So one of my party members has just recieved a wondrous item that allows them to take damage from lighting damage as healing instead.
Last night they spent the session asking other party members to cast lightning spells on him to heal. What are people’s thoughts on this? I can’t tell if it’s a really creative way to stay alive or just too OP?
I would probably allow this but I would change the healing done by the lightning spells to be in line with the hit point numbers restored by a typical healing spell of the same level. Lightning bolt being by far the best single action round “healing spell” among 3rd level options would feel both wrong and OP to me.
Alternatively I might allow the full healing amount equal to the damage the spell does but over a minute so it stays in line with the power of aura of vitality. We have plenty of examples in the modern world for how long charging times can be. xD
I'd avoid anything where a PC could be continuously healed by a cantrip. Healing should expend resources.
It'd be a bit difficult to balance such a homebrew item. Such abilities on monsters makes it an interesting fight because players might accidently heal a creature they're intending to hurt, and it's unlikely another enemy is going to be able to exploit that healing too much mid combat. For players, it's a lot easier for them out of combat to exploit such things. You could try and rule it only applies in combat (That is has to be an enemy dealing the damage or so on) so it could be a fun 'Aha!' moment in a fight if an enemy understandably doesn't expect a normal PC to heal from lightning.
Or there could be a potential drawback. If healed over a certain amount in a day from lightning (Say, half your hitpoints), you become overcharged and suffer a level of exhaustion (possibly for each instance of electrical healing you receive after passing the threshold).
So one of my party members has just recieved a wondrous item that allows them to take damage from lighting damage as healing instead.
Last night they spent the session asking other party members to cast lightning spells on him to heal. What are people’s thoughts on this? I can’t tell if it’s a really creative way to stay alive or just too OP?
I would probably allow this but I would change the healing done by the lightning spells to be in line with the hit point numbers restored by a typical healing spell of the same level. Lightning bolt being by far the best single action round “healing spell” among 3rd level options would feel both wrong and OP to me.
Alternatively I might allow the full healing amount equal to the damage the spell does but over a minute so it stays in line with the power of aura of vitality. We have plenty of examples in the modern world for how long charging times can be. xD
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ModeratorI'd avoid anything where a PC could be continuously healed by a cantrip. Healing should expend resources.
It'd be a bit difficult to balance such a homebrew item. Such abilities on monsters makes it an interesting fight because players might accidently heal a creature they're intending to hurt, and it's unlikely another enemy is going to be able to exploit that healing too much mid combat. For players, it's a lot easier for them out of combat to exploit such things. You could try and rule it only applies in combat (That is has to be an enemy dealing the damage or so on) so it could be a fun 'Aha!' moment in a fight if an enemy understandably doesn't expect a normal PC to heal from lightning.
Or there could be a potential drawback. If healed over a certain amount in a day from lightning (Say, half your hitpoints), you become overcharged and suffer a level of exhaustion (possibly for each instance of electrical healing you receive after passing the threshold).
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