Wyrmwrath wrote: There is just no way a 15 hp warrior and a 5 hp empath should heal to full at the same rate, since all that does is give one more combat advantage to a path that doesnt need another.
Brian, characterizing this as bestowing an advantage to Warriors is inaccurate. Since the current system heals any character to full in 4 minutes, the modification of this rule would be a disadvantage to high LP characters. While the Warrior path does provide more direct LP than any other, this isn’t about the advantages of any one build. It is, and should remain, a discussion of Phanterran metaphysics. There are plenty of non-warriors who enjoy high LP totals and would have their combat effectiveness decreased because of the proposed change.
Wyrmwrath wrote: I get your contention that a 3 LP wound is different things to PCs with different LP totals, but thats just rationalizing to support a game mechanic you like, and essentially double dipping the advantages in favor of the warrior.
Chris isn’t rationalizing here, he’s explaining the reasoning behind a valid and reasonable perspective. His position is quite logical given his current vision of the metaphysics. Your arguments presume that a higher LP total means a larger “reserve”, but Chris is saying that doesn’t fit the world as it was designed. Describing it as rationalizing dismisses the validity of his position and puts a negative spin on his argument. You are both making arguments in support of your favored mechanics.
Wyrmwrath wrote: I get that the healing was designed the way it was because the initial GMs were looking to make simple blanket rules with rudimentary mechanics, everyone healing form 0 to full in the same time period, while true to what the games initial goal was, its a flawed skill in the games current incarnation and out dated based on the evolution the game has gone through.
Just as you used “rationalization” before, here you depict Chris’ position as “flawed” and “outdated”. By the current conception of Phanterran metaphysics the rules are not flawed, as they accurately represent the way in which the GM’s designed the concept of life. If you feel that they are outdated, great, let’s hear the argument why the conceptualization should change and how it would make things better. I think we all understand that some object to the old system – so be it. Sell me on a new one.
Ark wrote:yes im bringing regen into the discussion, i think all healing skills should be brought into line.
i dont really support the idea of picking the way you want to heal, makes the rules seem unfinished.
I agree with the idea that regen should also be discussed, but picking a preferred mechanic does not need to be an unfinished test run. It could be described as the result of using varied metaphysical methods to accomplish the same task. Just to spitball an example, characters who use Magic to RP their healing might heal per LP, while those who use pure Essence use fractions over time. The existence of variety does not necessarily infer incompletion.
Points and percentages are just ways of quantifying the abstract concept of health. Our own world shows us that health can cause large variance in both the ability to absorb damage and the ability to recover from damage. Children tend to heal faster than the elderly. Healthy, well fed people heal faster than the ill or malnourished. People with more body mass are more resistant to certain kinds of blunt force trauma. The four natural healing phases: hemostasis, inflammation, proliferation, and remodeling all are impacted by biological variances from person to person, so to say that Chris and Suh would have the same healing time for the same wound is likely inaccurate.Cirrus wrote:However, we don't consider Health to be a percentage stat - attacks don't knock you down 25% of your HP, they do 3 damage. If we did consider percentage points (10%, 10%, 10% ) it would be a different story entirely. Healing a broken bone or a stab wound would take the same amount of time whether it's Chris or Suh (to use his example).
What we’ve essentially claimed is that: 1) damage as a fixed constant, with no variance for the 1 LP of damage done by a sword, axe, hammer or fist; 2) the amount of life (not LP, but metaphysical LIFE) that each person has is uniform and universal; 3) healthier (more LP) people lose less of their total LIFE when the damage constant is applied than do less healthy people (less LP); and 4) the healing arts restore LIFE at a uniform and universal rate. Preferring another conception is fine, just remember that preferences are subjective.
For one more conceptual aid, think of the various video games that use health bars. Some games increase the size of the health bars as your character gains more health. This would be consistent with the playtest and suggest a universal measure of LP and larger pools for high LP characters. Some games (such as Skyrim, which inspired this example) never change the size of your health bar – whether you have 10 life points or 10,000,000 life points it is always the same size and a Potion of Ultimate Healing always fills it up. This is representative of the current system.
I'll also follow CJ's example and look at this from an in-character perspective.
First, neither Ambrose nor Chance would have cared either way. If they did have a preference, it would likely be for the playtest, since neither of them had more than 5 LP.
Second, Korrigan has a terrifying amount of LP and has noticed that, as CJ has mentioned, getting back up can be faster if there are multiple healers present. Since he also can heal himself and usually has a steady supply of potions on hand, the chance of him running into a situation where he really suffered because of the new rules is small, but he is the most likely of my characters to be effected negatively.
Lastly, Donovan would have been all for the playtest. Drive-by combat healing was his thing, and being able to restore his own life in point-by point increments would have cranked his effectiveness even higher. Playtest healer + Paladin + Potions + Lightstorm would have been freaking AMAZING.