D&D 4th Edition - Part 2

So onto the good about D&D 4th Edition.

I really like how they’ve realized that a cleric (aka the Heal-bot) was really fun to play if you just cast spells for yourself and didn't focus on the healing but kinda boring if you just spent all your time being the Heal-bot (i.e. keeping the party alive). I’ve seen some players do the Heal-bot thing and they never complained (nor did anybody complain about them) but c'mon, it has got to get awfully boring.

Say what you will about 4th Edition, but it solves that problem very well it would seem. You now have Standard actions and Minor action (in addition to the tacked on Move action). It looks like, from the sample characters posted elsewhere, that healing (whether the cleric’s Prayer or the Paladin’s Lay on Hands) is a Minor action. Therefore, they can do something interesting like attack AND throw off a heal. Very nice.

So the Heal-bot, er, cleric was just an example of the new doors that are open. They’ve committed themselves to creating a game where nobody sits around doing nothing. There is always something that each party member can contribute, not just the “Aid action” (i.e. The Halfing action).

If you're curious about the 'new' healing in D&D, it works very differently from old school D&D (aka 3.5 and lower). All characters now get something called a Healing Surge. You have X number of Healing Surges per day and each time one is used it gives you X number of HP's back. When you have a short rest (like a few minutes) you can use a Healing Surge. So between combat you can use a Healing Surge (or two/three/etc? that part isn't clear) to get your HP's back.

Additionally, once per combat you can use 1 Healing Surge. But that's your standard action. So every character across the board can get back a number of HP's during combat, without resorting to a potion.

Lay On Hands and the Heal-bot, er, Cleric's Prayers of Healing work with Healing Surges. The Paladin will now tick off one of their own Healing Surges and another character gets to heal some HP's (based on their own amount). The Cleric's Prayer allows them to make a target check off their own Healing Surge and even get an extra 1d6+X HP's back.

Why have I ranted about healing and HP's? Because this was one of my most hated points about D&D. Hit Points, suggests that you can physical take so many cuts, lacerations, burns, etc before you perish. In their actually description for HP's, they backpedal and claim, oh no...it represents luck and skill (to avoid blows) and the ability to shrug off minor wounds. Okay...I can totally buy that HP's represent more of a 'luck' system, where eventually your luck runs out and you are actually skewered by a sword or roasted by that Dragon's breath. However if that's how HP's work...then why healing spells? Do you 'heal' luck? Is that how that's supposed to work?

Now, however, it is clear that sitting down, resting and getting some of your composure will give you some HP's back. Okay...I can accept that. Healing Prayers can represent giving you some of your composure back, removing some of your exhaustion and mending some of the cuts you might have gotten. Okay...finally I can visualize and accept how 'healing' and HP's work.

That being said, Healing Surges and HP's are now rather...gamey. When you watch Aragorn fight in Lord of the Rings, you don't say to yourself, "gosh, he's avoiding all those blows, gotten a few cuts and looks winded...he clearly is low on Hit Points." But since I bring action movies into the fold, I will accept that Healing Surges and HP's are very much in the same style as an action movie. John Maclane can get shot or run on glass and be fine in the next scene. So of course our D&D characters should be able to as well.