After the sorcerer nearly gets eaten when he's ambushed by a giant frog the party rests for the night. Without any healing magic we rest for a day and a half and bust out the new heal rules (no cleric in the party). The sorcerer who was injured is at -4 HP and the ranger made his first heal check for 8 hours of rest. The first 8 hours of rest for that night heals up 6 HP of damage bringing the sorcerer up to 2 HP.
The characters stay at the campsite for another 24 hours for a day of 'complete rest'. Another successful heal check and the character heals a whopping 12 (4HP/ level for full days rest + DC 15 heal check) more damage. One full days rest and a DC 15 heal check and he's back up to full HP.
So, while I think it's cool that characters have decent healing outside of casters I am surprised at how much healing the party can get in a short period of time for such a low DC heal check. At 4HP/ level/ day any character can be fully healed in 3 days. Maybe if the DC was higher or on a sliding scale (For example a roll of 15 heals 2HP/ day, a roll of 20 heals 3HP/level/day and 30 or higher heals 4HP/level/day.
Anyhow... since we have no healers we're taking full advantage for now.
Providing long-term care means treating a wounded person for a day or more. If your Heal check is successful, the patient recovers hit points or ability score points (lost to ability damage) at twice the normal rate: 2 hit points per level for a full 8 hours of
rest in a day, or 4 hit points per level for each full day of complete rest; 2 ability score points for a full 8 hours of rest in a day, or 4 ability score points for each full day of complete rest.You can tend as many as six patients at a time. You need a few items and supplies (bandages, salves, and so on) that are easy to come by in settled lands. Giving long-term care counts as light activity for the healer. You cannot give long-term care to yourself.
|
I just DMed a first level adventure and the following problem came up. The cleric (the only person with the heal skill) got hit with a bleed attack, taking damage every round. The cleric then wish to apply first aid to himself to stop the bleed attack.
The rules don't say whether or not you can apply it to yourself as the only thing mentioned for First Aid concerns unconcious characters. However, long term care cannot be done to yourself.
Now that Pathfinder has Bleed that can be stopped by a heal check and the ability for some characters to operate at below 0, it would be good to have a clarification in the rules as to what Heal checks can be done by the character to themselves and which cannot.
Three days can be an eternity. You don't always have the time to rest three days between each fight.
I just DMed a first level adventure and the following problem came up. The cleric (the only person with the heal skill) got hit with a bleed attack, taking damage every round. The cleric then wish to apply first aid to himself to stop the bleed attack.
On page 154 under conditions it just says a DC 15 heal check. It does not indicate who has to make it so it's assumed that anyone can make the check.
Three days can be an eternity. You don't always have the time to rest three days between each fight.
Sure... but this just completely fails the reasonableness check. Going from mortally wounded to fully healed in 3 days with just bandages and aspirin? Ehh..
|
Maybe if the DC was higher or on a sliding scale (For example a roll of 15 heals 2HP/ day, a roll of 20 heals 3HP/level/day and 30 or higher heals 4HP/level/day.
Dennis, Something that we've been doing - which is working nicely, is the cleric (or other character with the "heal" skill), makes a heal check at the time of rest. The total modified check is the amount of actual "hit point" the party gets back - distributed among them as the cleric chooses (alot like the Paladin's lay on hands worked in SRD)
Using this system, removes an arbitrary DC, and allows variance in the quality (amount) of healling, based on how good the check is - as you suggest doing with making DC benchmarks.
Characters are 8th level in my PF Playtesting - cleric in the party is a 5 cleric / 3 rogue (gnome) and has max ranks in heal with a 16 WIS. (+14 to heal). Last sleeping session, he rolled a 12 and got 26 hit points to spread to all 4 people - so everyone got about 6; except that one person only had 1 point of damage - when all was done, three people were fully healed, and the last person woke up with still 19 points of damage and was healed by 2 charges of the cure lt wounds wand the following day.
Others trained in "heal" can 'aid' the cleric giving +2 to the check.
Robert
i guess i find the heal skill used so seldomly, i dont mind them powering it up a bit. Any 3.5 cleric I ever played never invested more than a couple ranks in it. Because why do with heal what you can do with magic, when magic is faster, more effective, and easier? (IE: less time, more points restored, and no check involved).
Anyway, mechanics-wise I think it's fine. And in a world where clerics are about, I dont think it changes the feel of the world much either.
|
|
i guess i find the heal skill used so seldomly, i dont mind them powering it up a bit. Any 3.5 cleric I ever played never invested more than a couple ranks in it. Because why do with heal what you can do with magic, when magic is faster, more effective, and easier? (IE: less time, more points restored, and no check involved).
Anyway, mechanics-wise I think it's fine. And in a world where clerics are about, I dont think it changes the feel of the world much either.
Furthermore, there's nothing stopping from one imagination to consider even using the Skill Heal is still involved some sort of mystical nature and nurture of a world containing so much wonder, splendor, and magic.
Perhaps there are certain pockets of areas of foul or evil nature where it doesn't work so well.
I remember an area of Eberron that was like that when it came to magical healing. (Cant remember the name - starts with a C I think)
Robert