If your teammate goes down to 0, can you heal them with it?
The rule says they have to be able to hear you. An unconscious character is 'unaware of their surroundings,' which could reasonably mean they can't hear you. It makes sense. So that would lead you to think you can't use this part of Bardic Inspiration in this scenario (the most useful situation for it).
But it's a Reaction. By nature they interrupt the course of a turn. Does that mean you can catch them with some cheerful words just before they hit the ground?
I know this will need to be cleared up. I'll put it in my survey for sure. But how do you all plan to use it in playtesting?
IIRC, reaction happens right after the trigger,not after the consequences of that trigger are resolved. First, the trigger happens, which is taking damage. Then bard's reaction happens - which heals the damage. Then, dropping unconscious would've happened, but now it doesn't because the target is above 0 hp. It's an interesting situation and frankly, I believe it will draw bards to save inspiration for anti-KO function, abandoning other uses of inspiration.
Honestly I think the reaction heal needs to be both buffed and nerfed at same time. It needs to heal more but it shouldn't be usable on somebody who was reduced to 0HP, as Kamchatmonk says, Bardic Inspiration will become something saved up just to heal characters as they get downed, to prevent them going down.
Right now the way it works just makes most other uses of Bardic inspiration kind of obsolete, why use cutting words to maybe prevent a hit that'll knock a character down when you can instead heal them and ensure they stay standing?
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of too. I thought... "I'm never going to use this because someone might go down." Starting with only 2 use a day, it would have to be a very important attack, skill check, or save to warrant using a dice on that instead of healing.
I like the ability being a Reaction. It's a lot easier that way and keeps people from forgetting it. But it sure puts a lot of pressure on the Bard to not screw up. At least the old way it was up to the other character to decide if they wasted it.
If it works the other way around, then it's barely worth anything beyond the lowest levels of play. Healing 1d6 for free twice a day is nice when your wizard only has 1 HP left out of 7. And since Healing Word isn't available until 2nd level. But after that, it has diminishing value. At higher levels, making a save against a 50 damage spell is going to be more important every time.
Hmm... guess I'll be playing a lot of games to see it in action. Just wish I had more guidance from them on how they meant it to work.
Initially, I was very excited by the ability to use it to heal, but through play testing I have found that it does get held just for healing most of the time.
Heal: Immediately AFTER another creature within 60 feet of you that YOU can SEE or HEAR takes Damage.
So the creature takes damage, hits 0, falls unconscious but as long as YOU can see or hear them.
Now I could put some DM fiat on whether the creature was healed before the unconscious condition kicks in (they hit 0, but they haven't yet fallen prone for example). But the state of the creature doesn't impact your ability to heal them.
This is really just the 'decrease damage of an attack' from Cutting Words pulled out and stapled to the baseline Bardic Inspiration. Which is good, because now the ability works just as well on several smaller hits (heal) vs 1 really big hit (damage reduction). And as part of Cutting Words it was really not the best use of the ability given the other choices. However, this does make it less useful against a creature rolling a damage spell like Fireball or Dragon's Breath. Which was the unique situation where Cutting Words (damage reduction) shined.
All in all though, I think the move to a single player heal to decreasing the damage of a hit is a 50/50 to me. Either option is a good one, though for purely being a unique ability, I'd vote it go back to damage reduction.
Thank you, I don't know why I read that wrong. It's funny that the Bard has to be aware of the target, but the target doesn't even have to know the Bard exists to be inspired by them. Haha
Okay well I guess I'm saving all those dice for desperate heals until, let's see... level 7... sigh.
I think I am going to recommend that it return to being a bonus action and remove the healing. Basically dropping the proposed changes to Bardic Inspiration. I think that it has worked really well over the life of 5e and I haven't seen any real benefits to changing it so far.
Thank you, I don't know why I read that wrong. It's funny that the Bard has to be aware of the target, but the target doesn't even have to know the Bard exists to be inspired by them. Haha
Okay well I guess I'm saving all those dice for desperate heals until, let's see... level 7... sigh.
