HEAL spell?

[JohnPaulB]

Keep healing out of the hands of wizards! I’d much rather have this healing concept transferred to a Cleric miracle!
I don’t want this wizard spell to be done with ritual magic for more curepoints.

If a Wizard HEAL spell needs restricting
I'd go with Touch the victim and perhaps an unarmored body is needed. Armor has to be taken off to apply the spell.

As others mentioned another possible restriction for Wizard healing, make it that the wizard converts injury to fatigue. The victim is still down a point, but it can be rested in 15minutes.

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Non-Magic Healing

Originally Posted by tbeard1999

I believe David alluded to this earlier, but you could simply allow everyone to “bandage their wounds” after a fight. They’d get the same benefit as TFT figures get from a physicker or master physicker.

Perhaps allow bandaging as a 50/50 chance of success on IQ for 1 point healing. Can only be done on those not healed by Physicker. Can only be done after combat.

[Wayne]

Apropos of another post I made.
If you’re saving someone’s life, you have a choice
1. bow out of combat or
2. let them die.
You can’t say I’ll slap on a bandage in one turn (5 seconds) and then go back to fighting.

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by Steve Jackson

Comments?


Heal (T) (IQ 14)
For each 3 points of ST that the wizard puts into this spell, he/she can cure one hit of damage on himself or another. Heal will also restore lost fatigue from spellcasting, etc., but rarely is it practical to use it this way.
Heal will cure HT already lost to disease and poison, but it will not cure the disease nor make a poison go away.
It is possible to place healing magic into an artifact, but such things are rare and costly, and work no better than a mage with the Heal spell and a strength battery or a corps of apprentices.
Healing scrolls, on the other hand, are common. As with other scrolls, the magic comes from the scroll and the strength comes from the caster.

Comments: There is no HEAL spell in the original game because of concerns that it would make an adventuring party too self-sufficient. I no longer think that is a big problem.
I can imagine making it IQ 13, but no easier; this should be a spell that most wizards don’t have.

The spell you give is instant and the recipient is fully healed for that portion of wound. Here is an additional lower level heal spell.

How about something of lower IQ that converts an injury to some negative reaction.

Transmorgification Healing Spell (S) (IQ 12)
For each 3 points of ST that the wizard puts into this spell, he/she can transform two hits of damage into some temporary disadvantage in the recipient. Can be attempted only once per combat per person. The spellcaster needs to touch the victim.

Negative Reaction:
Limp = -1 MA
Spasms = -1 DX
Weakness = -1 ST
Headache = -1 IQ
Other variations can occur.
For each 3 points, the negative increases by -1.

The type of inconvenience should be appropriate to the type of injury/wound received.

This affect lasts 24 hours or until 8 hours of continuous sleep is done.

Comments: This spell allows for some healing, but doesn't make it free for the recipient. Its not a major penalty until you heal a lot. and if you have time to sleep, the penalty goes away.

[Skarg]

The Transmogfrication Healing Spell is nice. I might use it, though I'd make the effects last until the damage it replaces heals. :-)

[Shadekeep]

Weighing in a bit late on this, but here's my take.

Healing magic should be exceedingly rare, labourious, and costly. Instant healing is fine in video games, where frequent combat is often the raison d'etre and you can level up a character to the point where they can kill a dragon with a grapefruit spoon. But in a pen-and-paper RPG it should be much more realistic.

I would almost say that Master Physicker should be a prerequisite for Heal, as one would need to know how and where to direct the healing energies. Regenerating muscle tissue is very different than repairing nerves or organ damage. Critical failure could lead to permanent damage to the areas being repaired, with lose of function or attribute as a result. Select experts of this magic may also learn Regeneration, which allows restoration of lost organs or limbs. This spell would further be necessary to undo the effects of a Heal critical failure.

Lastly, Cure Disease and Cure Poison should also be separate spells. Cure Poison is probably the lowest and easiest to learn of these four, with no prerequisites apart from IQ. It could also be boosted by the Naturalist talent. Cure Disease is a targeted form of the Cleanse spell, and likely should require Physicker as a base so as not to damage the patient. Heal and Regeneration both require Master Physicker, with the latter also requiring the former.

The places one could obtain the services of a Healer at would need to be either well protected under the aegis of a strong ruler/government, or otherwise remote. The rarity of the art and the vitality of it would make true Healers very sought after, with some of them imprisoned by tyrants who desire to ensure their services for themselves.

As a final note, it's quite probable that Heal and Regeneration are intensely painful spells, or at least disturbingly uncomfortable, unless the patient is numbed or sedated. Otherwise they can feel their flesh knitting quickly, with all the accompanying sensory experiences of that.

[Anomylous]

Also chiming in late, but I'd like to add my 2 (well, 4) cents:

- It's generally important to me that Physickers keep being a party's major, first-line source of healing. I definitely wouldn't object to the house-ruled version that can treat 2 or 3 points per wound rather than per combat. TFT is pretty unique in having most healing be non-magical; I'd like to keep that flavor.

- I like Rick Smith's approach of long-duration healing spells that simply accelerate natural healing processes, and IMO this should be the most accessible form of healing magic - because it shortens downtime between adventures, without supplanting the tactical role of Physickers. The two approaches to healing become complementary, and you avoid the question about whether magical and non-magical healing should be allowed to stack.

- I'm surprised that the new Regeneration spell is only IQ 15. I would have expected it to be higher. That said, I like it - it fits really well with the paradigm of "magic healing is thorough but takes time; Physicker healing is a quick but limited Band-Aid."

- I'm generally against the idea of introducing a priest/cleric "class", healing or not. I happen to like original-flavor TFT's atheistic worldview. The question of whether gods should be introduced should be decided by the players and GM, not the rulebook.

[JohnPaulB]

Originally Posted by Anomylous

- I'm generally against the idea of introducing a priest/cleric "class", healing or not. I happen to like original-flavor TFT's atheistic worldview. The question of whether gods should be introduced should be decided by the players and GM, not the rulebook.

And when the players and GM do decide, they should be able to go to a rulebook that has standardized, playtested TFT options for Gods/cleric "class". Probably in an TFT Supplement that has 4 or 5 different grades of Gods/Cleric world effects.

[larsdangly]

I could adapt to a variety of answers to this issue, but I think it is worth noting that there is something special about TFT's approach: Magic will not come to save you if you mess up. There are modestly useful healing potions, and physickers can be helpful now and then. But in the end you are going to have to deal with the consequences of your bad choices. This is different from pretty much any other game of this genre that I can think of, and it is part of what makes TFT unique. For this reason alone, if I were in charge I think I would say, 'screw it; we're staying the way this game always was, and people can just deal with the hardships'

[Anomylous]

Originally Posted by JohnPaulB

And when the players and GM do decide, they should be able to go to a rulebook that has standardized, playtested TFT options for Gods/cleric "class". Probably in an TFT Supplement that has 4 or 5 different grades of Gods/Cleric world effects.

Amen to that!

[Tenex]

Originally Posted by larsdangly

I could adapt to a variety of answers to this issue, but I think it is worth noting that there is something special about TFT's approach: Magic will not come to save you if you mess up. There are modestly useful healing potions, and physickers can be helpful now and then. But in the end you are going to have to deal with the consequences of your bad choices. This is different from pretty much any other game of this genre that I can think of, and it is part of what makes TFT unique. For this reason alone, if I were in charge I think I would say, 'screw it; we're staying the way this game always was, and people can just deal with the hardships'

Absolutely. Here's another vote for simply cleaning up the contradictory and vague rules. There's a whole lotta "improvements" that are just going to remove the features that made TFT unique.