Topic: Healing while at negative HP

I understand a character goes unconscious when struck to 0 hit points or less (with -3 being mortally wounded and -4 being instant death) and will wake up after 1d6 hours.

What happens if she's magically healed while at 0 HP or less? Will she regain hit points but remain unconscious until 1d6 have passed? Or will she instantly wake since she's not at 0 HP anymore?

In AD&D any magical healing could take a dying character to 1 HP (no more) and she'd probably require resting; while modern editions allow magical healing to be fully applied to characters at 0 HP.

I can't find any clarifications on that in the rules.

Thanks in advance.

Re: Healing while at negative HP

It's rare that someone would have magical healing in LotFP, which probably accounts for the lack of clarification. I would play it as whatever the normal rules for healing are.

That said, this is where you can set expectations as the referee:

Do you want players to be able to heal in the middle of combat and rejoin the fight, or do you want them to be out once their reduced to 0 or below?

Do you want them to have to rest in order to recuperate?

Re: Healing while at negative HP

Crunk Posby wrote:

It's rare that someone would have magical healing in LotFP

One of the players has rolled a Cleric (though he's more of an Inquisitor/Exorcist role than a Healer) and magical healing, though limited, is possible in this game.

Crunk Posby wrote:

That said, this is where you can set expectations as the referee

Good call. Guess I'll adjust this according to my (and the group's) expectations.

Crunk Posby wrote:

Do you want players to be able to heal in the middle of combat and rejoin the fight, or do you want them to be out once their reduced to 0 or below?

Since it is a more (heroic) High Fantasy setting I'll let them regain conscious if magical healing raises them up to above 0 HP.

For grittier (but still heroic) experience I'll go with with AD&D-like: magical healing raises a character only to 1 HP and they'll need rest (or another spell) for further healing.

In (grim) Weird Fantasy settings I'll make magical healing possible to raise the target's HP above 0 but they'd still need to wait 1d6 hours to wake (in finer condition because of the healing).

For grittier (and grim) experience I'll go with "magical healing only works if the character has woken (after 1d6 hours) and rested for at least a night (to recover 1 HP).

Maybe I'm trying to hard-code the system too much?

Re: Healing while at negative HP

Enagonius wrote:

Since it is a more (heroic) High Fantasy setting I'll let them regain conscious if magical healing raises them up to above 0 HP.

For grittier (but still heroic) experience I'll go with with AD&D-like: magical healing raises a character only to 1 HP and they'll need rest (or another spell) for further healing.

In (grim) Weird Fantasy settings I'll make magical healing possible to raise the target's HP above 0 but they'd still need to wait 1d6 hours to wake (in finer condition because of the healing).

For grittier (and grim) experience I'll go with "magical healing only works if the character has woken (after 1d6 hours) and rested for at least a night (to recover 1 HP).

Maybe I'm trying to hard-code the system too much?

All that sounds about right!

(I haven't had to worry about magical healing for a while - clerics get random spells just like Magic-Users in my campaign...)

Re: Healing while at negative HP

I stole this from the Petal Hack for my game - Roll 1d6 to see what happens

1 KO’d - Just knocked out. - can not be revived until end of combat.

2 Fat Head - Disadvantage on all tests for the next hour. ie -3 on all rolls

3 Cracked Bones - STR, DEX and CON are temporarily -2 for the next day.

4 Disfigured - CHA reduced by 3.

5 Crippled - STR or DEX is permanently reduced by 2.

6 Dead - Not alive anymore.