[Basic] Advantage of the Week: Healing

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Fred Brackin

Neither. Being able to Heal yourself with Psionic Healing was the default. Not beign ab;le to Heal yourself was a Limitation. Also -30% I think.

So if that set "not myself" and "only myself" as having the same value on something which affects both...

"Not Myself" is basically -50% to cancel out the -50%, so "Only Myself" being -50% (instead of -80 or -100) could be fair.

Especially since this could be on top of a bunch of stuff you could easily skirt when targeting oneself like Requires Grapple / Touch-Based Reversed / Contact Agent.

Something like Blood Agent or Blood Agent, Reversed on Healing intended for oneself (or Affliction: Regeneration) is also an exploit we should keep in mind when pricing self-only stuff.

[Christopher R. Rice]

PK and I settled on -50% for for "Self Only" for Afflictions for Sorcery when I was writing up a spell for my article Codex Duello. I'd probably charge the same on Healing.

[David Johnston2]

Healing is second only to Regrowth in terms of unpopularity. I can't count the number of times I've seen people proposing workarounds to avoid buying Healing.

[Not]

Reprice at 20. Require a 10 point unusual background in mundane settings. Now it's comparable to magery 1 plus major healing and prereqs.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Healing is second only to Regrowth in terms of unpopularity. I can't count the number of times I've seen people proposing workarounds to avoid buying Healing.

I've never liked Healing; its FP cost makes it inconvenient and risky to use and makes it different from almost any other ability that might be described as specialized forms of Control Living Tissue (many Afflictions, for example).

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Healing is second only to Regrowth in terms of unpopularity. I can't count the number of times I've seen people proposing workarounds to avoid buying Healing.

I tend to prefer some variant of 'Affliction (Advantage: Regeneration)' over the Healing advantage, though admittedly not due to price.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

I tend to prefer some variant of 'Affliction (Advantage: Regeneration)' over the Healing advantage, though admittedly not due to price.

the way healing potions have changed in adventure games (D1>D2 eg) seems to favor the "small period of ticks" rather than "all at once" approach to healing

Path of Exile has an interesting middle ground where there's sometimes special pots which emulate the near-instantaneous of classic pots where in exchange for less HP healed you heal more per second for fewer second.

[Otaku]

I think it worth mentioning that Powers p.161 does list a few Skills that can be used in place of just an IQ role with Healing. In fact, I would like to know if there is a more detailed treatment of this approach. Especially lending itself to the notion of a medical team, mixing and matching both their skills and powers to treat others.

Related to this is something that is as much about game balance as it is about aiding in suspension of disbelief. The penalties for curing diseases... I assume this is as much about the crunch as the fluff? That is, the idea is a disease that the available forms of non-powered healing cannot handle, are supposed to carry a bigger penalty than those that medical science, natural recovery, etc. can already treat.

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Otaku

I think it worth mentioning that Powers p.161 does list a few Skills that can be used in place of just an IQ role with Healing. In fact, I would like to know if there is a more detailed treatment of this approach.

I always liked the idea of powers needing skill rolls that default to attribute minus 6, made advantages a lot lower-powered compared to their low costs which seems to help in balancinng them against costly magic or the cost of basic attributes. IE why buy +1 to DX for 20 points when you can get Burning Attack 2 and be a fireball-throwin' god

[Fred Brackin]

Originally Posted by Plane

I when you can get Burning Attack 2 and be a fireball-throwin' god

We don't call those "fireball throwin' gods" We call them "arrow magnets".