HEAL spell?

[tomc]

@CJM, this system works well for dungeon crawls. Each combat is just as deadly, but characters don't get worn down as fast.

[hcobb]

There are plenty of once a day spells in the game. Why shouldn't heal be once a day per figure?

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by CJM

I would have liked the heal spell in the rules but since they are not I was thinking physicker could be used a little differently. I might let my players use it for each wound taken by a PC. For example; a player takes 12 hits (total) in a combat but was hit three times. First hit was for 5, second was for 1, third was for 6. ST is 11 so they are at a -1 and are out and need some medical attention fast. There are three wounds so a PC with physicker could heal the first wound 2 points, the second wound 1 point and the third wound 2 more for a total of 5 points bringing the PC up to 4 points. My objective is to get the PC back up and on his feet faster. Each wound taken is different and could have it's own medical attention. I don't know if I will do this or not, just doing a little brain storming. Combat is still deadly but recovery is faster so you don't get bogged down trying to work your way through a campaign. But maybe I'm reading the physicker talent wrong and you can heal each wound because it says, "However, if he later suffers a different mishap, he can be cured of 2 more of those new hits"?

That method for Physicker is how we ALWAYS played (and liked it very much), because we thought about it and realized that was the only way it made sense to our satisfaction. It also seems to me it pretty much reads that that is how you do it in the new ITL.

We did not use a heal spell, and didn't feel a need for it. When I started using GURPS Magic and there were heal spells, I quickly learned that they made a mockery of combat consequences, and proceeded to add all sorts of house rule limitations and consequences for using those, because otherwise players tend to just have a bunch of people using and aiding people with those spells and hardly anyone ever ends up having lasting injuries, which removes and entire element of play that I learned to really appreciate in TFT.

[hcobb]

Originally Posted by CJM

But maybe I'm reading the physicker talent wrong and you can heal each wound because it says, "However, if he later suffers a different mishap, he can be cured of 2 more of those new hits"?

I've always taken one mishap per wound.

Edge cases: Giant Spider bites and then you fail the saving throw: One mishap or two? Suck out the poison then put a bandage on?

I can see wrapping a sprained ankle, but what are you doing for those armor piercing occult strikes?

Can a Physicker do anything for non-damaging poisons?

[larsdangly]

The language of the rules is clear, and indicates that you get one Physicker treatment per fight, not per wound. But, I also ignore this directive and allow one Physicker treatment per discrete injury.

[TippetsTX]

Does anyone have any thoughts about my approach to 'healing magic' over on the Heroic Exploits/Powers thread? I'm anxious for feedback on my Channeling power-set.

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

The language of the rules is clear, and indicates that you get one Physicker treatment per fight, not per wound. But, I also ignore this directive and allow one Physicker treatment per discrete injury.

The language of the original ITL circa-1980 rules was that, but it didn't make enough sense for us not to immediately rule otherwise.

The language of the new ITL is not so clear, and to me reads as strongly supporting interpreting each wound as a heal-able "mishap". i.e. the skill descriptions refer to healing per "mishap" and "wound", and only refer to combats when mentioning the time limit.

[warhorse11h]

I remember the ruckus that got stirred up when Steve Jackson suggested the idea of a healing spell. There was evidently enough noise that the idea got dropped from the game manual. I wouldn't be surprised if the changed wording regarding physickers and healing is not a direct result of that ruckus. Mr Jackson made it clear that he did not think a healing spell would be a problem as far as game balance. So, when faced with the amount of resistance to the idea of a directly magical healing ability, he changed the wording to aid players in house ruling an enhanced healing ability for physickers. It is after all, backdoor magical healing. Not instantaneous, but two or three hits in five minutes is better than 1 hit every two days. And for master physickers, if they can heal three points per wound, if they heal two wounds on a character, they can cure more damage than the healing spell that Mr Jackson proposed.

[CJM]

Looking at the reply's to my post and seeing that some of you have already housed ruled that way I think that is the way I'm going to do things. I think it's a good balance between too much healing at once and not enough (at least for my tastes). I didn't want to ruin the balance of the game as the players are having a great time with our TFT champagne. The strength (why I like it so much) of this game is it's so easy to make it your own. Thanks much for your input:-)

[Skarg]

Originally Posted by warhorse11h

... And for master physickers, if they can heal three points per wound, if they heal two wounds on a character, they can cure more damage than the healing spell that Mr Jackson proposed.

Depends on the injuries.

Physickers heal small wounds well. Larger wounds, not so much.

One of the main problems with the Healing spell suggested was that it failed to take into account smart/determined players figuring out how to work the system. If you don't think about it, it looks like it just heals 3 points - hey, like a a physicker, right?

No, because it doesn't specify any limits, so people can and would get as many people with the Aid spell as possible resting as much as possible to heal as much as possible as quickly as possible. It would become standard practice for smart people with healing wizards to arrange a rest/Aid/spell-cast drill to heal up all wounds as quickly as possible.

That would be a very powerful tactic that people would be foolish not to use, and would be annoying to track, and would remove lasting injuries from the game for anyone able to use it.