D&D4 : alternate healing surge uses

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cczernia
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D&D4 : alternate healing surge uses

Post by cczernia »

I run a D&D4e game for a group of teens at the library. We only have about 2 hours and you never know who is going to show up that week. As a result it is very difficult to keep track of things like hitpoints and power usage from week to week. To simplify this I always have them start off with full hitpoints and powers every session. This means that healing surges are almost useless in my game as we might have one, maybe two encounters and only one, maybe two might get used per session.

As a result I’m looking for other uses for healing surges that they can spend it on for extra benefits. I want some cool homebrew rules the revolve around healing surges. I want them to be fairly simple so they don’t slow down game play and I don’t have to explain or remind the players about them every session. So, let me know what some of your best ideas are.
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Post by BlanchPrez »


[quote="cczernia"]I run a D&D4e game for a group of teens at the library. We only have about 2 hours and you never know who is going to show up that week. As a result it is very difficult to keep track of things like hitpoints and power usage from week to week. To simplify this I always have them start off with full hitpoints and powers every session. This means that healing surges are almost useless in my game as we might have one, maybe two encounters and only one, maybe two might get used per session.



As a result I’m looking for other uses for healing surges that they can spend it on for extra benefits. I want some cool homebrew rules the revolve around healing surges. I want them to be fairly simple so they don’t slow down game play and I don’t have to explain or remind the players about them every session. So, let me know what some of your best ideas are.[/quote]


Off the top of my head:



Spend a healing surge as a minor action for temporary hit points equal to half your con score.



Spend a healing surge for a second minor action. Maybe make it upgradable, 2 healing surges for a move action, four for a standard action. Or, just make four surges for an action point.



Spend a healing surge as a standard action to recharge an encounter power.



Just a few ideas. Not sure how balanced any of these are, given that they were just off the top of my head, but there you go.



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Post by Dragonmaster Zoc »

You could just let everyone use them as a minor action, without restricting it to once per combat (maybe once per round). It basically turns them into extra hit points, but it should be easy to implement.
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Post by Dragonkin »

I like BP's idea for using surges to recharge encounter powers. The temp HP or unrestricted minor action usage would mean you'd need to ramp up the difficulty of your encounters, just to keep them challenging.

Maybe the other option is just to HR them out? Given the sporadic nature of your group, I think it'd be acceptable. Rephrase Second Wind to "As a standard action, when bloodied, your character can use a Second Wind to recover HP equal to X. You also gain a +2 bonus to all defenses until the end of your next turn. This power is usable once per encounter." Then, offer an alternate healing mechanic for outside combat, or beef up the Leaders' healing abilities.
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Post by cczernia »

Thanks for the suggestions. I frequently have more than 6 players so extra Hitpoints (I'm lucky to bloody them) and actions (it already takes a long time to get through a round) is a bad idea. I like the idea of replenishing Encounter Powers.

Any other ideas?
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Post by BlanchPrez »

Oh, make them mulligans! Spend a healing surge to get a re-roll.

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Post by cczernia »


Hmmmm.... I really like this idea. My only concern is that it might dilute powers that already offer this like Elven Accuracy.


[quote="BlanchPrez"]Oh, make them mulligans! Spend a healing surge to get a re-roll.



-Chris[/quote]

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Post by Skyman »


[quote="cczernia"]Hmmmm.... I really like this idea. My only concern is that it might dilute powers that already offer this like Elven Accuracy.[/quote]

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Post by SpaceMonkey »

Use them like style points - use a healing surge, do something cool or swashbuckley or similar (depending on the tone of the game)
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Post by BlanchPrez »


[quote="dnd3eplayer"]Use them like style points - use a healing surge, do something cool or swashbuckley or similar (depending on the tone of the game)[/quote]

There's an idea. Maybe give them a circumstance bonus to the die roll, too.



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Post by cczernia »


[quote="dnd3eplayer"]Use them like style points - use a healing surge, do something cool or swashbuckley or similar (depending on the tone of the game)[/quote]

Not sure what you mean by style points? Is this something in D&D4 or is it a generic term?

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Post by SpaceMonkey »

Well i think the specific term is from Ubiquity (or some other system?), but I was just using it generically to refer to 'cool stuff' - depending on the game you could use it for various things.

For 4e, i'd say things like: an extra couple squares of movement without the normal 'run' penalty; acrobatic style stunts (swinging from a rope, etc); slight narrative control or 'beer-bottling' of minor equipment; knowledge or other (perhaps untrained or temporary) skill checks; etc

If you want to tie to to the fact that they are healing surges, you could mostly use them for physical or stressful things and just say the strain of the action take the surge to do.
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Post by Count Zero »

+5 to a single roll.
+2 to all Defenses
+10 XP for every one left at the end of the session
+1 movement point or shift one square

Also, you could just increase the difficulty of the encounters so they burn through the healing surges.
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