d4.
For every multiple of 5 with which you beat the check, add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to this amount and halve the time spent dressing the wounds. A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day.
Action/Time: 1 hour.
Special: By taking risks, you can achieve better results by skill or luck. Roll a d20. If the result of the roll is the same or lower than your skill ranks in Heal, then the operation is a Major Success. Otherwise, an Accident occurs. (This check is in addition to the normal skill check.)
Major Success:
Impatience and pure luck can lead to great results sometimes. In addition to healing the normal amount you can either:
Remove one condition your patient is suffering from as a result of the injury/injuries you are treating. (Such as Blinded, Deafened, Amputated Limbs, etc)
Heal the creature an amount of HP equal to your Heal skill bonus or twice your skill ranks, whichever is higher.
Grant your patient a +2 Circumstance bonus to all physical stats for 8 hours. The bonus hit points from the increase of Con is temporary hit points.
Accident:
The operation is a failure, and you almost ended your patient’s life. You are Fatigued from covering up your mistake, while your patient is Exhausted and unconscious at -1 hit points. If the creature already had negative hit points, you deal 1d6 damage. (If the creature would normally be dead at negative hp, then it would instead have the lowest amount of hit points possible.)
*****
DC: 15
Treating lesser wounds restores an amount of hit points equal to the following formula divided by 2:
Creature’s Constitution modifier (if positive) + Creature's level + 1d4.
A creature can only benefit from its lesser wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day. You can't treat the same wounds with both TDW and TLW.
Action/Time: 10 minutes.
*****
Thoughts? Was there anything unclear or odd? Did I buff it too much?
Thanks in advance!
It looked fine up until the the special. Then it got complicated. While the math of how the special attempt seems sound, I'm not crazy about an alternate method of resolution. I don't like the effects either.
Don't forget that if you get 25 on your heal check for treat deadly wounds you add your wisdom modifier to the number of HP per HD. If you've got a decent wisdom, that very quickly becomes a good heal. Still takes ages though. Some way of speeding it up would be great though. Treating lesser wounds is good.
The special's terrible at low ranks. Really. And then it becomes too good on a success. If you wanted to reward extra ranks in heal, something like reducing the time it takes by 10 minutes per 5 you beat the DC of 20 by would work well.
IMO, Heal is really something done when resting and wiping away those last few HPs that you don't want to burn a wand charge for.
In hindsight, the Special was a fun mechanic but I now feel as if such an ability would be granted by a class/feat instead of being free, and the different effects would need some serious consideration.
I came up with Treat Lesser Wounds while making the thread, but I'm surprised as to how it probably is exactly what I was looking for. An alternative to the 1 hour long operation.
DC: 20
Requirement: You must expend two uses from a healer's kit to perform this task. You take a –2 penalty on your check for each use from a healer's kit that you lack.
When treating deadly wounds, you can restore hit points to a damaged creature. Treating deadly wounds restores an amount of hit points equal to:
Creature’s Con modifier (if positive) + Creature’s level + 1d4.
If you beat the Check by 5 or more you also add your Wisdom modifier (if positive) to the amount healed. Additionally, by every multiple of 5 you beat the original DC, subtract 10 minutes from the time spent dressing the wounds (Maximum -50 minutes). A creature can only benefit from its deadly wounds being treated within 24 hours of being injured and never more than once per day.
Action/Time: 1 hour.
*****
Treat Lesser Wounds: Same as before
I did away with the Special, bonus wis per multiple of 5 (realized it might be too much), and nerfed the time shaved off by a high roll.
Thanks for the help!
@Snorb
I think that may be making it too good.
As Cavall said, surgery should take some time, and lowering it to 10 minutes would hurt my sense of realism quite a bit.
Also, the amount healed is quite something. It starts out a bit too high and I would probably change the scaling to +1 hp/by multiple of 2 instead of 1:1.
I do like what you have done with the Healer's kit, though. I might steal that idea!