Re: [Slope: Ch 12] New Type of Healing Spell & Death Magic.

[raito@raito.com]

I find the issue  of 'delay' amusing. The party says, 'we hole up for a
few days', and it's done, module encounters rolls if they're where they'd
have them. Is it really any different than doing job rolls? And of elapsed
time is a factor in the campaign, have better plans.

As for The Slope, I edited it out of my second message. I'm not on it, and
my message bounced.

Neil Gilmore
raito@raito.com

> It's true the SJ healing spell is dull: classic industrial magic. But the
> game isn't really about the healing process, it's meant to be about
> adventuring. The purpose of the healing spell is to restore the party's
> health so that they can go off and do something interesting, without the
> need for a delay that will either be boring or skipped over. An even more
> powerful spell would do that more effectively. I hesitantly and
> tentatively
> favour that idea.
>
> Making the spell interesting in itself is laudable to some extent. It's
> got
> limited scope because the decision is basically just made by one person,
> not the party cooperating, so it can't be fun for very many people at
> once.
>
> But basically, wounds aren't fun. Make the battle about victory and
> survival, and as long as everyone goes home to their family it doesn't
> matter if they got chewed on a little. If the wounds don't matter then
> battles can be made harder and nastier without worrying the party will be
> crippled. GMs who choose to have outdoor adventures with long delays
> between battles are close to doing this already.
>
> Rick, maybe we should cut The Slope from this? Those players interested in
> these issues are probably signed up to brainiac anyway, or should be
> encouraged to do so.
>
> --
> David
>
>
> On Thu, 21 Jun 2018 at 09:37, Rick <rick_ww@lightspeed.ca> wrote:
>
>> Hi David,
>>   The reasons below is why I wouldn’t use this spell in my campaign.
>> I didn’t want healing magic in combat, but I wanted to speed up the
>> out of adventure waiting around.
>>
>> > On Jun 19, 2018, at 7:55 PM, David Bofinger <bofinger.david@gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> > ...
>> >
>> > I think that might be a bad thing: if after healing everyone is OK
>> except the healing wizard has distributed organ damage what does the
>> party
>> do? Wait around for him to get better despite everyone else being
>> healthy
>> already? Risk him being killed but try to protect him? Leave him behind
>> in
>> town? All are problematic. I suppose the best strategy might be to use
>> healing to minimise the wounds of the most wounded character.
>> >
>> > David
>>
>>   But given the fact that fast healing is being introduced into TFT, I
>> was curious what a super powerful version of it would be.
>>
>>   The original poster, Melichor, wanted to include a spell where
>> healing cost the wizard damage and where there is randomness in
>> the healing spells.  When you have randomness, the spell has to
>> be a bit better, because magic healing is a resource management
>> game, and uncertainty makes it harder to manage your resources.
>>
>>   It is not hard to make super powerful spells.  The trick is to make
>> them interesting.  Steve Jackson’s fast healing with 3:1 fST to point
>> healed ratio, is dull.  After combat, the wizard and any apprentices
>> wait, and soon the whole party is at full ST.  No trade offs, no
>> decisions.
>>
>>   With my spell, after the fight the bowman has 3 points of damage.
>> Do you, the wizard, take another hit, to heal him?  This is a
>> non-trivial
>> decision.  If you take a hit and then roll a 6 for healing, a bunch of
>> points are ‘wasted’.  If the bowman had 5 points of damage, ‘should
>> we heal him’ is an easier question, but then the question arises,
>> take one point of damage or two?  Taking both at once gives a
>> bonus to hits healed, but maybe one healing would be good
>> enough, if you roll well.  (Another tough decision.) If you heal for one
>> damage, roll poorly, then heal again for one damage, and roll poorly,
>> you will have buyers remorse, it would have been smarter to do both
>> at once.
>>
>>   My spell is very powerful, arguably too powerful, but it has draw
>> backs that in many ways make Steves fast 3:1 healing spell more
>> attractive.  And if you prefer THAT spell to my Death Healing spell,
>> it says something about what is in store for TFT with the new
>> edition.
>>
>>   Warm regards, Rick.
>>
>>
>>
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>