03-24-2021, 11:12 AM | #11 |
Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Boston area
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
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03-24-2021, 02:46 PM | #12 | |
Join Date: Aug 2018
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
Quote:
http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread...=healing+spell |
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03-24-2021, 08:05 PM | #14 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
If you are adding a healing spell to the game, the first thing you do is not to write a healing spell. It's to write down what you want the healing spell to be able to do, and what you want it not to be able to do, and why having a healing spell will make the game more fun than not having a healing spell. The actual spell should derive from the answers to those questions. Start with "why", not "what", let alone "how" or "who".
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03-25-2021, 09:40 AM | #15 |
Join Date: Dec 2017
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
I think the rules governing creation of new spells make it clear that any player can declare they are starting to work on a healing spell; then it's up to them and their GM to negotiate the parameters of the spell (IQ requirement; ST cost) and for the GM to dictate what actually happens when the spell is finally completed and first cast. Following the 'yes...and' principles of good improv theater, if a player came to me with such a request I would certainly let them proceed, but give serious thought to any unintended consequences or mechanics. Given that a healing spell seems like a useful idea yet doesn't appear in the widely known books of spells taught by the guild, it stands to reason that many wizards have tried to make one but never came up with a functional formula that didn't come with some terrible unintended consequence.
E.g., what if a healing spell works in a way that sounds awesome (say, IQ 12 spell and 1 point of physical injury healed per point of Mana expended - a reasonable approximation of how healing works in many high-fantasy games). But then the discoverer of the spell learns that the effects gradually wear off, with wounds re-opening and bones re-cracking, at a rate of 1 point per 15 minutes. Or if the healed wounds return the subject to good functional health but leave them horribly disfigured or noxiously smelly, imparting a -1 reaction modifier every time the spell is cast on them. Or if a figure returned to health by a healing spell incurs some sorcerous curse, like they become a magnet for malign spirits? |
03-25-2021, 06:30 PM | #16 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
The idea that a healing spell also inflicts a penalty is an interesting one. It would allow characters to be unhappy about being wounded, but still able to continue adventuring as long as others were willing to shoulder more of the load. That probably comes closer to satisfying the wound dilemma than most approaches.
Perhaps the natural implementation would be:
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03-25-2021, 06:39 PM | #17 | |
Join Date: Nov 2018
Location: Florida Peninsula, Earth, Sol Sytem
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
Quote:
__________________
The first rule of GMing "If you make it, players will break it" |
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03-29-2021, 09:40 PM | #18 | |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
Quote:
You could allow the player to convert hit damage to temporary handicaps (TFT Companion P 17 and P 23). Just make the time duration last hours or days. No need for physicker. The player suggests the temporary handicap and the GM approves it.
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- Hail Melee Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat. Don't just take the square, Fight for it! https://www.shadowhex.com |
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03-31-2021, 06:37 AM | #19 |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Sydney, Australia
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
Using handicaps instead of curses could be a good idea, it has more flavour.
You seem to be suggesting the conversion happens at the moment of wounding, rather than out of combat. Unless it's limited somehow the PC becomes immortal? TFT doesn't usually tell you what happened in a fight so rather than use what happened to say where the wound is I would randomise the wound and use it to say what happened. |
03-31-2021, 09:36 PM | #20 | |
Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: Portland, Maine
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Re: Thoughts on a Healing Spell.
Quote:
8 ST Joe gets injured for 3 points in a fall. Joe already has 4 fatigue on him. There is no 'medic' around or healing potion. After the 'combat' is over (or there is no other action to do), it becomes time when Joe's player decides he doesn't like 1 health point left going through this area. He decides to covert 2 of his injury points to temporary handicaps. Since Joe fell, the player decides his leg is hurting. Joe gains two hitpoints back and now has Lame for -4 MA for, say, 1 day. For the storytelling fluff part, Joe could take 5 minutes to bandage his leg. If the player was clever, he could have Joe create a crutch and reduce the lameness by half (-2 MA). Note: The conversion of damage to temporary handicap needs to be equitable. If Hard of Hearing for 1 hour seems like giving damage points away, increase the time to 1 day, etc. Since wounds are generic on the body (unless its a called shot), a random hit location could be used to help decide what handicap to take. Or perhaps just rolling for handicaps and rerolling those that are inappropriate.
__________________
- Hail Melee Fantasy Chess: A chess game with combat. Don't just take the square, Fight for it! https://www.shadowhex.com |
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