As many people have noted, Wizard/Advanced Wizard lack any real healing spells like those that are found in other roleplaying games. There have been a number of attempts to fix this, with example healing spells out there through the years. Here is my attempt at a couple.
The Healing Problem
The fact is, The Fantasy Trip is a deadly game. Characters get hurt. They get killed–a lot. Some people like that aspect. Combat is deadly, just like real life. Treat it as such.
Other people want magic or clerics to heal characters at the drop of a hat. Healing becomes common and easy. Other game systems are like that.
I fall into a camp somewhere in between. I think players need some kind of option for healing during adventuring, but it needs to have a cost. It needs to not be an out for being stupid.
The Spells
And so here are a couple basic healing spells. These two are converted from GURPS, but slimmed down without 200 prerequisites. They also have a higher cost to cast in order to keep the game balanced and maintain the deadly nature of combat in TFT.
IQ 12
MINOR HEALING: (T) [GURPS] Restores up to 4 ST to the subject. Cures damage but does not cure any underlying disease or poison. If the caster has the Physicker talent, he or she gets a +3 bonus to IQ on their IQ roll. ST cost: 1 ST is healed for every 3 ST expended by the caster. This spell includes the Aid spell.
IQ 15
MAJOR HEALING: (T) [GURPS] Like Minor Healing, but restores up to 8 ST on the subject. If the caster has the Physicker talent, he or she gets a +1 bonus on their IQ roll. ST cost: Two ST is healed for every 3 ST expended by the caster. This spell includes the Minor Healing spell.
There you have it. These are not intended to be everything that players need for healing, but rather a couple additions to their adventuring toolbox. I’ll add more healing spells in the future that cover other situations.
What do you think? What have you done for healing spells in your campaigns? Let me know! If you have something better, I’ll update these and we can go from there!
Marko ∞
(Originally published on inthelabyrinth.org, on 2/17/2017.)
