slaughterj
Mongoose
Valaryc said:
I didn't say you couldn't have them, just that it is useful to not have them (or to significantly minimize them) in order to have a fantasy setting operate as a fantasy setting.
Healing Magic
- Thread starter Sven
- Start date
I didn't say you couldn't have them, just that it is useful to not have them (or to significantly minimize them) in order to have a fantasy setting operate as a fantasy setting.
High Lord Dee
Mongoose
How about a Prestige Class? Mysterious natives (Picts, Amazons, Shaman, etc.) or true priests that have shown the unique ability to heal the body through rituals and spells?
I find that Prestige Classes keep games in balance because the player really has to sacrifice his core advancement to gain (usually) a marginal advantage specific to something.
Maybe feats could be developed specific to that Prestige Class or make the feat difficult to get for other classes?
HLD
I find that Prestige Classes keep games in balance because the player really has to sacrifice his core advancement to gain (usually) a marginal advantage specific to something.
Maybe feats could be developed specific to that Prestige Class or make the feat difficult to get for other classes?
HLD
Using Raven's rules my group has 1 spell that heals HP: Healing, Lesser. It's got requirements of BMA +2, Heal 7 ranks, Knowledge Nature 7 ranks. For every PP you spend a target you touch (including yourself) regains 1d4+your Charisma mod in HP.
We've found it's useful, but it's an advanced spell and while having it is nice... it's NEVER come close to game breaking.
We've found it's useful, but it's an advanced spell and while having it is nice... it's NEVER come close to game breaking.
slaughterj
Mongoose
bjorntfh said:
That seems extremely good. "Hey, you're hurt, hold still and let me drain you of some wisdom, and I'll use the PP to funnel you HP back." Most PCs would gladly take that trade, lose 2d6 Wisdom (which heals back at 1+CON bonus / hour, thus likely heal it back in ~2-3 hours) to give the sorceror 1d4 PP, which he can use to heal for 1d4*(1d4+Cha Mod) in HP, i.e., ~11 HP. That's after the amount for short-term care, if there was time to stop, or just some quick HP if in the midst of battle, during which you probably don't need much Wisdom/Will saves typically. And if it's after battle, just do it again 2-3 hours later to each PC (after they recover their drained Wisdom), that's some real rapid healing.
slaughterj
Mongoose
That's yet another big change then...
Why the change, to deal with issues like friendlies giving up PP?
If so, there's another way to do it, do something in addition like apply Corruption to those who willingly allow themselves to be drained as well
Why the change, to deal with issues like friendlies giving up PP?
If so, there's another way to do it, do something in addition like apply Corruption to those who willingly allow themselves to be drained as well
Yeah, I'm removing the energy drain from non-sorcerers in my next game as well; its just a way to easy method to get power points (the scholar in my last game ended up using it all the time).bjorntfh said:
In fact, I think I'm going to use thulsa's houserules for sacrifices and stuff that he's made available here.
slaughterj
Mongoose
Trodax said:
That's some good stuff on Thulsa's site, though I would do some of it differently. I don't agree with any forced flee or swoon results from Terror checks - the Conan RPG is oriented toward small parties of fighting types, thus few people to attempt a Will save, and they have poor Will saves. I had a small party of 1st or 2nd level characters all fail their saves against a monster at a desert oasis, which would of resulted in them all swooning and getting eaten by the creature. That seemed damned dumb to me. So I just apply shaken results, though may include the stun drop stuff effect. Further, you have locations which generate Terror checks, and either (1) the PCs can wait to go in, so they just get over it and there's no point or (2) the PCs are being chased and have to go in, but it's a real mess if half the party collapses or runs away.
Taking away the ability to drain people of PP freely makes sense, but replacing it with HP damage doesn't seem to make sense.
Thulsa's rules on creature types and locations, etc. for PP gain through sacrifice are nice, but I don't want another chart. Making it more simple would be ideal, e.g., +1 PP per HD of target, -1 for common animal, +2 for each special circumstance (special target like noble, special location like temple, special time like full moon), and +4 for really special circumstance (really special target like virgin, really special location like royal pyramid, really special time like solar eclipse). That's just one slight simplification of his method, and maybe more can be done, but the less need for a chart, the better.
Yup, early on in my game I had to houserule on the fly that failing the save only made you shaken, or else most of the party would have fled in terror on more than one occasion (which wouldn't have felt right since they were a bunch of hard-as-nails barbarians and mercenaries). I'm a big fan of less serious results on failed terror checks.slaughterj said:
The swooning for characters under 3rd level is probably there to emulate how 'regular folks' might be affected, with the reasoning that badass heroes will be at least 3rd level (IIRC, one of the characters in Rouges in the House swooned when he got a glimpse of the beast in that story). If I ran a game with 1st or 2nd level characters I'd probably remove it as well.
