Paladin's Lay on Hands

[Ziegander]

It struck me earlier, as I was designing a homebrewed single-class progression "sorcadin" class, that the Paladin's Lay on Hands isn't actually as bad as its rep would suggest. At least, it's not that bad when you look at it in a different way than normal. As I re-read Lay on Hands, the idea that it was kind of like giving the Paladin an ability that read, "Starting at 2nd level, for each HD you gain through Paladin levels (including the one you gained at your first Paladin level), add your Charisma modifier to the hit points you gain in addition to your Constitution modifier." Which would be pretty great, actually, and especially so if you could use those extra HPs to heal your allies whenever you wanted/needed.

Sadly, Lay on Hands doesn't work strictly like that, but it's actually still surprisingly close. You just have to spend a standard action whenever you want to access your Charisma fueled hit points.

So, then I started thinking, well, how would I re-write Lay on Hands so that it worked a lot closer to a pool of extra hit points that you can use to heal your friends when you want? At first I thought a pool of temporary hit points would work nicely, but then I realized that you would take some hits that would automatically deteriorate your healing ability, and that's no fun. So, I thought, well, I can say that, unlike normal temp hp, I can have these not get removed first if you don't want them to, but that seemed to be too much complication to be worth the pay off. Here's what I finally came up with:

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Lay on Hands (Su): Starting at 2nd level, a Paladin taps into a well of divine power that can regenerate damage dealt to him and can be used to heal others. He has a pool of healing points equal to his Paladin level × his Charisma modifier. Anytime he loses hit points, if he has points of healing left in his pool, then he may subtract any number of them rather than lose those hit points.

As a standard action, a Paladin may sacrifice any number of points of healing from his pool to cure an equal amount of hit point damage from a touched creature. This is a positive energy effect that can only be used to heal living creatures. If used on an Undead creature, that creature suffers 1 damage per point sacrificed or 1d6 damage per two points sacrificed (Will halves, DC 10 + 1/2 Paladin level + Charisma modifier).

A Paladin with points of healing left in his pool that is brought to fewer than 0 hit points automatically stabilizes.

A Paladin that runs his pool dry can replenish his healing points with an extended rest (8 hours of sleep for most creatures).

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What do you think?

[Garryl]

I agree except for a few points. One, it should instantly heal the Paladin (even if the blow is otherwise lethal), rather than preventing damage. This prevents unintended interactions with effects that deal with how much damage is dealt, or that stop damage from being prevented. Second, the healing pool should not auto-stabilize the Paladin. If the Paladin wants to not die he should have to spend the healing, not hoard it. Third, rather than excluding all Constructs and Undead, just say that the healing only affects living creatures. That's the usual identifier about whether or not a creature can be healed with most effects, and it doesn't arbitrarily prevent Warforged and other Living Constructs from healing.

I'd also let the healing be spent any time the Paladin's hit points decrease, even if no damage is taken (such as from Con damage). Also, what's with the 1/1 or 1d6/2 damage thing?

It might be less complex to just give Cha * Level hp, and then allow a like amount per day to be transfered to others (or used for damage), similar to the Empathic Transfer power. However, that does have a distinctly different feel to it.

[Ziegander]

I agree except for a few points. One, it should instantly heal the Paladin (even if the blow is otherwise lethal), rather than preventing damage. This prevents unintended interactions with effects that deal with how much damage is dealt, or that stop damage from being prevented.

But it doesn't prevent damage in any way, it replaces an amount of damage dealt with the removal of an equal number of healing points from the pool. If it always instantly healed the Paladin, then it would be no different than temp hp and it would basically force him to use it on himself all the time rather than have the option to save some to heal his allies and that doesn't seem all that paladinly.

Second, the healing pool should not auto-stabilize the Paladin. If the Paladin wants to not die he should have to spend the healing, not hoard it.

The only reason he would choose to hoard it would be so that he can heal his allies later (or at least, that's the only reason I can think of to do that).

Third, rather than excluding all Constructs and Undead, just say that the healing only affects living creatures. That's the usual identifier about whether or not a creature can be healed with most effects, and it doesn't arbitrarily prevent Warforged and other Living Constructs from healing.

Good point.

I'd also let the healing be spent any time the Paladin's hit points decrease, even if no damage is taken (such as from Con damage).

Is that how that works? My group has always said that Con damage lowers max hp rather than "removing hp," but, yeah, you're right. I suppose I'll amend it.

Also, what's with the 1/1 or 1d6/2 damage thing?

I wanted something between 1/1 and 2/1... I dunno. No good reason, other than I thought a melee touch attack with a Will save for half for just 1/1 damage wasn't worth it. The sorcadin rewrite sidesteps the issue by being arcane healing that heals living creatures, constructs, and undead equally.

It might be less complex to just give Cha * Level hp, and then allow a like amount per day to be transfered to others (or used for damage), similar to the Empathic Transfer power. However, that does have a distinctly different feel to it.

Yeah, it's less complex, but again I wanted a pool of healing that was useful as "virtual hp" but that didn't automatically reduce your ability to heal others everytime you got hit.

[Garryl]

I agree except for a few points. One, it should instantly heal the Paladin (even if the blow is otherwise lethal), rather than preventing damage. This prevents unintended interactions with effects that deal with how much damage is dealt, or that stop damage from being prevented.

But it doesn't prevent damage in any way, it replaces an amount of damage dealt with the removal of an equal number of healing points from the pool. If it always instantly healed the Paladin, then it would be no different than temp hp and it would basically force him to use it on himself all the time rather than have the option to save some to heal his allies and that doesn't seem all that paladinly.

Anytime he loses hit points, if he has points of healing left in his pool, then he may subtract any number of them rather than lose those hit points.

I suggested nothing regarding forcing the paladin to use the healing pool when damaged, only that it should provide actual healing instead of damage prevention. The way you have it written now, there is no healing, just hit points not being lost.

Also, what's with the 1/1 or 1d6/2 damage thing?

I wanted something between 1/1 and 2/1... I dunno. No good reason, other than I thought a melee touch attack with a Will save for half for just 1/1 damage wasn't worth it. The sorcadin rewrite sidesteps the issue by being arcane healing that heals living creatures, constructs, and undead equally.

If you just want to showcase LoH as a hit point booster that can also be used for healing, don't distract from the issue by changing the irrelevant bits (the ability to damage undead). You can tweak that when you do a full-fledged rewrite instead of just talking about one aspect of an idea.