Healing

[karakth]

Ok I did a search and I didn\'t find anything on this...

Not sure how healing is going to work in CB but most games I\'ve seen have instant healing (i.e. drink a magic potion, which is EXTREMELY cheap to buy and easy to find might I add, and you\'re instantly healed). Now...This system works, but how realistic is it? Why not have s-l-o-w healing. Like, for example, you\'ve escaped a close encounter with death and you\'ve been bandaged/sewn up/whatever. It should take you at least a day or two to get back on your feet.

Ok, now some of you might be thinking about magical healing. Well, what if magical healing demanded something out of the person getting healed? So like after you\'re healed you\'re not hurt, but extremely exhausted for a day or two?

Dunno, just a thought.

[Quwaar]

well you are right about the not so realistic part. A heal should take longer, you dont get all better in a minut from breaking just about every bone in your body.
And healing with magic is offcource faster

But the question is, is it more fun for the game play, from a broken bone you have to wait about 2 months, and thats no fun!
And the exhausted part, yeah... but how you gonna do that? Say the dex will go down by half?

[Nanaki]

I agree that a healing should take longer than a minute, but two days are much too long... if you are a warrior you can\'t do anything (well, not much)  in this time.

What about that idea:
Potions could be (much) more expensiv, so you will think twice if you want to use it. A Potion will heal you instantly.
A Cheaper way would be to use bandages, they would be less expensiv than a potion but you need also 1 - 2 hours to recover.

[Icefalcon]

Aarg, I accidently deleted my two page post I was writing X(  X(  X( *sigh* now I gotta type it all again...

Good point, but I think we have to draw the line somewhere concerning realism. I think the most important thing to me is how fun it is. Waiting for yourself to heal when you\'r in the mood to bash some heads in wouldnt be fun, though it would be more realistic. I do agree that potions are overused in RPGs. I think that potions should be more expensive than in the average RPG, but they heal instantly. Then we also have food which should heal slowly. Say you eat a piece of bread, for example. We could have a little bar in the corner of our screen that slowly fills up. While filling up, you would gain HP, when the bar fills up completely, you would stop gaining HP. You should only be able to eat one piece of food at a time. This would be a more realistic way, but still maintaining a good level of fun

[karakth]

Good point...Which leads me to another one: How about if we have a \"fatigue level\"? This would increase as you run about/fight/heal from wounds and can be lowered by resting and eating. If it gets too high you lose strength and agility, etc.

[Icefalcon]

or you lose HP... yes I think food should restore fatigue as well, add it to my earlier idea, it would slowly raise hp and fatigue. You could increase your fatigue tolerance (lack of words) by training in some body development skill.

[karakth]

Hmm and casting magic would also increase your mental fatigue.

Although now we have to be careful. Like in all RPGs, there\'s a danger of adding too many stats and ending up with more numbers than gameplay.

P.S. I\'m using this whole fatigue idea from Healing in the Wheel of Time series. Healing heals people, but leaves their body exhausted.

[Icefalcon]

Ya I figured that, it sounded like WoT, and yes we shouldn\'t have too many stats. I don\'t think mental fatigue and physical fatigue should be seperate, but I dont think casting spells should then drain you fatigue, it should just use MP...

[SnowWolf]

How much fun you can have with a broken leg depends on how cool tradeskills and jobs are. I bet the devs could pull off extended healing times for really bad injuries if they put their minds to it.

[Icefalcon]

Yes maybe we should have separate uh, ways to be hurt, we could have regular HP with everything I described above, but also have \"wounds\", like a broken leg or a really big gash, which take time to heal and you could speed up the process by using herbs and stuff like that.

[XpYtZ]

I used to play in a MUD that was written that way Icefalcon. It was great.

?>/stats:
>You have 110 HP remaining of 200 HP
>/Look at me:
>You appear to have been in a recent battle with a small Cat or Rat. You have abrasions and scratches on your head, legs, arms and chest.
>You have a long scar on you left arm and a concussion.?

That?s what it looked like.
No I had not really been in a fight with a cat, it was a mongoose, and the scar was from a Maintain lion two months earlier!:))
It eventually went away though.

[Dalec]

I think it would probably be more practical just to have one dmg type, and maybe just display random wounds on your character until you get your health back up. Maybe if your down to 40% health you are bleeding moderatly from your leg or arm, and at 20% you have a broken nose with a twisted leg and wrist (just examples)

[The Gumster]

that fatigue idea is great, maybe we could like have beds to sleep in and restore fatigue faster.

[Samoth]

XpYtZ - that would be cool that the player would have a description that would include what the player experienced.  A history of the player would be neat that included such encounters.  Not sure if this game is up to that now.

Otherwise it\'s all about stats.  There are temporary increase/decrease in stats for a variety of reasons.

I propose that there should be a semi-permanent stat change, where serious injuries would play a part.  A large MOB rolls over your leg and your dexterity is -2.  It will last 6 months real time. But that fact that you survived the encounter is a badge of courage.

[XpYtZ]

Uh...History would need to be recorded in a seporate log file in which case you could edit your characters life into a story.
Yes. That is exactly what happened in that game if you looked at your actual...Uh...Attributes, yea, attributes. You would see a decrese for a time. They had a strange thing that allowed Internal (invisable) damage and Exteranl (visable) damage kinds as well. When healing you were only able to heal exteranl injuries naturaly and internal required potions or magical healing.
I am by no means saying that this should be an implemented damage system. Its only an example of another system.