Clerics and Cure Light Wounds

[peterlind]

I was reading this article here by Jonathan Tweet, who has a reference to the 1970s Cleric:

www.enworld.org/threads/d-d-3e-design-the-unbalanced-cleric.669907/

Here's a thought on how to allow clerics to cast cure light wounds without taking up too many slots: Allow the spell to have a duration of 1 turn and
to effectively act as a staff of healing -- so any character touched by the cleric will be healed 2-7 hit points but can only benefit from this spell once
per day.

What do you think about this? Would the spell be balanced as a first level spell if it had this capability?

[retrorob]

in VanGrasstek's "Dungeon" Clerics after fight can heal one person for 1-6 hits. Just saying

[captainjapan]

The magic user can take an enemy out, no save allowed, before they can get into melee range, with a sleep spell. I think you're ok with the "duration effect" cure light wounds variant. Because spell effects aren't systemized (they each comprise their own 'special' case), the only way to know for sure will be to playtest it.

From a purely visual standpoint, I like the idea of reverse laying-on-of-hands.

I can think of one other person on this board that wrangled with the problem of the exploited cleric, but I have to ask, "Why shouldn't the cleric just charge for the privilege of on-the-spot healing?" I mean, healing potions of comparable efficacy can cost north of 100gp, depending on the DM. Call it a mandatory donation. There's nothing that says a lawful cleric can't charge for being saddled with healing duties.

This problem won't show up in solo play, where I think any low level cleric would be a fool not to max out on 'cure light wounds'.

I think it's ok for a cleric to just be a half-assed fighter w/ benefits, for a few levels.

[captainjapan]

Jan 27, 2020 13:11:36 GMT -6 retrorob said:

in VanGrasstek's "Dungeon" Clerics after fight can heal one person for 1-6 hits. Just saying

Yeah, and that's after any and every fight. Not just one fight per delve or one fight per day, but every single combat encounter. It doesn't even count as a spell, really.

[waysoftheearth]

A Chainmail hero ignores fewer than four simultaneous hits in a single round. If this awesomeness were to carry over to D&D (ignoring, say, the sum of non-fatal normal hits accrued within a combat encounter) then fighters could continue to fight through normals without need of heal-bot clerics, and clerical healing could be reserved for fantastic injuries

[retrorob]

captainjapan

Right, it's rather a special skill - binding wounds or so. I like it that way.

waysoftheearth

yep, it dawned on me recently. First I had some doubts about the very meaning of this rule, but fortunately Leonard Patt's was very specific - hits against heroes are not cumulative.

[peterlind]

If we look at some of the medieval fantasy source material, like Arthurian legend, we usually do not see clerics/priests running around as the healers. First, you would often see squires binding the wounds of their master knights. So this is basic first aid/medical skill. But you would see most of the serious healing coming from the damsels as healers, who knew more advanced healing lore and techniques, would use herbs, etc.

Game-wise, we could assume that characters have a basic knowledge of basic healing/first aid for working in the field. But then, your healer, such as the damsel, could be a specialist-type NPC who could be useful when the characters get back to the local town and castle (since damsels were usually nobles). Both of these options would allow for a healing system to be in place without the need of magical/spell-based healing. . .

So what healing capabilities would you give for the basic medical skill for use in the field, and for healing under the care of a specialist?

[hamurai]

One house rule our group had invented but never tried over a long time was: After a fight, with some minutes rest, you can heal 1d6 HP per "tier of fighting ability", that is, when you look at the attack matrix.

That means, FM heal 1d6 on levels 1-3, 2d6 on levels 4-6 etc.; Clerics heal 1d6 on levels 1-4, 2d6 on levels 5-8 etc.; MU heal 1d6 on levels 1-5, 2d6 on levels 6-10 etc.

This was supposed to represent first aid, shaking off bruises and catching breath after a fight because if HP are to represent mostly luck and stamina, they should regenerate faster. That couldn't take you above the HP you had when you entered the fight, of course.

[retrorob]

hamurai

it resembles Schock Recovery rules from "Ready Ref Sheets".

[linebeck]

Here is a question if you are playing by the book as written:

The word "during" means "throughout the course or duration of (a period of time)For example: "the restaurant is open during the day"

Cure light wounds "removes hits" from a wounded character "during the course of on full turn." A turn is ten minutes. Therefore does that mean that the healing from cure light wounds only lasts for ten minutes?

[hamurai]

That's how I've always read it too.

[retrorob]

Piper

I don't think so. Terms turn/round are vague and sometimes used interchangeably, so probably it's about one minute long melee turn.

[talysman]

Feb 2, 2020 5:47:39 GMT -6 retrorob said:

Piper

I don't think so. Terms turn/round are vague and sometimes used interchangeably, so probably it's about one minute long melee turn.

Not that it reflects what the original rules meant, but in Holmes, it's changed to "one round" rather than "one turn".