From time to time I've had my issues with hit points, but one of the weirdest properties of hit points is applied when both leveling and cure spells are involved.
Hit points are supposed to be abstract and one's ability to mitigate damage, right? Keep that in mind as I describe this situation.
Level 1 and level 10 fighters are sitting on a battle field. The level 1 fighter is down to 4 hit points out of 12, clearly this is extremely serious. The level 10 fighter is down to 70 out of 84 hit points, it's a minor wound.
Now take a level 2 cleric casting a cure minor wounds; This cleric is able to cure this level 1 fighter from a third of his life to full health. Using the same spell, the cleric has trouble mending the level 10 fighter's scratch.
What, do character's gain an immunity to healing as they level up?
So my solution: Cure spells that scale. However not with the caster, but with the target. Basically the number of dice rolled for the heal is based on the target. So a level one character gets about the same percentage as a level 10 character, staying true to the spirit of hp and abstraction.
I reworked the heal spells (and added a another cure degree) so that they work with such a system by changing the spell level and die used.
Cure Minor Wounds - Level 1 - d4
Cure Light Wounds - Level 3 - d6
Cure Moderate Wounds - Level 5 - d8
Cure Serious Wounds - Level 7 - d10
Cure Critical Wounds - Level 9 - d12
A Cure Light Wounds (now a level 3 spell) cures a number of d6 equal to half the targets level(minimum of 1) plus the half the caster level.
So a level 5 cleric to curing a level 10 fighter with cure light would cure 5d6+2 hit points.
|
Dave Hargrave asked this same question in Arduin Grimoire, and his solution was to replace the cure spells with 'heal light wounds,' 'heal serious wounds,' 'heal critical wounds' and 'heal grievous wounds,' which, IIRC, cured 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% of your lost hit points, rounded up (while the standard heal spell cured 100%).
So a 1st level fighter with 10 hit points would be healed up to 2 hp with a 'heal light wounds,' while a 10th level fighter with 100 hp would get 20 pts of healing from the same 1st level spell.
(It might have been 10%, 25%, 50% and 75%, or something different. I'm too lazy to go look for the book...)
IMO, that exact solution makes the 1st level healing spell kinda junky for low level healing, since you'd need five of them to fully heal someone at 0 hit points, but I could see an either/or system where a 'heal light wounds' heals 1d8+X *or* 20%, whichever is better.
Higher level healing needs would change radically, as a 750 gp cure light wounds wand could heal a 200 hit point barbarian with only 5 charges...
Then again, maybe you handle this is the spells themselves and how you get them, but how do you differentiate between a Healer who is good at healing and one who is not?
Since the die gets bigger with the stronger spells, a better healer has the more powerful spells and can thus heal a larger portion in a single round. Even with the rules by the book, a better healer is based by their spells.
From time to time I've had my issues with hit points, but one of the weirdest properties of hit points is applied when both leveling and cure spells are involved.
<snip>
That is pretty cool, I have considered doing similar all the way back in 2E. However, there is a potential exploit by bad players: Low level clerics/wands healing high level characters.
You could have wands use more charges based on the level of PC they were used on. But low level wands are so cheap that any high level PC would be foolish not to have them and be able to use them.
I'm not sure how, but if one were to find a reasonable way to limit that abuse, then this would be one of the coolest house rules ever. (well, it's cool anyway)
Hackmaster has CLW do 1d4 per level, CMW 1d6 per level, CSW 1d8 per level, CCW 1d10 per level, Cure Deadly Wounds 1d12 per level (or whatever it's called!), and Heal healed everything, IIRC.
For Pathfinder, maybe do the same, but add the caster's Wisdom modifier (or Heal skill bonus) as well.
From time to time I've had my issues with hit points, but one of the weirdest properties of hit points is applied when both leveling and cure spells are involved.
<snip>
That is pretty cool, I have considered doing similar all the way back in 2E. However, there is a potential exploit by bad players: Low level clerics/wands healing high level characters.
You could have wands use more charges based on the level of PC they were used on. But low level wands are so cheap that any high level PC would be foolish not to have them and be able to use them.
I'm not sure how, but if one were to find a reasonable way to limit that abuse, then this would be one of the coolest house rules ever. (well, it's cool anyway)
That abuse is already part of the system. 750 gp for 50 charges of CLW rapidly becomes pocket change for PCs. The most cost-effective means of out-of-combat healing is to poke people with a wand of CLW until they're more or less fully healed, and buy a new wand whenever it runs out.
That abuse is already part of the system. 750 gp for 50 charges of CLW rapidly becomes pocket change for PCs. The most cost-effective means of out-of-combat healing is to poke people with a wand of CLW until they're more or less fully healed, and buy a new wand whenever it runs out.
Yes, that's why I brought it up. The "abuse" that exists now, I use as a crutch to move a step towards per-encounter resources. I gleefully embrace draining CLW wands, it allows the party to handle heavy encounters more often without changing the way the fight itself goes.
The difference is, it's currently out of combat. If you give useful healing that scales with the target instead of the caster (wand) then it has a major impact for no cost.
Low level clerics/wands healing high level characters.
First off, I limit what spells can be put in wands and cure and CLW isn't one of them. As for a low level character with high level characters; In a high level battle, they too can be hurt so if you bring in this newbie healer they're likely to die.
But you're right about the cheapness of it. :/ Also there are some things I haven't thought all the way through (Such as Casting Defensively).
So yeah, it needs some work, but I feel it's a step in the right direction.
Low level clerics/wands healing high level characters.
First off, I limit what spells can be put in wands and cure and CLW isn't one of them. As for a low level character with high level characters; In a high level battle, they too can be hurt so if you bring in this newbie healer they're likely to die.
But you're right about the cheapness of it. :/ Also there are some things I haven't thought all the way through (Such as Casting Defensively).
So yeah, it needs some work, but I feel it's a step in the right direction.
Yeah, I think the low level cleric on the battlefield pretty much takes care of itself.
The low cost wands were the issue, but your rule disallowing them takes care of that too. I don't think it really needs more than that for your game.
What's the issue with casting defensively?