An exercise in understanding basic concepts: healing. (3.5e)

[Eldritch_Lord]

That doesn't sound like a good solution at all. 1st, that formula is bugged, causing Cure Minor and Cure Light to both heal 0 no matter what level you are, Cure Moderate, a 2nd level spell heals 1hp/caster level, and Cure Critical Wounds heals only 3 hp/caster level (to a maximum of 60, okay, so that's slightly better than it used to be). 2nd, even with Wis or Cha mod to healing, that still means that the lower level Cure spells are even more worthless than ever, unless you're talking about Wis or Cha mod/caster level, in which case Cure Minor Wounds becomes a heal anywhere from 3 to 10 hit points/caster level for a 0-level spell slot, which is ridiculous.

You may be misreading the formula--it's level-1, times 2, per HD.  I should also mention, in case it wasn't clear, that the CL cap is removed, since it's now dependent on target HD instead of caster CL.  Cure Light is indeed 1/HD, since it's (1-1) =0 (counts as 1/2 as mentioned), 1/2 * 2 is 1.  Cure moderate is (2-1)*2 = 2 per HD, max of 40 for a 20th level character.  Cure Critical is (4-1)*2 = 6 per HD, max of 120 for a 20th-level character.  Cure Minor is unchanged; in my view, it's there for stabilizing people and not much else.

Regarding altered healing potential of low-level spells, it makes healing slightly weaker at low levels (the levels where you're only 2 CLWs away from death anyway) but makes it stronger at mid and high levels (the levels where in-combat healing is currently a complete waste of an action).  You can probably conservatively count on having around a +3 Wis modifier at 1st level, making CLW heal 4 on your 1st-level partymates, just 1.5 points less than standard CLW on average.  At 2nd level, it heals 5, once again 1.5 HP behind on average.  If you have an 18 or 20 Wis, you're actually ahead on average, and of course when the standard CLW caps out, this one keeps scaling.  The first level you get Cure Moderate, it heals 6 (CMW on 3rd-level char) + 3 (Wis) = 9, vs. an average of 12 (2d8+3) for standard CMW.  By 6th level, standard CLW heals an average of 9.5 and standard CMW heals an average of 14.5, while this CLW heals 9 (with +3 caster Wis) and this CMW heals 15; at any higher level, this version pulls ahead.  And note that I left the add-on at the end up to preference; if you want healing to be stronger across the board, adding 2*Wis or +Wis + CL or +Wis + Cha or whatever instead of +Wis makes all Cure spells pull ahead of standard at all levels, and if you want natural healing to actually matter at low levels for whatever reason you can drop the +X entirely.

To clarify myself, it is elegant... for another system. The numbers need to be pretty high for that to work in D&D. Do you mind if I snatch that for my own use?

Go right ahead.  Granted, the numbers could easily be higher; I wanted to use off-the-cuff numbers that used a linear scale and kept Heal, the spells I was basing it on, the same.  If I were putting Heal at the top of the scale instead of leaving room for higher-level healing spells, I'd probably end up going with larger CLW numbers and an exponential function.

EDIT: Although, capping max number of hit dice healed by caster level might not be a bad idea. Prevents abuse from hiring a bunch of low-level clerics to follow you around.

Good point.  I was assuming a cleric healing an even-level teammate, but as usual minions screw things up.  Changing it to max(CL,HD) should work out fine.

[Drammor]

EDIT: Although, capping max number of hit dice healed by caster level might not be a bad idea. Prevents abuse from hiring a bunch of low-level clerics to follow you around.

Good point.  I was assuming a cleric healing an even-level teammate, but as usual minions screw things up.  Changing it to max(CL,HD) should work out fine.

The limit could work like skill ranks. A caster might not be able to provide more dice of healing than their CL+3. That way, a character could benefit from having minions and hirelings around, but the benefit would be easily outweighed by having a playable healer in the party.

I think?

Alternatively, CLW might provide healing equal to 2 points of damage, +2 per 10 total maximum hit points of the target, + caster level. This way, the number of hit dice of the target are irrelevant, but a similar effect is still achieved. But then... this also falls to the tactic of stringing along a bunch of minion clerics.

Thoughts?

