Respawning in the Sanctuary of Ilmater

[Laurk]

One more thought on this "heal" fixes everything idea. I think its generally accepted by anyone who ever RPed a character with a physical handycap/deformation/old crippling wound that the "Heal" spell does not fix everything. Otherwise the moment you got a Heal spell cast on your by a cleric on a dungeon romp, you'd loose your character concept and be whole, scar free and without any physical impediments.

Heal spells cure current injuries and the other things listed. They don't do anything for wounds which healed improperly in the past, bones that weren't set right and that sort of thing. Thats why I think RPing the healing skill as a way to combine divine and mundane (and even arcane in this brain surgery bit coming up) to be able to tackle RPed ailments is not only valid, but it gives players something to do that does not fall outside source. Lets face it, players on a RP server occassionaly like to have new an interesting things to talk about, discuss, etc. Regenerative surgery can be fun, tense and even fatal and makes for an interesting "out of combat" event.

[cmosier]

Let me rephrase a little. I see nothing wrong with having people respawn at the Sanctuary. It makes perfect sense.

[Lotus]

One more thought on this "heal" fixes everything idea. I think its generally accepted by anyone who ever RPed a character with a physical handycap/deformation/old crippling wound that the "Heal" spell does not fix everything.

Magical healing fixes just about everything.

Magical healing, not the Heal spell. The simple fact is most of those lifelong maimings can be counteracted with the proper prayer. Peridan Twilight, famed Legionnaire, was missing an eye, and it was missing because he chose to keep it missing in a morbid sense of remembrance appropriate to the Twelfth Legion; Regeneration would have returned it. Luther in the Temple of the Triumvirate is missing an eye from the Second Bloodmaim War. He chose not to regenerate it out of devotion to his god, Tyr, who had his eyes put out by Ao.

There's a difference between what you read in the fantasy books, where the old, grizzled veteran did his work in a one-cleric town and couldn't get divine patching up, and Sundarian adventurers in a high-magic setting. Feel free to decline magic healing and maim and scar yourself all you want, but you don't get to decide that the power and intent of the gods is insufficient.

[Laurk]

Well I hope no one wants to RP having missing eyes, or any other physical problems as I described above and then use a high level cleric like me in their group, because I prepare and regularly use regenerate in my 7th and 8th level spell slots. Nearly everyone whose gone adventuring with Abby has had regeneration cast on them at some point.

I have no doubt there are one-eyed, crooked legged, aches and pains PCs who have, at some point in the past on Sundren had regeneration magic cast on them and didn't start RPing all these things miraculously cured.

Most players aren't going to simply accept that one of their character defining traits is gone without them having a say in the matter because they had a regeneration spell cast on them during combat. The source, like in most cases, is vague on regeneration magic, never going into depth about the exact way that it works. However if you want players to be able to decide if they "want" to remain a gruff, "one-eyed" veterin, then the solution is easy:

If you are currently at 100% of your hp, then regenorative and curative magic don't do anything to you, even if you have a gimp leg from a bone that never set right (Something some people use to RP low Dex for example), or a wicked, disfiguring scar down your face (to explain low charisma). The magic must percieve injury to function. Sometimes those areas that need to be injured are harder to reach than the nub of a missing limb.

If it is inisisted that this is not the case, then anyone whose ever had a regeneration spell cast on them can't have scars or disabilities of any kind. Does anyone want that? Since the source doesn't state one way or the other, and players like having their scars and weird handicaps, and other players like to RP their healing skill having a purpose, whats the big deal?

Seriously, how many people currently on Sudren RP having wicked looking scars, but have at some point had a regenerate spell cast on them? Even my healer has a scar which I prefer remain there for character.

Gods forbid you have ear piercings, tatoos or were circumsized. For that matter.. what about all the times you clipped your fingernails and cut your hair?

[Elusa]

There aren't any hard and fast rules on magical healing. It's open to interpretation. I'm in favor of keeping it that way, so that those with scars can keep them without having to worry that having Cure Minor Wounds cast on them would wipe away a defining character trait.

As for respawning at the Sanctuary, seems reasonable. Would be nice if you could pick a temple by talking to a priest there.

[Lotus]

Educational post incoming.

Scars are areas of fibrous tissue (fibrosis) that replace normal skin after injury. A scar results from the biological process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a natural part of the healing process. With the exception of very minor lesions, every wound (e.g. after accident, disease, or surgery) results in some degree of scarring. An exception to this is animals with regeneration, which do not form scars and the tissue will grow back exactly as before.

The scar is a result of the natural healing process. Therefore, if a wound is healed with magical healing (healing spells, regeneration, and so on), that wound does not leave a scar. If the wound is healed by natural processes, it leaves a scar.

The subject’s severed body members (fingers, toes, hands, feet, arms, legs, tails, or even heads of multiheaded creatures), broken bones, and ruined organs grow back.

A scar is not a severed body member, so regeneration in and of itself will not just autocorrect scars. If you want to peel off a couple layers of face and cast regenerate to fix scarring, you can. Maybe Abby has a future as a cosmetic surgeon.

If you are currently wounded and at 100% of your hp, then regenorative and curative magic don't do anything to you.

HP total doesn't matter. If you're missing something, Regenerate grows it back. That's what the spell does. The crux of this argument seems to be not wanting magical healing to act like magical healing to make first-aid kits and leeches a more attractive option, to make a dirty, simple-natured clinic a go-to destination for near-death adventurers. Temples and clerics are always going to be number one. The shelter is for the poor and destitute, not the heavy-pouched and auspiciously futured adventurers. They're going to the Temple of Selune, a goddess much revered in Port Avanthyr, a place sailors who navigate the night waters by the light of the stars and moon call home. They're going to the temple of Selune, where the floors are clean and the townsfolk are happy to see the adventuring folk go to the glory of the Moonmaiden. We can throw a room with some beds in if it'll help suspend disbelief.