I agree with that; hadn't really noticed that part.slaughterj said:
Yeah, I might do it slightly different as well, but thulsa's basic idea is very good. Personally, I think I'd make it so that the level/HD of the victim was slightly less important; perhaps 1 PP/HD up to HD 10, and then 1PP/2 HD, or something like that.slaughterj said:
In my last campaign, I didn't introduce a monster until the characters were 4th level. I had them fighting other humans before then, with the exception of the Black Stones for a second level party who said the plot was lame and avoided the caves altogether. Their first encounter with something terrifying was an encounter in Zamboula with Darfari cannibals at night (they didnt' succeed their spot checks, so only saw the hulking shapes and teeth in the night; and when the barbarian failed his check, well he decided to bolt rather than be shaken.
But if you're putting them up against things they need to make terror checks against, then why not just allow a hero point or whatever it's called to lessen the effect. Otherwise, no person will be terrified of the horrible things in the world. Rules must apply equally to PCs and NPCs alike. Now then, since most commoner NPCs don't get any hero points, problem's solved. And most people don't use them that often from what I've seen, so they should have one or two spare to use.
Anyways, hope that helps. 8)
But if you're putting them up against things they need to make terror checks against, then why not just allow a hero point or whatever it's called to lessen the effect. Otherwise, no person will be terrified of the horrible things in the world. Rules must apply equally to PCs and NPCs alike. Now then, since most commoner NPCs don't get any hero points, problem's solved. And most people don't use them that often from what I've seen, so they should have one or two spare to use.
Anyways, hope that helps. 8)
slaughterj
Mongoose
Bregales said:
My party loved the Black Stones, I had the stones smashing all sorts of things, let a thief PC lure the stone toward him, dodge away, and smash pursuers instead, etc., quite fun!
Bregales said:
You stated a contradiction. You say rules must apply equally to PCs and NPCs, but then you give something under the rules (hero points) to PCs and not to NPCs. To address the situation on the spot, I let the PCs use a Fate Point to avoid the Terror, but that seems a bit extreme of a cost. The rule can be that commoners who fail the save flee/swoon, or those with 1HD+ in a PC character class only do so if they fail the Terror check by 10 or something, and otherwise they are shaken.
Well, they refused to run into the caves, and avoided the 'bandits' bur rather chased up at the soldiers shooting down on them (I tend to think they read the .pdf and cheated, but then again there's nothing wrong with their choice, they just didn't trust me who offered them a chance to hide in the big cave where the 'bandits' were going.slaughterj said:
I don't necessarily think so. If you want to give the same number of hero points the PCs get per level to commoners, go ahead. I'm just saying that the rules were written for a reason, and 99 per cent of all humans would have a heart attack and swoon at the sight of most of the terrors one can encounter in the Hyborian world (just read any of Lovecraft's or Howard's Cthulhu stories, where those people who don't die of fright go mad). Conan was an exception in that he would be driven out of his stupor into a beserk frenzy driven by his barbarian instincts whereas the civilized humans fell like chattel; but more people by far play the civilized folk in our role playing game, the game rule for terror checks IMO is more than fair. I was just offering another possible way to handle it.slaughterj said:
Again, as far as I'm concerned, PCs shouldn't even meet anything that'd force them to make a terror check before 3rd or 4th level. Sometimes GMs go by the law of averages ("at least one PC will succeed on his check"), but a GM has to always be ready to face any possibility, no matter it's probability, that's part and parcel of rolling dice. So one could either houserule and allow hero points as an alternative (writing at work, don't know if they're normally allowed as such but asssume not), or offer it to a player to dig him and his party out of certain death, or the GM could just say, "Okay, you all die. Let's roll up a new party." As I've written elsewhere, there were major problems with the writeup of the Black Stones adventure, but I like how your players handled it (am pretty sure I've read your response in other threads?). If you want to compare to our favorite Cimmerian, I'd argue that he was hunting beasts as a young lad, probably had to fight wolves in hard winters to get from zero level to first level, and then as a teenager he was part of the sack on Venarium, then he traveled East until his earliest written adventures took place. This ignores the whole Dark Horse story, which goes crazy a lot IMO. Anyway, I hope this helps. 8)
slaughterj
Mongoose
I run my Conan adventures just like Conan adventures, i.e., though the supernatural and mystical is rare in the world, Conan encounters such in each adventure, and therefore I include such in each adventure for my PCs, regardless of level. That's part of the fun of the adventure. If you skip that for the first several levels, that makes for a less entertaining and less Conan-esque game IMO. To each their own though. I also strive to start my Conan (and Star Wars) adventures in media res, with the action early and often, which is not the case with the published adventures thus far and makes them less appealing as a result.
