Healing on "Hardcore"

Mordraken · Post by **Mordraken** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 1:54 pm

Am I making this game too hard for myself?

I am playing the game on Hardcore difficulty, and am only at act 1 (the bandit camp) and I won't rest in the middle of an "adventure". I am finding to keep everyone from dieing regularly, I have to feed them healing potions and use healing kits (I'm a Paladin, plus the rogue & fighter with no healing capabilities). I figured that Fort Lock would have unlimited healing potions and healing kits, but when I went back, they only had 1 or two of each... Now I will be going around with my 1 Lay-on-hands, 6 minor heal potions and three cure moderate wounds, plus a couple of healing kits that has to last me all the way to the coastal town.

Is it intended that you "sleep" in the middle of clearing out a "dungeon" (or bandit camp)? That seems kind of cheezy to me.

Same problem with Identify spells. I have no spellcasters in my party, and only one Identify scroll..

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 6:44 pm

I would say, yes. This is geared more to "dumb" players than advanced players in the campaign. Keep in mind, that any game with multi-player and toolset capability is going to focus on those. The actual designed "game" is more a showcase for what the other two are capable of. Hence, if you bought the game to play alone and the original game you will be dissapointed.

If you want a character that can heal regularly, you WILL want a cleric with the healing domain. Otherwise, well...why did you pick a different character?? That is the most logical choice for a healer type character, and logic will be the driving force behind the developers. Keep in mind, the are running on the bare minimum of what "needs" to be done before shipping the game. With the most important (even if it is truly trivial and just the idiot masses want it...) stuff being fixed in patches. Like Teiflings having tails, or cloaks working right. REALLY. How in all hell does that compare to having a decent AI for the 3 companions that come along on EVERY quest?!

Mordraken · Post by **Mordraken** » Thu Jan 11, 2007 9:24 pm

Magrus wrote:If you want a character that can heal regularly, you WILL want a cleric with the healing domain. Otherwise, well...why did you pick a different character??

I understand what you're saying, but I'm playing the character that I wanted to play (a Paladin). It shouldn't be necessary to ONLY play a healing character to be able to play "hard-core". But I think I will drop my own expectations and allow myself to rest after I clear a level... that seems like a compromise.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 3:01 am

*nods* Probably. Unfortunately, the developers screwed up the heal skill function. Instead of allowing for the normal use, they heal hit points automatically. In that case, they are like potions. It would make sense logically for most venders to have a limited supply of both. However, it would also make sense for them to replenish their supplies after a certain amount of time, which does not happen. Not to mention, the developers seemed to have expected people to rest very frequently and made the game with this in mind as well.

Mordraken · Post by **Mordraken** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:19 am

Magrus wrote:However, it would also make sense for them to replenish their supplies after a certain amount of time, which does not happen.

Correct, but I think that's a function of the program (no "unlimited items"). One solution would be to allow the Heal skill to be used without healing kits, but to have much lower efficiency. For example, if using a Heal kit (+1) heals 25 points, then using the heal skill without a heal kit would only heal 10 points. That way you could heal a party by healing (and not resting which also restores spells) and you wouldn't have the vendor inventory problem.

Magrus · Post by **Magrus** » Fri Jan 12, 2007 1:13 pm

That would work. However, the real usage of the Heal skill in DnD is far, far different from how it works in NWN. Using it the proper way would not really work for an action RPG. Given the way they did the resting and how you heal to full when you rest, and the fact that you simply pass out when you drop to 0 HP, and the game ends if the entire party does the same...the true Heal skill was made entirely worthless in the game. Hence, they switched it to work like potions modified by your Heal skill. It would be utterly imbalanced to really change it the way you mentioned, so they need to put a cost on the heal kits. There still should be more of them, as they are extremely useful in dealing with diseases and poisons.