Introducing 5e Hit Dice Mechanics to Pathfinder

[Tetraplex]

My group either loves or hates healing, basically split down the middle. I and a few others dislike that healing magic/wands make it way more difficult to challenge the party in terms of hp except by outright killing them in one fight, but the others argue that without them our usual style would be far too lethal.

So I'm curious about the way 5e handles natural healing. In it, you can take a 'short rest' of at least an hour to catch your breath or whatever, and then roll from a limited pool of 'hit dice' based on your class and level (so at level 5 a Barbarian would have 5d12 and the Wizard only 5d6). These regenerate 1/full rest to my understanding, so you don't just get to refill your hp fully each day.

Do you think removing, or at least restricting access to, healing magic and incorporating this would be a good idea? What are some reasons it might not work as expected, as a compromise between everyone having full hp each combat/needing magic and needing weeks of downtime after each fight?

[Troacctid]

5th edition didn't remove healing spells, though. The game is designed to allow for some amount of in-combat healing. Granted, wands are scarcer, but spellcasters can still use Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Goodberry, and Prayer of Healing as their spell slots permit. (Also, each long rest, you recover half your hit dice, not just one.)

From what you're describing, it sounds like what you actually want is something closer to 4th edition's healing surges. You can spend healing surges during short rests between encounters, or you can spend them during combat once per encounter as a standard action, and almost every other form of healing requires you to spend a healing surge as a cost. (The standard healing ability is "Target creature may spend a healing surge and recover the normal amount of HP plus some extra.") This allows magical healing to exist, but prevents hit points from becoming an unlimited resource.

[EldritchWeaver]

A more encompassing fix would be to use the 3PP magic system "Spheres of Powers". It provides the option to use temp HP to "heal" injuries during the fight at-will, while keeping the actual healing expensive and resource-restricted.

[charcoalninja]

Use the VP / WP system from Ultimate Combat and refill all VP with a 1 hour 'short rest' or a 5 minute short rest. I recommend the 5 minute, makes fights feel more like MMA.