[FriendlyNecromancer]

Magical healing does actually solve everything in a high magic universe such as the Realms, but I doubt the DMs are willing to follow events with that, otherwise Abby alone could have healed the entire Blackwood army after the Aquor war in a matter of days. Add the fact many healing spells do not have material costs as per pnp and some of the more powerful ones do not exhaust you anymore as opposed to AD&D and well... a level 20 cleric is a one man healing army, especially one with Healing domain.
On the other hand, the magic solves everything approach is a favorite of mine because at least it avoids nonsense sitations where healing/ressurection magic works wonders in combat but suddenly loses all its effectiveness during rp aka the dreaded cutscene death in videogames.

[YakaryBovine]

Ouch. I can certainly see the logic in divine healing being able to regenerate wounds. Full disclosure, then: my current character has a condition where he can't feel anything, along with monochromatic colourblindness. He also grew up in an Ilmatari temple. Is this something I need to retcon or explain away somehow?

Thinking on it, I can think of one or two ways to retain the concept - it'd just be a total 180 on what I was thinking before.

[Lotus]

Where do you figure healing comes in with colorblindness?

[YakaryBovine]

Where do you figure healing comes in with colorblindness?

I suppose it depends what caused it. If it was physical damage to the eye, optic nerve or brain, it sounds like divine healing should be capable of curing it. I'm not sure if it can cure congenital conditions.

Sorry - I hadn't really thought much about the implications of divine healing on the permanently disabled as this is my first experience on a PW, and the implications are pretty major to my character.

[Laurk]

You're mistaken about the crux. It has nothing to do with the Sanctuary being a respawn point, I don't really care about that, I simply thought for "respawns" i.e.. people being dropped off by Bob the Farmer, it made more sense. Adding a room into Selune's temple for recovery would be better yes for showcasing that we are recovering from injuries, not being raised.

What im concerned with is a major part of my PC being blocked, and im not convinced yet that your argument prooves that anything can be healed by divine magic alone.

If that quote you put up insists that scars aren't regenerated, what about broken bones which healed improperly and are left crooked because of large calcium deposits and an improperly set bone? They aren't broken anymore... so regeneration magic doesnt do a thing, yet they may still cripple a person because they weren't set right to begin with.

What about any wound that healed naturally, but left knots of internal scar tissue that affect movement, causes pain, or is otherwise debilitating?

What about a disease that caused scarring on internal organs, or even the brain which block normal functions? Maybe something that might have happened to Arden as a baby that caused swelling and scar-tissue to form on a nerve cluster, thus causing chronic pain?

How about a guy who got shot with an arrow, and the arrow head fragmented off his sternum, leaving several shards inside his lung that gives him incredable difficulty breathing. The arrow is removed, but the shards remain. Does a Heal spell also disolve foriegn contaminent? Its certainly not explained that way. I mean are we supposed to RP that you don't even need to pull the arrows out? They just magically vanish when you cast a cure spell? How would conjuration magic even do that?

Are these not valid uses for regenerative surgery that a regenerate spell won't do a thing to prevent? Hell what if you come across James and he has a table leg through his chest... again. Can you just cast "Heal" and call it good? Thats boring.

D&D largley leaves healing up to interpretation. Nowhere in the players handbook or DMG in any edition (other than 4th, I dont have those) does it explain wether or not healing leaves scars, or even how it works. Some "forums" and "blogs" have people debaiting it, but the source is vague. These things are left vague on purpose. In the unearthed arcana, it does suggest several ways healing "could" work. Including (but not limitd too) super accelearation of natural healing which "would" leave scars.

Nowhere does it say wether regeneration works only immediatly while there are actually injuries, or if it can be applied years after a limb was lost. On a PW where the later could hinder or limit a PCs ability to have the choice of unusual characteristics like a missing hand or eye, this would seem to be problematic and I would prefer, for "choice" alone, the former. Since the source doesn't specify, shouldn't we go for what creates the most fun and interesting RP situations? And also the option that allows one-eyed pirates who also team with Abby and have regen spells cast on them in combat? I mean should we make a rule that you can't RP missing eyes if you are subject to a regen spell in combat? Should you have to re-pierce your ears each time?

In the end, Ive developed a way to make playing a healer fun and interesting for myself and those who "like" RPing with me about these things. I don't see any reason to disalow that part of it.

[Lotus]

You are constantly changing definitions and creating hypotheticals as a form of argument without allow response to said hypotheticals. You're using pierced ears, of all things, as an argument against Regenerate. All in all, I'm unimpressed.

You pull out the table leg.
You pull out the arrow.
Is a pierced ear a severed ear?

What about any wound that healed naturally, but left knots of internal scar tissue that affect movement, causes pain, or is otherwise debilitating?

SCAR TISSUE IS NOT A WOUND. IT IS THE RESULT OF THE HEALING PROCESS.

And so on.

[Laurk]

great. that will do.

Thanks!

[Farmboy2003]

disagree all you want its the machine that does put characters when they respawn thenselves in places fitting their alignement, faction and deity.

I wouldn't mind some rp attempt to have my'athvins eye cured, but i would greatly avoid it if you just cast a spell and poof. Cured.

[Laurk]

ill be happy to look at her! Abby's at the Sanctuary now.