So I'm playing around with combat system and looking for a way to slow down healing, such as the use of Surgery skills from D20 Modern vs instant effect Cure X Wounds and similar spells. I've already adjusted the campaign to account for class dodge bonuses, implemented a Wound Point system and made some adjustments which allow armor to function as DR which should slow down the rate at which real damage is incurred. Now that taking damage has slowed however it should have a more realistic feel to the actual healing process (without taking 4 months of recovery between fights).
I'm thinking of something along the lines of severely limiting the amount of Divine healing in the campaign so most folks are limited to having to rely on Healing skills, surgery, looking for healing herbs / mushrooms / fungus, etc and "faith healers" being being both rare and feared. But if such is the case should the divine healers then be limited to the amount of healing they can do per day, such as up to their level in Wound Points and using Healing skills for Vitality / HP recovery?
Under this system i would probably require Druids to make use of plants, etc which they gather from the world around them as a "spell focus" for any healing spells. More as an RP sorta thing than anything.
NOTE: this is a campaign setting which is low magic with a level cap around level 10 and focuses more on the struggles of the heros and less on their gear and magic items / spells they can throw around. As such the monsters have likewise been re-calibrated to account for such so as not to result in an imbalance of power (which is ultimately tipped in the PC's favor of course).
should the divine healers then be limited to the amount of healing they can do per day, such as up to their level in Wound Points and using Healing skills for Vitality / HP recovery?
Does Divine healing still fit the basic concept of this system? If you can find players who'd enjoy playing this way, then you might as well take it up to eleven and drop HP-restoring spells altogether. Maybe let Divine spells undo scars and mutilations, to keep PCs from ending up gimped.
"around 10th level" as in 11th level being reserved for the Arch-Mage, High Priest, Grand Master Samuri, etc. In other words, there is only one of each in the campaign.
Actually i'm leaning more towards Wis bonus + level in total WP / day, with Cure Wounds line being more along the lines of Vitality / Fatigue recovery.
Anyone else on how to address healing magic? Would love to hear your feed back.
After helping unload 1500 lb. at the city dump this morning I spent some time this morning pondering a system of fatigue points, perhaps like non lethal damage to ability scores. But alas I gave up. The beauty of the system in place is not in realism, but in simplicity.
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If you're using VP/WP instead of HP, you could easily rule that low-level heal spells can only heal vitality points, and that wound points require time and materials or else more powerful magic. In that case the party strength is similar until they start taking WP, at which point they are dramatically hampered. The low-magic feel is definitely there: vitality is supposed to represent battle fatigue and scratch injuries, which weak magic would be able to deal with; real wounds are beyond most magical healing. That would boost the importance of any skills that can increase WP.
A cap on WP healed per day would also slow healing, with a lesser effect on PC power than the above, since it would be possible to help a PC who had taken a lot of damage or an unlucky crit.
If you're drawing a distinction between how VP and WP are healed, it's important for you to have a sense of how often your players will incur WP. In my group, players tended to be cautious and rarely incurred WP unless they were crit, but yours might be different. Have you played with VP/WP yet?
Honest to tell you this could add a little more roleplay to game but it's honestly not worth it. You're going to take away a lot of time from the main story line if you do this. However you go try to go along with it if you really feel it will make the game more fun.