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David Bofinger · 01-17-2019, 05:24 PM

A Bit of Philosophy

I think the way to look at healing is that wounds and healing might want to satisfy some or all of these principles:

Undesirability: Players should not want their characters to be wounded, so there should be some penalty that incentivises them to avoid it. I think this is more or less trivial: wounds in sufficient quantity over a short period of time cause death, so there's always a disincentive to being wounded. But some people feel this isn't enough.
Entertainment:Being wounded should be fun. The penalty imposed should be good from a gaming POV: something that's fun, or interesting, or exciting, or keeps the player on the edge of their seat, rather than boring or routine. Again this is easy to satisfy during a fight, because the character is in danger of dying, but hard between fights.
Optionality and Mundanity: As the name implies, two related principles that tend to go hand in hand. If healing is so effective that it becomes de facto essential then it should be generally available. Parties should be able to go adventuring without a wizard, or a physicker, or in areas where athelas does not grow, without being completely crippled. Industrial magic should not be too intrusive. It should be practical to play TFT in a setting where there is no magic. Industrial magic is more a part of Cidri than most settings so maybe this is not as big a deal in Cidri games.
Simplicity and TFTishness:Rules that use similar mechanics to other rules in TFT, and generally simpler rules, are preferred to one-of-a-kind or complex rules.

I think most players care about most of these principles, though not every player cares about any individual principle. This is just as well, since it's unlikely any healing rules will satisfy all these criteria. There might also be other principles I haven't thought of. I think any rules for healing should start by asking which principles they're trying to satisfy, and which they're willing to throw to the wolves.

Using this scheme many objections to a very effective healing system (e.g. Steve's proposal) can be phrased as violations of the principle of undesirability.

In an effort to avoid violating undesirability, some GMs use healing spells that e.g. double the rate of natural healing. But this is perhaps a violation of entertainment, since the difference between a week's enforced rest and two week's enforced rest means little in RPG terms.

The canonical TFT system (no healing spell but healing potions) is in partial violation of the principle of entertainment. During a fight being wounded is exciting because the player fears their character will be killed. But between fights being wounded forces either a return to civilisation for downtime, or burning money on healing potions. Neither is fun.

Steve's proposal is also a violation of the principle of entertainment, since sitting and doing nothing for an hour or two while the wizard rests is kind of pointless, but that's also a criticism of the magic system generally.

A system in which healing magic was very effective and convenient between fights, so that all wounds would be healed before the next one at negligible cost, would be a violation of the principle of optionality and mundanity. IMO it otherwise looks pretty good, and it's probably the scheme I would use if I were GMing at the moment.

01-17-2019, 05:24 PM	#368
David Bofinger Join Date: Jan 2018 Location: Sydney, Australia	Re: HEAL spell? A Bit of Philosophy I think the way to look at healing is that wounds and healing might want to satisfy some or all of these principles: Undesirability: Players should not want their characters to be wounded, so there should be some penalty that incentivises them to avoid it. I think this is more or less trivial: wounds in sufficient quantity over a short period of time cause death, so there's always a disincentive to being wounded. But some people feel this isn't enough. Entertainment:Being wounded should be fun. The penalty imposed should be good from a gaming POV: something that's fun, or interesting, or exciting, or keeps the player on the edge of their seat, rather than boring or routine. Again this is easy to satisfy during a fight, because the character is in danger of dying, but hard between fights. Optionality and Mundanity: As the name implies, two related principles that tend to go hand in hand. If healing is so effective that it becomes de facto essential then it should be generally available. Parties should be able to go adventuring without a wizard, or a physicker, or in areas where athelas does not grow, without being completely crippled. Industrial magic should not be too intrusive. It should be practical to play TFT in a setting where there is no magic. Industrial magic is more a part of Cidri than most settings so maybe this is not as big a deal in Cidri games. Simplicity and TFTishness:Rules that use similar mechanics to other rules in TFT, and generally simpler rules, are preferred to one-of-a-kind or complex rules. I think most players care about most of these principles, though not every player cares about any individual principle. This is just as well, since it's unlikely any healing rules will satisfy all these criteria. There might also be other principles I haven't thought of. I think any rules for healing should start by asking which principles they're trying to satisfy, and which they're willing to throw to the wolves. Using this scheme many objections to a very effective healing system (e.g. Steve's proposal) can be phrased as violations of the principle of undesirability. In an effort to avoid violating undesirability, some GMs use healing spells that e.g. double the rate of natural healing. But this is perhaps a violation of entertainment, since the difference between a week's enforced rest and two week's enforced rest means little in RPG terms. The canonical TFT system (no healing spell but healing potions) is in partial violation of the principle of entertainment. During a fight being wounded is exciting because the player fears their character will be killed. But between fights being wounded forces either a return to civilisation for downtime, or burning money on healing potions. Neither is fun. Steve's proposal is also a violation of the principle of entertainment, since sitting and doing nothing for an hour or two while the wizard rests is kind of pointless, but that's also a criticism of the magic system generally. A system in which healing magic was very effective and convenient between fights, so that all wounds would be healed before the next one at negligible cost, would be a violation of the principle of optionality and mundanity. IMO it otherwise looks pretty good, and it's probably the scheme I would use if I were GMing at the moment.