Healing skills

[Storm Dancer]

How are they supposed to be used?

Near as I could tell (and as far as I remember - I haven't reread the rules since discovering this site), the Kai and Magnakai healing disciplines both give +1 endurance back per paragraph cumulatively (not much point in using a skill slot to replace +1 with +1!) - in which case why would you forego them for anything else?

And I never really got my head around Deliverance - passage of time can be pretty obscure in the books, and there's no obvious way of recording it. I just liberally interpreted 'once every 20 days,' as 'once every 20 paragraphs,' and assumed that when I'd gotten halfway through the book without thinking about it, I'd probably been through 20+ paragraphs

[outspaced]

Actually, Magnakai Curing doesn't give you +1EP per combatless section. But if you have played through all of the Kai series, you can continue to apply the +1 benefit of Kai Healing in all subsequent books (6-20). Dever called it a 'hidden loyalty bonus'.

As for the Deliverance thing, I don't think it's a typo [days -> sections], I think it's supposed to be flavour text to mean 'once per adventure'.

There is a typo in the Grand Master Disciplines section under the heading Deliverance, however. It states that a Grand Master may boost their ENDURANCE by 20 points 'if their COMBAT SKILL is reduced to 8 points or less.' This is actually impossible. In a Club Newsletter it was corrected that a Grand Master with Deliverance can boost their ENDURANCE by 20 if their ENDURANCE is reduced to 8 points or less.

Hope it helps.

[Storm Dancer]

Loyalty bonus? I had no idea the Sommlending were so mercenary ;D

So... what *does* curing do? I just went to read the description and it seems virtually identical to the Kai healing description:

Curing
The possessor of this skill can restore 1 lost ENDURANCE point to his total for every numbered section of the book through which he passes, provided he is not involved in combat. (This can only be done after his ENDURANCE has fallen below its original level.)


What makes you say it doesn't actively heal you as healing did?

[Storm Dancer]

Ah, stuff it...

Just so there's no confusion - I couldn't resist changing my name to my character's from the post-Lone Wolf series (forgotten what it was called). Probably makes me sound like an angst-ridden teen, but if I'm coming to a site about online gamebooks anyway, I probably shouldn't be worrying about being geeky

[outspaced]

Storm said:

What makes you say it doesn't actively heal you as healing did?

I meant that you didn't need Curing to get the +1EP per section if you'd completed the Kai series and therefore had Healing. Sorry, I explained it poorly However, if you have Healing and Curing, you still only get +1EP; the bonus isn't cumulative. Hope this clears up any confusion.

[deiseach]

outspaced said:

I meant that you didn't need Curing to get the +1EP per section if you'd completed the Kai series and therefore had Healing. Sorry, I explained it poorly However, if you have Healing and Curing, you still only get +1EP; the bonus isn't cumulative. Hope this clears up any confusion.

In other words, people who have finished the Kai series can pass up on Curing to begin with - it's not anywhere near as essential when you can utilise Healing

[Storm Dancer]

How do we know it's not cumulative?

[outspaced]

Storm said:

How do we know it's not cumulative?

'Cos Dever said so in one of his Club Newsletters (Newsletter 8 page 3 and compare with Newsletter Summer Special 1987 page 4 )

[Ofecks]

This is how I use them (copied from another post I made abuot the same thing):

I also make a modification with regards to the Healing and Curing disciplines. I only use it to restore physical damage I sustain during my adventures. Cuts, bruises, burns, poisons/toxins, etc. received in combat or otherwise.

EP loss from fatigue, psychic attacks, shock or discomfort are not restorable with Healing/Curing. This includes stuff like the penalty for not eating, using Psi/Kai-Surge, uneasy sleep, and staying underwater for too long, sustained in combat or otherwise.

Thanks to the statskeeper, keeping track of the latter is easier than ever - I just reduce the modifier by however many it calls for. In combat, I make a note of any NRD (Not Restorable by Discipline) EP I lose and apply it to the modifer afterwards.

Any restoration method other than a discipline can restore NRD EP (tasty food, a sound sleep, Laumspur, etc.). The in-combat Curing/Deliverance "Cure Serious Wounds" equivalent is the only time a discipline will restore EP regardless of how it was lost.

[The Wytch-King]

Well, as far as I recall, Curing is more powerful in what it can heal than Healing is.

Healing mostly cures your own wounds and not much more. It may give you some basic abilities in treating the wounds of others, and maybe even counter some poisons or diseases affecting you. (Wasn't it possible to recover from the gnadurn poisoning in Fire on the Waters with this discipline?)

Curing however affects stronger poisons and diseases, and it can be used on other creatures without restrictions. I'd wager that you wouldn't be able to heal the takadea disease of Kasin in Kazan-Oud with only the Kai version ...

