I'm looking at Healing magic for a low magic setting and would like a different option. Specifically one which is not instant cast and would more represent healing as a form of surgery, herbal witch doctoring, etc and requiring heal skill checks. If your outta spells you can still make the surgery check, but if augmented with the appropriate spell the doctor can preform miracles on the operating table!
Ideas that come up immediately are somewhat obvious and include requiring the heal check at the time of casting, only cast out of combat, takes X amount of time per X HP healed to take effect, etc.
Any suggestions?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Instead of taking away instant cast of healing spells, you could change the effect of those spells to make "surgery" important.
Let's say healing is like trying to keep water inside a leaking bucket.
Channeling divine positive energy into your ally during combat could mean that you simply fill up the bucket with water, because you're not able to direct the energy at the time. This would be represented as instant cast healing spells only giving temporary HP, wearing off after a short duration.
To actually treat the cause, and not the symptoms, you need time to mend the holes of the bucket while simultaneously filling it up with water. Something that requires concentration, time, and a calm subject. Which could be a Heal check in addition to your spell outside of combat.
While you can decide what DC these checks should have, I'd recommend you to include options that allows the caster to automatically pass the check.