D&D 5th Editon Discussion: 6th thread and counting

[Nu]

Why not? It works fine for my Pokemon.

I did not comment on how good/bad an option it was. I merely said that WotC was unlikely to use it.

Yeah, and they're getting criticism for that. As I recall, surges were 4E's solution to the "ten minute adventure day" problem, and they completely failed to do anything about that. So what problems do you see that surging (or hit dice) solve?

Surges did more than just attack the "ten minute adventure day" problem. What problems they solve depends on how they are handled, if they can be spent in combat like in 4E via the use of certain spells and powers, they serve as a generic baseline for healing effects to allow the developers to carefully control how much a character can be healed, without being subject to the "overpowered" effect of the current Healer's Touch (which I think is too easy and too necessary for any healer), and without subjecting them to be too random without such an effect. They scale to match the recipient, unlike a Wis modifier (scalable was a concern of Mearls). If they are more like hit dice, and can only be spent out of combat with a healer's kit, they offer a reasonable, limited method for adventurers to keep themselves going for a time after being beat up, without necessarily requiring healing magic. But I personally don't like how random hit dice are for low-to-mid Con characters, and how few characters get at low levels (I'd prefer somewhere between 3 and 5).

And while you state that they "didn't solve the problem of the ten minute adventuring day," I'd still say they do help address it, and with some work on the rules for resting, could still work as a solution. For example, I don't allow my players to take an extended rest if they cannot find a secure location, so no mid-dungeon extended rests (without higher level rituals anyways).

Healing surges also promote a style of play I find satisfying, which is brutal combats where HP totals go up and down. From what I saw of 3.5, it was often considered to not be optimal to use healing during a fight unless it was an emergency, especially due to touch restrictions and requiring a standard action to heal in most cases. Healing magic was usually used after the fight ended to keep the party going. I prefer the 4E style, where HP totals radically drop in combat only to be boosted back up by much easier healing. To keep a party on its feet, doing this constantly, and yet making healing not too potent, a system like HD/healing surges works very well. There does need to be some check on healing, but I'm not a fan of how limited healing is in the current iteration of Next.