[RobbyPants]

Cure Minor Wounds: Heal 1 HP per Hit Die of the target
Cure Light Wounds: Heal 1 Hit Die for every 2 Hit Dice of target, minimum 1 Hit Die, plus CL.
Cure Moderate Wounds: Heal 1 Hit Die for every Hit Die of target, plus CL.
Cure Serious Wounds: Heal 2 Hit Dice for every Hit Die of target, plus CL.
Cure Critical Wounds: Heal 2 Hit Dice for every Hit Die of target, plus 2xCL, plus Fast Healing equal to target's Hit Dice for 1 minute.
Heal: Full HP, Fast Healing as for Cure Critical Wounds, retain current condition-curing power.

This is similar to some thoughts I had recently for my house rules. My quick-and-dirty fix to the Cure spells was this:

Cure Light Wounds:
1d8 + 1 point per CL or HD of recipient, whichever is greater (no cap).

Cure Moderate Wounds:
2d8 + 2 points per CL or HD of recipient, whichever is greater (no cap).

Cure Serious Wounds:
3d8 + 3 points per CL or HD of recipient, whichever is greater (no cap).

Cure Critical Wounds:
4d8 + 4 points per CL or HD of recipient, whichever is greater (no cap).

Mass Cures:
Would heal the same amount listed above, but with more targets. Affects any number of targets in a 20' radius, up to medium range away.

Also, I'm thinking of having any touch spell used on willing targets affect as many as you can reach from your current position.



This hopefully makes curing in combat a little more viable, and CCW still doesn't outstrip Heal. Basing the bonus damage on CL or HD of the recipient makes it easier for higher level recipients to still receive an okay amount of HP. It still doesn't solve all the problems, though. You still have the issue of a barbarian taking more spells to heal than a wizard, making him "more resistant" to healing. The best fix to that problem is straight-up percentage based healing, but I don't feel like calculating that at the table, so I'm proposing this quick fix.

[awaken_D_M_golem]

DR 5
No action
10 hp , 1 hit for 10 hp damage , just 5 hp damage , somebody else doesn't take an action , you don't have to stand up

CLW (for 5)
1 action
10 hp , 1 hit for 10 hp damage , Zero hp , somebody else does the CLW , now 5 hp , stands up

Fast Heal (for just 5)
No action
10 hp , 1 hit for 10 hp damage , Zero hp , somebody else takes no action , now 1 hp , stands up


It sorta goes without saying, these things have very different in-combat effects.

[linklord231]

Also, I'm thinking of having any touch spell used on willing targets affect as many as you can reach from your current position.

Suddenly, a 1-level dip into Heirophant is actually a decent choice for the Divine Reach ability. Lose a level of spellcasting progression (but not Caster Level), and ALL your Cures are Mass. 

[RedWarlock]

Hmm. I'd be inclined to just add a minmum cap per spell level, like 10%.

So CLW would be: 1d8+CL or minimum 10% of target's total HP, whichever is greater. CMW would be 20%, CSW is 30%, CCW is 40%.

10% isn't that hard to calculate, keeping it to multiples of 10 keeps the math on the simple end. I could even see doing it 20%, if 10 is too low. 20/40/60/80, with it maybe repeating for mass versions. (CL offset is more likely to overreach that cap, though.)

[RobbyPants]

Hmm. I'd be inclined to just add a minmum cap per spell level, like 10%.

So CLW would be: 1d8+CL or minimum 10% of target's total HP, whichever is greater. CMW would be 20%, CSW is 30%, CCW is 40%.

10% isn't that hard to calculate, keeping it to multiples of 10 keeps the math on the simple end. I could even see doing it 20%, if 10 is too low. 20/40/60/80, with it maybe repeating for mass versions. (CL offset is more likely to overreach that cap, though.)

My old version did that, but I never tested it at the table. I just shied away from percentages just for speed. Although, if you calculate them at level-up and write them on your sheet, then it's just a really quick comparison (did I roll higher than this number?).

I think my percentages were something like 10%, 20%, 40% and 60%, but I don't remember specifically. I know when I was contemplating using the Spell Points rules form Unearthed Arcana, I had it at 10%, 30%, 50%, and 70%, so the percentages multiplied by SP cost would work out to the same (as it is, you have no reason to cast anything other than CLW if you have time in the SP system).