How do you handle...?

[3drinks]

...A group that after every fight(or every other fight) that wants to return to town and get healed up? Like, they're trying to get free healing after their fights.

I don't want to just deny them that which they should be able to do, but at the same time it feels like they're cheating the system in a way >_>.

How do you guys handle this? Just make them buy scrolls?

[big teej]

...A group that after every fight(or every other fight) that wants to return to town and get healed up? Like, they're trying to get free healing after their fights.

I don't want to just deny them that which they should be able to do, but at the same time it feels like they're cheating the system in a way >_>.

How do you guys handle this? Just make them buy scrolls?

this isn't final fantasy/pokemon/whatever.

the world reacts.

orc: hey -orc- have you noticed that those runty goblins haven't come back yet? we only sent them to take out the trash.
orc2: why yes Orc friend, they are taking too long. mayhap we should check on them?
orc1: superb idea orc2. let us be off.

-the orcs discover the goblin corpses-

orc1: it seems to be the work of adventurers! ROUSE THE HORDE!!!

[Malimar]

There are monsters on the road, which they need to fight their way through to get back home.

Perhaps more importantly: ain't no such thing as a free lunch heal. If they ask for free healing, don't give it to them, unless there's a very good reason they should be able to get it (e.g., saved a priest in an earlier adventure and in gratitude he offers them free healing services). Even a church should require "donations" for their services. They can buy scrolls/wands/potions, they can buy spellcasting services, or they can use the terribly slow natural healing rules (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/injury.htm#naturalHealing).

And once the party is all healed up and rested and gets back to the dungeon? They find another adventuring party has beat them to it. Nothing left but a hole in the ground and maybe some angry, penniless surviving monsters. "Maybe you should try doing it all in one go next time."

[OracleofSilence]

or if it becomes a serious problem, have them get ambushed by thugs (due to their obviously injured state), or have them get attacked while going back to town. make it seem like a really bad idea (time dependancy works for that as well)

[Big Fau]

...A group that after every fight(or every other fight) that wants to return to town and get healed up? Like, they're trying to get free healing after their fights.

I don't want to just deny them that which they should be able to do, but at the same time it feels like they're cheating the system in a way >_>.

How do you guys handle this? Just make them buy scrolls?

It sounds like either you are letting them get free healing or they really do not understand how out-of-combat healing should be done. Here's a handbook (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=8965.0), make them read it.


Or they need a Crusader. Badly.

[kharmakazy]

Punishing players for being overly cautious doesn't really make any sense. If they are adventuring close enough to town that it makes more sense to go home and sleep it off than set up camp you are probably doing something wrong.

Give them tasks further away from town. Underground or somesuch seems to be pretty standard.

But cautious players will probably cast rope trick and sleep after every fight.

Remember that the player is not an obstacle to overcome. If they are super concerned about dying they will wander around with football pads on. Don't take any suggestions to modify the whole world to make not wanting to die a poor strategy.

[Flickerdart]

You do know that when the main characters leave their home town, it inevitably gets destroyed when they come back, right? It's basically the law.

[Blue Bandit]

In my experience, players that want to turn back and heal after every fight think of D&D more as a video game and forget that monsters do more than just stand in a singular spot waiting to be killed. So to combat this, I find ways to make players weigh their decision to leave a dungeon to heal with possible consequences of dong so. For instance, when my players leave a dungeon early to go heal, the resident bad guys also get a chance to heal and regroup. So when the newly refreshed characters reenter the dungeon they might find extra monsters or fortifications because the BBEG is now expecting the players arrival.

Hope this helps!

Dakshaar

[3drinks]

Thanks guys, appreciate it.

[Divide by Zero]

I never really saw a problem with free out of combat healing. It lets the beatsticks refresh their primary limited resource, and the casters are still squishy.

[Tancred]

They're using time as a resource, and they've noticed that they have an infinite supply of it. You could try imposing a time limit on their quests?

The necromancer's final ritual will be completed at midnight of the next full moon.

The miners are trapped underground, and the mine is slowly filling up with water.

If they don't reach the castle by noon tomorrow, they'll be too late to stop the wedding and the fate of the kingdom will be sealed.

The lich has tricked a Marut into chasing them instead of himself, and the (low enough level to be scared) party has to stay on the move to avoid the confrontation while they work out what to do.

Once they figure out they don't need to approach everything with their tails between their legs, you can scale it back and let their increased confidence be justified.

[LordBlades]

You might want to point them to a wand of Lesser Vigor. At the price of 750 GP for 550 HP healed is basically free healing and a very easy way to start every encounter at full hp if that's how they feel comfortable.

