Damage Recovery

[Hachristo]

I'm planning on implementing a rule related to natural damage recovery over time. Basically, characters recover hit points at a rate more dependent on their constitution. Players add their constitution modifier to recovered hit points whenever they naturally recover hit points, whether it be to their benefit or disadvantage (However, they can never recover less than 1 hit point).

For example, Grutch the level 7 Barbarian has an 18 constitution (+4 modifier), which would allow him to heal 11 hit points in one long rest rather than the normal 7. Hennet the level 7 wizard, on the other hand, has a 7 constitution (-2 modifier), and only heals 5 hit points in one long rest. This rule also applies to non lethal and ability damage recovery, however players may only apply ½ their constitution modifier for the latter (rounded down as usual).

Thoughts? Concerns?

[Beni-Kujaku]

I don't think this will change much to the game. Most of the time, natural recovery becomes irrelevant from level 4-5 onwards, since the cleric/druid will heal everyone before going to bed. And before that, I don't see much interest to making wizards even more afraid of getting close to the enemy and Constitution even more important for every class. I believe this is unnecessary at best, and too build-orienting at worst.

[Albanymusicfund]

Especially at higher levels, I don't see this coming into play too much (in terms of hit points) especially if the group has a dedicated divine caster/bard even then hopefully the party should be well be prepared with sufficient health potions. I can only really imagine the place where this comes into play is if the whole party gets knocked unconscious then probably the Barbarian would wake up and prepare for their situation before the Wizard gets a chance. Even then it might not be very fun for the wizard player to be knocked out. I'm not quite sure how this would show up at later levels.

However if we're thinking about ability damage (don't do this to me please), I think it's a definite boon to con-focused characters (which presumably should be martial players). It would suck if the ability drained is constitution in this case (haha), but I think it sounds like a good idea. If you're feeling extra tough, maybe you should make it so that ability damage takes even longer to recover so it's something the players absolutely want to avoid. Maybe recovering ability damage should be the high-level version of recovering hit points after a near wipe-out: the party cannot engage in something or exert themselves further for fear of their characters dying or just failing the fight.

However, at earlier levels, this would be a boon to everyone in the party so that the poor divine spellcasters don't have to sacrifice all their unique abilities in maintaining the party alive. I totally think this is how it should be by default.

[ShurikVch]

Fun fact: in the 2E, Con 25 gave you Regeneration 1 (Fire and Acid); moreover, characters with Con 20-24 have the same Regeneration - except the hp recovery rate rate was from "1 hp in 2 turns" (Con 24) to "1 in 6" (Con 20)

[Maat Mons]

If you're going to base rate of natural healing on something, I'd make it max HP, not Con. This still winds up rewarding high-Con characters, but it also factors in what hit dice you roll for your class, to an extent.

Otherwise you wind up in this dumb situation where, for example, a 1st-level Wizard with Con 14 takes 5 days to heal from 1 HP back to full, but a 1st-level Barbarian who also has Con 14 takes 13 days to heal from 1 HP back to full. Even with your proposed change, it's still 2 days for the Wizard, and 5 days for the Barbarian.

Something easy to implement would be that, each day, you heal 1/10 of your max HP, rounded up. So the example 6-HP Wizard I mentioned would heal 1 HP per day. But the example 14-HP Barbarian would heal 2 HP per day. As you go into higher levels, the rounding error would become less of an issue, and it would consistently take everyone 10 days to heal from 1 HP back to full.

You could do a similar thing with ability damage. Each score heals 1/10 (rounded up) of your it's full, undamaged value each day. So the healthier you (normally) are, the faster you recover from effects that undermine your health. The smarter you (normally) are, the faster you recover from effects that undermine your intellect. Et cetera.

[Hachristo]

If you're going to base rate of natural healing on something, I'd make it max HP, not Con. This still winds up rewarding high-Con characters, but it also factors in what hit dice you roll for your class, to an extent.

Otherwise you wind up in this dumb situation where, for example, a 1st-level Wizard with Con 14 takes 5 days to heal from 1 HP back to full, but a 1st-level Barbarian who also has Con 14 takes 13 days to heal from 1 HP back to full. Even with your proposed change, it's still 2 days for the Wizard, and 5 days for the Barbarian.

Something easy to implement would be that, each day, you heal 1/10 of your max HP, rounded up. So the example 6-HP Wizard I mentioned would heal 1 HP per day. But the example 14-HP Barbarian would heal 2 HP per day. As you go into higher levels, the rounding error would become less of an issue, and it would consistently take everyone 10 days to heal from 1 HP back to full.

You could do a similar thing with ability damage. Each score heals 1/10 (rounded up) of your it's full, undamaged value each day. So the healthier you (normally) are, the faster you recover from effects that undermine your health. The smarter you (normally) are, the faster you recover from effects that undermine your intellect. Et cetera.

Thanks for you input, I think I'll end up doing something similar to your suggestion. I've always though that it was strange that these things were based solely on character level rather than a combination of level and Constitution, and now that you mention it, character class.