Personally, I use Healing during the Magnakai series only for purposes of restoring 1 EP per numbered section. If I'm sure that I could have identified a certain herb or healed a specific, well, "health impediment" during the Kai series also, then I use Healing as well. (Wouldn't make much sense if you couldn't recognize laumspur anymore just because you've foregone an update, would it? A Kai Lord doesn't operate on Windows, after all ... ) But if it's something I have never done before, I restrict myself to Curing. (And grumble a bit at myself. )


The Wytch-King, after consulting some dusty tomes


edit: Carelessly took a "z" for an "s" ... Corrected that.

[SuperNovice]

OmegaFlareX said:

This is how I use them (copied from another post I made abuot the same thing):

I also make a modification with regards to the Healing and Curing disciplines. I only use it to restore physical damage I sustain during my adventures. Cuts, bruises, burns, poisons/toxins, etc. received in combat or otherwise.

EP loss from fatigue, psychic attacks, shock or discomfort are not restorable with Healing/Curing. This includes stuff like the penalty for not eating, using Psi/Kai-Surge, uneasy sleep, and staying underwater for too long, sustained in combat or otherwise.

Thanks to the statskeeper, keeping track of the latter is easier than ever - I just reduce the modifier by however many it calls for. In combat, I make a note of any NRD (Not Restorable by Discipline) EP I lose and apply it to the modifer afterwards.

Any restoration method other than a discipline can restore NRD EP (tasty food, a sound sleep, Laumspur, etc.). The in-combat Curing/Deliverance "Cure Serious Wounds" equivalent is the only time a discipline will restore EP regardless of how it was lost.

Wow...that's a lot of bookkeeping. I actually found that Healing trivialized the books so I stopped taking the bonus if there was anything stressful going on in the book (such as combat, being chased, chasing someone, sneaking, etc). I don't have any real roleplaying reasons for it, I just wanted to make it a bit more challenging.

[Ghost Bear]

Yeah, I do the same thing now, SuperNovice. I rationalise it by saying that Lone Wolf has to concentrate a bit in order to heal himself - to move more slowly, maybe sit down and rest a bit. He can't do this during a battle, so I don't restore the EP during those situations.

[Relenoir]

Just so there's no confusion - I couldn't resist changing my name to my character's from the post-Lone Wolf series (forgotten what it was called).

A bit off-topic, but since it updated your name everywhere else, what was your posting name before?

I pretty much do the healing thing the way OFX said above, except I never worry about not eating because the Hunting Disciplines are always near-top of my list. I suppose that if I didn't eat, I'd do the same thing, and I never thought about the uneasy sleep situation. Psychic combat I agree with as well, and keep that separate.

As for the Deliverance thing, I don't think it's a typo [days -> sections], I think it's supposed to be flavour text to mean 'once per adventure'.

I always took this the same way, because except for between books 17&18, which are back-to-back like books 1&2, you have at least 20 days between each. I don't know how it would work between 19&20, because even though it's only a couple of days, over a year has passed on Magnamund. At least if I'm doing this wrong, I can still rely on the "loyalty bonus" of using the Magnakai heal "once every hundred days" ability, because it could really save my butt!

[AlbinoChocobo]

I make a note of any NRD (Not Restorable by Discipline) EP I lose and apply it to the modifer afterwards.

Good interpretation, but that a _lot_ of accounting. Well, not that much, but it pretty much goes beyond how I read the books. Simplified game mechanics can't always make sense, and Curing is a pretty obvious flaw. I mean, 1EP per section, how cheesy is that ! Some sections cover a few hours' travel, some just a passing glance at an object .. I'll admit to sometimes showing great interrest in my surroundings, mostly because the last encounter left me with just a few EP. Hey, it's hard to resist a good exploit ...
Anyhow, I've enjoyed Lone Wolf because of all in all good stories, some intriguing characters, and a surprising level of interaction, due mostly to the choosing of disciplines. Conversely, I've been put off Fire*Wolf (anybody remember this one ?) because of the amount of 'gamemastering' and number crunching of a gamebook trying to turn itself to a full-blown pnp rpg.
spoilers follow.
A good example would be The Prisoners of Time, where you can manage to restore over 15 EP after the Chaos Master encounter. If psychic combat goes well against the Shadow Reavers, you can reach the Villains with full EP, just relying on Curing ...

[Relenoir]

EP loss from fatigue, psychic attacks, shock or discomfort are not restorable with Healing/Curing. This includes stuff like the penalty for not eating, using Psi/Kai-Surge, uneasy sleep, and staying underwater for too long, sustained in combat or otherwise.

What if, to make Curing or Deliverance more valuable, you could make EP recovery "upgrade" to include these things instead of just physical damage? That would make Curing more valuable earlier on.