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Old 04-02-2016, 04:33 PM   #21
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Unhealing

Not many people like the adversarial Gygax style of gaming anymore.
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Old 04-02-2016, 05:07 PM   #22
Dead Monky
 
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Default Re: Unhealing

True that. So far, I've dragged my players through one of the aforementioned areas only once. It was an interesting challenge for them.
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Old 04-02-2016, 05:34 PM   #23
Bruno
 
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Default Re: Unhealing

It doesn't need to be a thing done for the GMs amusement/revenge.
Hazards are just as valid in an RPG as they are on a golf course - standard golf-course hazards are maximal "fairness" (pun not intended) as you have full information about each one before having to deal with it. "Mini-putt" is "less fair" in that the hazards become dynamic or complex, making them harder to get all the information about them, and can include hidden components (A large box with many entrances, and many exits, but only one exit leads to the end - no obvious information which entrance leads to the end).

"Least Fair" is your Tomb Of Horrors level of "every hazard is hidden, complex, violates the apparent rules of the game, an instant fail condition, and ideally all of the above".

Bad mana conditions, like a sand trap or water hazard, can be completely fair when used the same way - everyone knows about it, everyone has the equipment to deal with it, and it doesn't dominate the fairway. It's added to increase the challenge by making you avoid it, or if you can't/don't avoid it, by making you wade through it.

They can also be used like the mini-putt hazards - anything from annoying windmills that are totally obvious, totally blocking your way, but also obviously can be dealt with, to the mysterious black box type that are obviously something and can be figured out with experimentation and observation without it eating your ball.

In mlangsdorf's DF game, we encountered a small dungeon with tainted, and death-aspected mana - -2 to EVERYTHING, an extra -5 to healing spells, +5 to necromancy and such, and both critical successes and failures in that region did some horror-themed things. The critical successes did things that helped us, on the whole, but were still alarming.

We knew it was bad when we went there. It wasn't secret, and we had choices. We had alternates to healing spells (potions), the dungeon was small so we could always retreat outside to heal (sacrificing the initiative, however), and generally it was a hazard we chose to deal with.

I wasn't playing a caster, but I was playing a character dependent on lots of healer babysitting (SM +1 600 lb berserker :P). I soaked up SO much healing despite the penalties, until my barbarian's leg got broken in the final fight and the party was left with the problem of how to move 600 lbs of nearly-dead berserker plus over 200 lbs of his equipment. Not counting treasure, which they were sort of hoping he'd do the heavy lifting on.

I had a lot of fun - because we knew we were going into the Dungeon Of Many Deathy Dead Things That Are Dead and Cursed, Did We Mention The Curses? It's like going into a dungeon in an active volcano - you don't get upset because you get set on fire a few times.
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Old 04-02-2016, 05:34 PM   #24
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Unhealing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dead Monky View Post
True that. So far, I've dragged my players through one of the aforementioned areas only once. It was an interesting challenge for them.
Oh sure. As an occasional hardship, I would appreciate that, especially if I'm one of the non magic heavy characters.
"How do you like it now, Gandalf the Yellow?"
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Old 04-02-2016, 06:11 PM   #25
Dead Monky
 
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Location: Midland, MI
Default Re: Unhealing

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
It doesn't need to be a thing done for the GMs amusement/revenge.
Obviously. Though it can be hard to resist the urge at times. Very hard.

In case you're wondering, I don't randomly alter things with no warning just to be a dick. Though I have arbitrarily killed one character because a player ****** me off. It was years ago and the culmination of weeks of her driving me and the other players nuts.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Flyndaran View Post
Oh sure. As an occasional hardship, I would appreciate that, especially if I'm one of the non magic heavy characters.
"How do you like it now, Gandalf the Yellow?"
It, along with the superpowered hive-minded psychotics, pretty effectively drove home the area's danger. Which was the point after all.
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Old 04-08-2016, 09:28 AM   #26
Kromm
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Location: Montréal, Québec
Default Re: Unhealing

The limitations on regaining HP are these:

Either Level
  • Supernatural healing – healing potions and spells, psionic healing, the Healing advantage, etc. – works normally on you.
  • Gross technological repair with a skill like Mechanic or Surgery (depending on what kind of being you are) works normally on you.
  • Natural healing is limited:

    1. No daily HT rolls to recover lost HP – meaning that things that merely accelerate this process rather than restore HP directly and on their own are also useless.
    2. No HP restored by using the First Aid or Physician skill to help the body recover from shock. Surgery only!
    3. You cannot have any level of Regeneration. Yes, for this purpose, Regeneration is considered "natural."
Partial
  • Restriction #1 is suspended when a rare condition is met. When that condition applies, you get daily HT rolls.
  • You can heal by stealing HP from others supernaturally, through means like the Leech advantage or the Steal Vitality spell; in effect, these are added to "supernatural healing" at this level.
Total
  • Restriction #1 is never suspended. You never get daily HT rolls.
  • You cannot heal by stealing HP from others. "Stealing HP supernaturally" is treated as different from "being healed supernaturally" – the former doesn't work but the latter still does.



In short, Unhealing is essentially a restriction on whether you can make daily HT rolls to heal, get First Aid, have the Regeneration advantage, or steal HP. Neither level prohibits being healed via supernatural means (e.g., Healing spells) or extreme physical intervention (e.g., Surgery skill), both of which always work on everyone. Invent a new, higher level to forbid those as well.
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Old 04-08-2016, 09:32 AM   #27
Bruno
 
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Default Re: Unhealing

Thanks Kromm, and welcome back! I hope you're feeling a little better.

I'll see if we can get this on the uFAQ.
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Old 04-08-2016, 11:27 AM   #28
Dragondog
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Default Re: Unhealing

Thank you so much for clarifying that, both here and in responding to my PM.
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Old 04-09-2016, 12:44 AM   #29
AlexanderHowl
 
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Default Re: Unhealing

Concerning mana levels, it is much more dangerous when the mana level is very high because the temptation to use magic is so great, but normal failures become critical failures and critical failures are so much worse. Within an area of very high magic, a wizard becomes a lunatic that likes to juggle nitroglycerin, which is why they are great adventure locations in societies where magic is taken for granted. It is less ideal in a secret magic society because people are used to doing without magic.
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