Playing a Healer.. how do you get more healing in combat?

[cthulhudarren]

So one PC wants to be the healer. So he is an initiate in a Cult of the God of Life. The cult needs to be flushed out, but I gave him Vigor, Cauterize, Heal.

So from what we saw, if you use Heal you are done. So that is just one Heal a day? Are we doing something wrong here?

 

[PhilHibbs]

So one PC wants to be the healer. So he is an initiate in a Cult of the God of Life. The cult needs to be flushed out, but I gave him Vigor, Cauterize, Heal.

So from what we saw, if you use Heal you are done. So that is just one Heal a day? Are we doing something wrong here?

No, it's only limited by available Magic points. Divine spells are limited to how quickly you can recover the spell, which improves as you advance through the ranks. Common Magic is not limited in this way. So if you give the cult Heal Body, Regrow Limb, etc. then these can only be cast again once they have been recovered through prayer.

 

[cthulhudarren]

So one PC wants to be the healer. So he is an initiate in a Cult of the God of Life. The cult needs to be flushed out, but I gave him Vigor, Cauterize, Heal.

So from what we saw, if you use Heal you are done. So that is just one Heal a day? Are we doing something wrong here?

No, it's only limited by available Magic points. Divine spells are limited to how quickly you can recover the spell, which improves as you advance through the ranks. Common Magic is not limited in this way. So if you give the cult Heal Body, Regrow Limb, etc. then these can only be cast again once they have been recovered through prayer.

...but there are no common magic spells that actually Heal damage. This is unfortunate for those initiates who want to heal.

 

[Loz]

...but there are no common magic spells that actually Heal damage. This is unfortunate for those initiates who want to heal.

Um, Heal (p112, Common Magic, RQII core rules)?

 

[cthulhudarren]

...but there are no common magic spells that actually Heal damage. This is unfortunate for those initiates who want to heal.

Um, Heal (p112, Common Magic, RQII core rules)?

Hmmm. I guess one point per MP is better than nothing, thanks.

 

[Loz]

...but there are no common magic spells that actually Heal damage. This is unfortunate for those initiates who want to heal.

Um, Heal (p112, Common Magic, RQII core rules)?

Hmmm. I guess one point per MP is better than nothing, thanks.

Its a guaranteed rate of healing. If you have 4 hit points in an arm, say, a Heal 1 spell is going to guarantee to restore 25% of your hit point capacity; Heal 2 50%. Given the hit point scale, its quite a reasonable rate of low-level healing.

So yes, it is better than nothing. Much better. If you want a Healer in your party, then putting as much magnitude into Heal as you can is sensible.

 

[Mixster]

The best way of healing with divine spells is actually using Amplify + Extension to put out a lot of healing for a single MP.
Sorcery usually works better in combat though, since it can be done at range.

 

[soltakss]

Generally, healers aren't able to heal any more than normal folk.

However, if they belong to a healing cult then they will probably have access to a broader range of healing magic. They are also more likely to specialise and hence can increase those skills used in healing.

I'd allow healers to make healing potions of various kinds and give them spells that normal people don't have. Even if they can't make the potions themselves (and I would allow them to) they should be able to get hold of them easily enough through their cult.

But, a healer with exactly the same stats and magic items as a fighter, for example, shouldn't necessarily be able to heal more just because they are a healer, in the same way that a warrior won't do more damage just because he is a warrior.

 

[cthulhudarren]

The best way of healing with divine spells is actually using Amplify + Extension to put out a lot of healing for a single MP.

I'll have to look at this.

 

[cthulhudarren]

However, if they belong to a healing cult then they will probably have access to a broader range of healing magic. They are also more likely to specialise and hence can increase those skills used in healing.

I'd allow healers to make healing potions of various kinds and give them spells that normal people don't have. Even if they can't make the potions themselves (and I would allow them to) they should be able to get hold of them easily enough through their cult.

This PC is a member of a cult that is "Life" based, so healing is a focus. What mechanic would you use for the potion making, Divine Enhancements or Alchemy?

Also, I thought you could buy a portable shrine but I'll be damned if I can find it now in the core rules or Arms and Equipment. Did I imagine that?

 

[Dan True]

This PC is a member of a cult that is "Life" based, so healing is a focus. What mechanic would you use for the potion making, Divine Enhancements or Alchemy?

I would use divine enchantments for anything more powerful than a few HP. I would use Alchemy to make small healing draughts (there's some in Deus Vult, which can be made by Alchemy).

Also, I thought you could buy a portable shrine but I'll be damned if I can find it now in the core rules or Arms and Equipment. Did I imagine that?

No, it's in there somewhere.

- Dan

 

[Titus]

This PC is a member of a cult that is "Life" based, so healing is a focus. What mechanic would you use for the potion making, Divine Enhancements or Alchemy?