[3drinks]

They're using time as a resource, and they've noticed that they have an infinite supply of it. You could try imposing a time limit on their quests?

The necromancer's final ritual will be completed at midnight of the next full moon.

The miners are trapped underground, and the mine is slowly filling up with water.

If they don't reach the castle by noon tomorrow, they'll be too late to stop the wedding and the fate of the kingdom will be sealed.

The lich has tricked a Marut into chasing them instead of himself, and the (low enough level to be scared) party has to stay on the move to avoid the confrontation while they work out what to do.

Once they figure out they don't need to approach everything with their tails between their legs, you can scale it back and let their increased confidence be justified.

I think this just hit the nail on the head. Last night they were trying to back to find a temple after an unfortunate run-in with a party of four Ghouls(the dwarf duskblade/rogue lv 4 gestalt got paralyzed for the full 5 rounds(1d4+1) and meanwhile the ghouls feasted on him.

Anyway, after their successful gather information checks to discern the location of a temple of Moradin, the townsfolk informed them it was about 2 hours across town. They shrugged, and just walked over there like it was nothing. I did ambush them with a pair of bandits(mainly as an intimidation tool, the bandits didn't get the chance to do anything harmful) and then they got there looking for something for free, and I made them buy potions. The Dwarf got a potion of Cure Serious for 850 gold, and the Human Barbarian/Dragon Shaman Gestalt for 950 gold.

I kind of rambled a bit >_>. Oops. Anyway point is, as I'm understanding this, I just need to make time matter, somehow, so they will stop using this as a cheesy out whenever things get tough.

[Gamer Girl]

1.Make time matter is the best. Keep track of time. A lot can happen while the characters rest.


2.Make the world a little bigger. Why is it that they are going on adventures within a mile or so of the town? That's not typical. In general, monsters and such live several miles outside of town, at least 10 or more. Or even several days walk/ride.

3.Where do they get all the money? How is it they can buy 800-900 gp potions? You might want to cut back on the money you give out.

4.Not every temple just heals. Religions can be funny. Some might not want to heal you, some might ask for some service, and so forth. A temple of Mordian might even refuse to help a non dwarf, or at least charge double.

5.Make the town trouble. Have the mayor pass a 'no adventures' law, or have the guards give them a hard time, or have the local bandits target the wounded folks with lots of gold that come back like clockwork.

[graeylin]

remember that they have to pay the city entrance tax every time they come in. Kind of like those horrid parking lots, where you only get one entry/exit, and you pay every time you come back.

[Typewriter]

You do know that when the main characters leave their home town, it inevitably gets destroyed when they come back, right? It's basically the law.

In one campaign I swore to them I would not be destroying their home city. I told them it would be a base for them to return to whenever they wanted, that they would have friends and family there.

At the end of the campaign they were looking for someone who had gone to their home town. They weren't able to find him, so they burned the town down and butchered everyone.

One NPCs final words were, "Son why are you doing this?".

[Flame of Anor]

In one campaign I swore to them I would not be destroying their home city. I told them it would be a base for them to return to whenever they wanted, that they would have friends and family there.

At the end of the campaign they were looking for someone who had gone to their home town. They weren't able to find him, so they burned the town down and butchered everyone.

One NPCs final words were, "Son why are you doing this?".

I hope you sent a party of several 20th-level paladins after them.

[2-HeadedGiraffe]

It's somewhat of a cliche, but I've used several variations of the situation where the main entrance to the dungeon seals shut when the players enter it. Once, it was just because they'd inadvertently angered the wizard who owned the place.

[Kaeso]

Another good way to stop them from doing this is to give the game a sense of haste. There's a poster here that has a signature that reads "A PC is never late, nor is he early. He arrives precisely when the DM means to". Well, it's time for you to throw that unwritten rule overboard. Give your players a fixed ammount of in-game days before catastrophic event X happens. If they decide they want to sleep after every battle so they can recover their healers spell slots, let them, just warn them not to be surprised if their goal is nothing more than a pile of ash when they arrive there. Once that happens, you immedeatly have a new plot hook and the party has learned its lesson. Everybody wins! :smallwink:

[Typewriter]

I hope you sent a party of several 20th-level paladins after them.

The campaign ended there, and the next campaign had quests involving the PCs characters from the previous campaigns. As villains of course.

[Flickerdart]

I hope you sent a party of several 20th-level paladins after them.
I hope not; 20th level Paladins are pitiful.