D&D 5E House rule for in combat healing and yoyo at 0 HP

[OB1]

I've been running a very similar version of your 1 rule for about a year now and it's been great. I started with using 'Slow' as well, but switched to Dazed (one action, bonus action or move, no reactions, can't concentrate on spells). I also have the effect last until a DC19 Con Save is made (make at the end of your turn while above 0 HP), which makes things a lot nicer for front line melee types. Lesser restoration or a short rest will also end the effect.

Overall it's led to much more exciting fights (as players tactics have to change dramatically once someone is dropped to 0HP) and healing spells tend to get thrown around earlier in combats to prevent dropping to 0HP in the first place.

 

[Reynard]

I wonder how the game would respond if you just eliminated in-encounter healing. All healing spells are rituals or 1 minute casting times, etc. If there was NO in combat healing, would players change tactics or would it just result in more PCs deaths and TPKs?

 

[Dausuul]

I'm curious while you're counting actions here: what's more inefficient, spending two extra actions to finish off a PC, or spending the rest of the round attacking the same PC that keeps yo-yoing back into action?

How do the monsters know the PCs have magical healing on hand, before they see it used?

After they see an opponent get back up, the first question should be, "Can we quickly focus down the healer?" If not, then double-tapping is the fallback. But until that first healing spell goes off, having monsters double-tap makes no sense -- unless magical healing is so incredibly common in your setting that every combat can be expected to have healers on both sides.

The monsters don't know they're fighting PCs. If the NPCs and other monsters they usually fight don't get back up, they should not expect the PCs to get back up either.

 

[Reynard]

How do the monsters know the PCs have magical healing on hand, before they see it used?

After they see an opponent get back up, the first question should be, "Can we quickly focus down the healer?" If not, then double-tapping is the fallback. But until that first healing spell goes off, having monsters double-tap makes no sense -- unless magical healing is so incredibly common in your setting that every combat can be expected to have healers on both sides.

The monsters don't know they're fighting PCs. If the NPCs and other monsters they usually fight don't get back up, they should not expect the PCs to get back up either.

Sure they do. PCs are special. They are OBVIOSULY special. Intelligent creatures know what a wizard and a cleric looks like.

 

[FrogReaver]

As a DM for my group I have found that I dislike that my players (understandably) let their characters drop to 0 before doing any healing which causes the yoyo effect.
My players (again understandably) think it is really bad action economy to heal someone before they drop.
We have introduced two house rules to encourage in combat healing and discourage the drop to 0, be healed, and drop to 0 again yoyo effect.

1. A character getting up after being dropped to 0 have the effects of being slowed as per the slow spell for 5 rounds with no possibility to save to end the effect.
2. Any magical healing gives as many temporary HP as the actual amount healed. That is, if you have 5 points of damage and get Cur Light Wounds for 7 points you also get 5 temporary HP.

These two rules together have changed how we play and my players and I really like it. To be frank they dislike rule 1 and try to avoid getting to 0 HP, but they love the added tactical effect of healing spells.
I wanted to share our solution to this, in case anyone else think this is a problem as well as find out if anyone else have a different approach to this issue.

We solved it a bit differently. I dislike the death spiral your solution can set off, but 5e is fairly easy so probably not much of an issue.

One reason to dislike death spiral mechanics is they excacerbate short adventuring days by making players want to rest much more often.

And even then my #1 suggestion is to simply have monsters target downed PCs. It doesn’t even have to be 100% of the time, just often enough that they feel being downed is being helpless and they won’t want to fall to 0.

 

[Krachek]

remove the healing word spell from the game.

 

[GMMichael]

How do the monsters know the PCs have magical healing on hand, before they see it used?

They don't. Unless, of course, a divine healer is walking around with his holy symbol hanging out. I hear they do that...

After they see an opponent get back up, the first question should be, "Can we quickly focus down the healer?" If not, then double-tapping is the fallback. But until that first healing spell goes off, having monsters double-tap makes no sense -- unless magical healing is so incredibly common in your setting that every combat can be expected to have healers on both sides.

I don't know. There are reasons to confirm your kill - an enemy could be stunned and slow to get back up, or playing dead until you divert attention, or, and bear with me, your opponents have some sort of magical asset that makes wounded allies spring back into action.

Unintelligent monsters...well... real-world snakes constrict their meals until there is zero heartbeat or breathing. Why can't fantasy monsters constrict their meals until they've failed all their death saves?

The monsters don't know they're fighting PCs. If the NPCs and other monsters they usually fight don't get back up, they should not expect the PCs to get back up either.

Truth. Until they get back up. Which is why "yo-yoing" shouldn't be a problem; when you run one opponent through and watch her fall to the ground, choking on her own blood, and then glimmer a bit and (for some odd reason) appear armed and ready to attack you with a full movement available, an intelligent creature might say "well, maybe I should chop her head off next time, the damn vampire."

By the way, I'm not saying that OP's house rules are wrong. I'm just saying that there's no need for them, given some NPC role-playing and usage of combat rules (like get up from prone, damage causes death save failure, picking up weapons, or opportunity attack when the resurrectee goes to pick up her recently thrown weapon).

 

[Staffan]

remove the healing word spell from the game.

Make healing word a bard and cleric special ability that can be used twice, and refreshes every time you roll initiative. Have it heal 25% of max hp plus 1d6/tier, but no creature can be affected by it more than. say, 6+Con modifier times (refreshing on a long rest).

 

[Staffan]

Sure they do. PCs are special. They are OBVIOSULY special. Intelligent creatures know what a wizard and a cleric looks like.

PCs are obviously special, because how could they recognize one another in the tavern otherwise?

 

[Vaalingrade]

So... is the actual problem being addressed really 'yo-yo healing', or is it the game not being lethal enough? Because most of the solutions are 'make the game more lethal' and if that's not the intent, it's just punishing players for a game design decision.

Killing them for going down (when in-combat healing cannot possibly prevent it), imposing penalties that ensure they'll be doing down again soon, making it more likely they'll die if they go down again--none of it actually fixes the issue of people coming back up from 0, it just tacks on an all new, all different problem.

Punishing people to discourage a problem doesn't solve the problem is it's not one the punished person can't control.

I'm taking 30 points of damage a round and the cleric is on a bad roll and giving me 12 back, it doesn't matter if I see the DM cutting a hickory switch and taking practice swings on the other side of the table, I'm going to go down to zero, either because the DM miscalculated (or worse used CR) or because the expected heals aren't keeping up with damage output--neither of which is my fault, but I'm the one about to have a sore red bum for some reason? That doesn't seem right.