I would use divine enchantments for anything more powerful than a few HP. I would use Alchemy to make small healing draughts (there's some in Deus Vult, which can be made by Alchemy).

Age of Treason has some nice alchemy rules. No MP or POW costs to make Elixirs, just time and money for ingredients and equipment. The skills Craft(Alchemy) and Lore(Elixirs) would be good for a healer. Lore(Poisons) probably wouldn't be suitable, though if the healer focused on the antidotes, that shouldn't be a problem. Lore(Potions) includes mixtures which can store spells, and could hold more powerful healing magics than elixirs offer, but are generally harder to make and more expensive.

Spellcom also has potions. These are done as one-use, temporary enchanted items.

Also, I thought you could buy a portable shrine but I'll be damned if I can find it now in the core rules or Arms and Equipment. Did I imagine that?

No, it's in there somewhere.

- Dan

Altar, Portable - Arms & Equipment, page 4.

 

[mwsasser]

Its a guaranteed rate of healing. If you have 4 hit points in an arm, say, a Heal 1 spell is going to guarantee to restore 25% of your hit point capacity; Heal 2 50%. Given the hit point scale, its quite a reasonable rate of low-level healing.

So yes, it is better than nothing. Much better. If you want a Healer in your party, then putting as much magnitude into Heal as you can is sensible.

Except the errata says it doesn't heal any points at all. Is this a disagreement between author and publisher?

The Common Magic Heal spell is not capable of doing anything other than stabilising a Major Wound (so no hit points are regained), hence the restrictions described in the second paragraph of the spell on page 12.

 

[AnubisCK]

no in my core book this is what it says

Heal
Instant, Magnitude 1, Progressive, Touch
For every point of Magnitude of this spell, the caster can repair
one Hit Point of damage to an injured Hit Location. Casting
this spell on creatures of a different species will have half the Hit
Points restored.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Except the errata says it doesn't heal any points at all. Is this a disagreement between author and publisher?

For any wound up to Major Wound level, Heal will work as written. On a Major Wound, however, all it will do is stabilize the wound and stop and bleeding damage (but I think bleeding damage is now gone from the game system, in AHRQ3 you would take 1hp per round if you were on negative HPs).

 

[mwsasser]

For any wound up to Major Wound level, Heal will work as written. On a Major Wound, however, all it will do is stabilize the wound and stop and bleeding damage (but I think bleeding damage is now gone from the game system, in AHRQ3 you would take 1hp per round if you were on negative HPs).

AHRQ3? AH? Shouldn't that be MLRQ?

As to the healing, its a much better alternative than how I read the errata.

Sometimes I wish 3rd party people who didn't know a game system would be the editors. So much confusion would be removed although the books might be slightly bigger. I think authors know their material and make assumptions based on knowledge they forgot we don't always know.

I'm not knocking authors, it's something I've learned with my own game world. When I think something is well written and then make it available to the players they often interpret it completely different than I intended because I have knowledge they don't. It's more of a challenge than you'd think. So I am sympathetic but often confused by book rules because it leaves me wondering.

 

[Deleriad]

Its a guaranteed rate of healing. If you have 4 hit points in an arm, say, a Heal 1 spell is going to guarantee to restore 25% of your hit point capacity; Heal 2 50%. Given the hit point scale, its quite a reasonable rate of low-level healing.

So yes, it is better than nothing. Much better. If you want a Healer in your party, then putting as much magnitude into Heal as you can is sensible.

Except the errata says it doesn't heal any points at all. Is this a disagreement between author and publisher?

The Common Magic Heal spell is not capable of doing anything other than stabilising a Major Wound (so no hit points are regained), hence the restrictions described in the second paragraph of the spell on page 12.

This is a case where the rulebook is clear but the errata accidentally confuses things. The rulebook says;

For every point of Magnitude of this spell, the caster can repair one hit point of damage to an injured hit location.

What the errata is meant to say is that the spell cannot recover HPs in a location that is suffering from a major wound but it can "stabilise" a location with a major wound. However the errata seems to imply that the only thing the spell can do is to stabilise a major wound.

Ironically, this may mean that the Legend rulebook actually ends up being slightly less clear than RQII in this case.

 

[PhilHibbs]

AHRQ3? AH? Shouldn't that be MLRQ?

AHRQ3 = Avalon Hill RuneQuest 3rd Edition, the pre-Mongoose RuneQuest.

 

[PhilHibbs]

Ironically, this may mean that the Legend rulebook actually ends up being slightly less clear than RQII in this case.

I doubt it, the errata is only confusing because it only includes the change, which looks like a rewrite of the entire spell. If the text were this then it would not be confusing:

For every point of Magnitude of this spell, the caster can repair one Hit Point of damage to an injured Hit Location. Casting this spell on creatures of a different species will have half the Hit Points restored.

It is not capable of doing anything other than stabilising a Major Wound (so no hit points are regained). Such wounds require stronger magic.