I've been putting a bit of thought into the problem of PC healers recently: since I mentioned the idea, I've had a few private emails along the lines of "the rest of the party don't respect my healer, as apart from doing ressurection on demand she can't help them". Quite apart from the idea of ressurection being that common, this sounds like a basic underlying problem to me.
After all, what do healers do? Cast Heal spells, obviously: but when everyone and their alynx has Heal 6, so what? Their main extra ability is to heal disease. And not just broo infections, either - colds, headaches, rheumatism, infertility, upset stomachs, high blood pressure, you name it. All those unpleasant little things that make life less fun. But - do PCs have these problems? The ocassional hangover, perhaps, but that's a subject for laughter rather than herbs. So if PCs don't have headaches or bad breath, and don't worry about their mother's back trouble, what is there left for a healer to do for them?
As far as I can see, all that's left is poison antidotes and curing broo-related diseases. And most parties will deal with this by buying antidotes before they leave town, or rushing back to the healing temple at the first sign of trouble.
Ideas, anyone? In any game I ran, this wouldn't be a problem, but what about established, traditional, games?
Jane Williams jane_at_williams.nildram.co.ukhttp://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~janewill/gloranth/index.shtml
Powered by hypermail