In the rules for persistent damage, it says someone can allow you to make another check to end it if they do something that would actually help (up to the DM). While the rules list the two most obvious cases (putting out a fire, washing off acid), how would you assist with things like persistent electric or mental damage?
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Ground them? Rub their head?
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This is a good question.
One humorous example has come up a couple times simply because our party's Champion of Sarenrae has a habit of leaving fiendish foes with a small amount of persistent Good damage. In these cases, I have often had the fiend resort to uttering most foul and blasphemous language in an attempt to reassert its natural evilness.
Relevant and important to this question, I think, is the question of how exactly a given instance of persistent damage is said to manifest. For example, persistent Fire most often manifests from a target catching fire, but in the case of Heat Metal, sometimes its actually caused by continuous contact with a red-hot object. This goes double for damage types which are... somewhat unclear what they are intended to look like in the first place.
(So far I have tended to describe persistent Good damage as manifesting in a halo of light. Critical hits which deal Good damage have been known to be accompanied by a chorus of 'Hallelujah')
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lets see
fire damage is obvious, try to extinguish them or cool off whatever is overheating
acid damage: washing off sounds good at first but do you know the reaction of acid and (not quite enough) water? depending on how much acid there is that could even backfire, best would be to rub it off with dirt, use some base against it or scrub it off (not using your hands and consider the item lost if it is nonmagical)
I suppose prestidigitation for cleaning helps also
cold damage: heat that sucker up
electricity: ground them, push them over so the electricity can go harmlessly into the ground. From a technical/physical standpoint electricity damage is kind of complicated since there is usually no energy source to keep the damage 'active' If they are in contact with a charge object forcing them to let go should always be a way to instant clear the condition
good and evil damage: oppossed prayers/mantras etc sound like a really good idea, I like that a lot. alternatively the creature suffering could be doused in holy/unholy water. Also consider spells that do oppossed alignment damage. Wanna keep that ally from persistant evil damage? are you a good boy/girl? cast divine lance - they wont take damage but that should help against that (or cast a good aligned aoe, helping allies and smiting enemies in one move)
for positive and negative damage the stuff I said about good and evil surely can be applied too
mental damage: since it is all in their head the assist action could be the classig 'snap-out-of-it-slap'. I think mantras and prayers to refocus the mind and give it something to do other then hurting itself could also work well. prayers of course work better in people with strong faith into their gods
This was actually the first time I thought about it but these options would certainly all work in my games, I think most of them are reasonable
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mental damage: since it is all in their head the assist action could be the classig 'snap-out-of-it-slap'. I think mantras and prayers to refocus the mind and give it something to do other then hurting itself could also work well. prayers of course work better in people with strong faith into their gods
I love most of the ideas you presented here, but I feel like I must disagree with your analysis of persistent mental damage. Even though it is as, as you say, "all in their head", I don't feel like striking them would actually help.
Most instances of persistent mental damage that I have come across so far usually manifest as either a terrific headache, or a literally sickening amount of phantom pain. Even if an ally could strike their friend hard enough to disrupt such a mental effect, I don't feel as though it would achieve the desired result without causing more direct harm to the victim.
On the other hand, it may be possible for a character to recover from a persistent mental attack by attempting to centre their focus--I'd be tempted to say meditation except for the critically short time scales involved. On the other hand, an ally might attempt to assist them by offering soothing or grounding words to aid in their focus. In a sense, it could be similar to good/evil damage in the use of mantras, albeit for the purpose of clarity rather than beseeching holy or unholy forces.
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mental damage: since it is all in their head the assist action could be the classig 'snap-out-of-it-slap'
Disclaimer: don't do this to people with migraines, they may have a sharp or heavy object near by and they will be forced to make a DC15 will check not to insert objects into your body.
Dumb question but how exactly would you ground someone suffering from electric damage? Also, I don't think magical electricity at least works that way, since you can still electrocute a flying creature with a lightning bolt even though they aren't in contact with anything else.
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Electrical damage: throw a metal line to them with the other end touching the ground, douse them in salt water, anything else that would give a better conductor than a human body.
Acid: Got any ground chalk? Chalk is a base.
Evil/Good: Reciting prays to a god of the opposing alignment should do it.
Mental: Southing words or a joke may do it. If you are good friends, holding hands or a hug might help. If you aren’t that close, I would recommend you find a different way.
Note that there is no skill roll required to assist for the examples given in the book. It is just spend two actions to give appropriate aid.