That's cool. I totally agree with your reasoning. When my first group started the campaign, I was the only one who hadn't received the rules book yet (due to my pre-order on Amazon, every single game book I've ever ordered from them has taken months to arrive), so, I was reading the book which belonged to the guy who goes by Tiberius on these boards. Since I didn't have time to figure out CRs for the monsters in the books, I used hyborians as foes starting off. This book has no CR table (appearing in the DMG in D&D 3.x). And it seemed to me the monsters written were at least CR5.
As for en medias res, I TOTALLY agree with you! It's my favorite way to start, and I ran d6 Star Wars for years, so between that and Conan, it's the best way to start an adventure, I used to frustrate my d&d players (Tiberius included) by running d&d adventures en medias res also. The only thing I'd add, is I keep the action simple to decide on (although I give each NPC 'his' own agenda and there are usually at least two political factions involved) but just don't let things get stale for your group. I hope to have a new group ready to go before too long, so here's hoping the next time around will go better. I'm so sick of the bulls**t arguments calling for balanced parties and what not so necessary for a pre-pub deedledee adventure. I can't wait to get back to a system where the players can play whatever they feel like playing, even if they're all barbarians or all thieves. Anyways, thanks slaughterj, been good rapping with you, but I better get off this thread and give it back to the topic of healing.
As for en medias res, I TOTALLY agree with you! It's my favorite way to start, and I ran d6 Star Wars for years, so between that and Conan, it's the best way to start an adventure, I used to frustrate my d&d players (Tiberius included) by running d&d adventures en medias res also. The only thing I'd add, is I keep the action simple to decide on (although I give each NPC 'his' own agenda and there are usually at least two political factions involved) but just don't let things get stale for your group. I hope to have a new group ready to go before too long, so here's hoping the next time around will go better. I'm so sick of the bulls**t arguments calling for balanced parties and what not so necessary for a pre-pub deedledee adventure. I can't wait to get back to a system where the players can play whatever they feel like playing, even if they're all barbarians or all thieves. Anyways, thanks slaughterj, been good rapping with you, but I better get off this thread and give it back to the topic of healing.
The Suburbian
Mongoose
As long as it is ritualistic, I don't see a problem with a healing sorcery style.
Sutek
Mongoose
I agree, partially, but the long and short of it is thtat in the Conan RPG, magical healing isn't really necessary. The GM determines how the PCs are going to pay for a few weeks resting somewhere, players deduct silver pieces and ... youre done.
Even if you want to do it "real time", normal healing is very rapid. The only thing that takes time and a complicated process is recovering from Left For Dead.
I just don't really see where magical healing is all that necessary as the rules stand now, but I can see the place for it if someone were wanting to included it.
Even if you want to do it "real time", normal healing is very rapid. The only thing that takes time and a complicated process is recovering from Left For Dead.
I just don't really see where magical healing is all that necessary as the rules stand now, but I can see the place for it if someone were wanting to included it.
I agree, considering the way this game is set up, from the game mechanics point of view, based solely on the Conan stories; it warps the healing process in what is supposed to be a gritty and savage setting. Just make sure you don't turn it into your standard deedledee game where every guy on the street heals every adventurer who passes by in a very video game style. :evil: Please keep it very very rare, if not unique. Mind you, the Khitan monks in Hour of the Dragon could fight and kill long after other men would have collapsed, but that was not healing magic restoring hit points, but rather their martial eastern training and their drive. As the game is centered upon the hypothesis of certain physical laws and beliefs, make sure you don't warp the setting too much with instant cure-alls ala your standard 7th level deedle dee cleric.Sutek said:
slaughterj
Mongoose
Sutek said:
I don't see much need for it, but for if there are going to be a series of encounters close in time to one another for an adventure but someone gets significantly hurt early on. To me though, that's the time you consider hanging back, throwing spears, shooting arrows, etc. or simply doing a better job of planning tactics for the subsequent encounters.
Sutek
Mongoose
Well, the way I'd handle it then would be to make an NPC that can do the healing ritual, but at a price. In other words, make it more of a story event, less of a system mechanic, and more like a spell that reqires time and PP to accomplish. However, there'd be some meta-game "cost" to the PC group as a result (it helps the 'healer' open a gateway to allow a demon to come through, or it curses the healed person, etc.)
slaughterj
Mongoose
Sutek said:
Perhaps, but I was meaning some fairly tight time frames from one encounter to the next, i.e., you sneak into the slavers' quarters to rescue the merchant daughter, engage in tough fight, only for the slavers to have snuck her out the back en route to the wizard who is going to sacrifice her, meaning you have to take off after them, fight through the wizard tower defenses, etc. I.e., not much time for tracking down some NPC to perform a timely healing ritual that itself weaves in a storyline.