I wouldn't save it. The trick to the new BI is to use it when it will make a difference. Whenever someone is rolling a D20Test you ask yourself "Does it really matter if this person succeeds or fails to me?" If yes, consider throwing on an additional Inspiration, but most of the D20s you see someone roll don't really matter that much. Sure everything 'Helps' but that's not the same as 'Matters'. The average attack action of a player? Nah, there's always another one. The Clerics Dex save vs a Dragons Breath. Ok now might matter.
In fact I don't think there are many standard Actions that you'd REALLY need to Inspire, its when players take the "Improvise" action, thats likely the time to really pay attention. The average players improvised action is likely to be far more impactful than something 'precanned'. And that's because the Improvise action excites the game and the players at the table. The DM, at that moment, likely WANTS the improvisation to succeed, but tension dictates that a roll be called for and the moment of a failed improv roll turned to a success by Bardic Inspiration is like the buzzer beating 3pt winning shot from half court that every basketball player dreams of.
As far as the reaction heal? if someone gets knocked to 0 then throw out that reaction heal to keep them in the fight, its the most epic use of that ability that I can think of, and in my opinion, the most epic moment is the most appropriate moment for a Bardic Inspiration. Just try to specificy "Before they fall prone, as a reaction, I want to heal them using my Bardic Inspiration by furiously playing my violin to wake them up". Paint the picture for the DM and they'll likely go along with it.
If your teammate goes down to 0, can you heal them with it?
The rule says they have to be able to hear you. An unconscious character is 'unaware of their surroundings,' which could reasonably mean they can't hear you. It makes sense. So that would lead you to think you can't use this part of Bardic Inspiration in this scenario (the most useful situation for it).
But it's a Reaction. By nature they interrupt the course of a turn. Does that mean you can catch them with some cheerful words just before they hit the ground?
I know this will need to be cleared up. I'll put it in my survey for sure. But how do you all plan to use it in playtesting?
IIRC, reaction happens right after the trigger,not after the consequences of that trigger are resolved. First, the trigger happens, which is taking damage. Then bard's reaction happens - which heals the damage. Then, dropping unconscious would've happened, but now it doesn't because the target is above 0 hp. It's an interesting situation and frankly, I believe it will draw bards to save inspiration for anti-KO function, abandoning other uses of inspiration.
Honestly I think the reaction heal needs to be both buffed and nerfed at same time. It needs to heal more but it shouldn't be usable on somebody who was reduced to 0HP, as Kamchatmonk says, Bardic Inspiration will become something saved up just to heal characters as they get downed, to prevent them going down.
Right now the way it works just makes most other uses of Bardic inspiration kind of obsolete, why use cutting words to maybe prevent a hit that'll knock a character down when you can instead heal them and ensure they stay standing?
Yeah, that's what I was afraid of too. I thought... "I'm never going to use this because someone might go down." Starting with only 2 use a day, it would have to be a very important attack, skill check, or save to warrant using a dice on that instead of healing.
I like the ability being a Reaction. It's a lot easier that way and keeps people from forgetting it. But it sure puts a lot of pressure on the Bard to not screw up. At least the old way it was up to the other character to decide if they wasted it.
If it works the other way around, then it's barely worth anything beyond the lowest levels of play. Healing 1d6 for free twice a day is nice when your wizard only has 1 HP left out of 7. And since Healing Word isn't available until 2nd level. But after that, it has diminishing value. At higher levels, making a save against a 50 damage spell is going to be more important every time.
Hmm... guess I'll be playing a lot of games to see it in action. Just wish I had more guidance from them on how they meant it to work.
Initially, I was very excited by the ability to use it to heal, but through play testing I have found that it does get held just for healing most of the time.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Heal: Immediately AFTER another creature within 60 feet of you that YOU can SEE or HEAR takes Damage.
So the creature takes damage, hits 0, falls unconscious but as long as YOU can see or hear them.
Now I could put some DM fiat on whether the creature was healed before the unconscious condition kicks in (they hit 0, but they haven't yet fallen prone for example). But the state of the creature doesn't impact your ability to heal them.
This is really just the 'decrease damage of an attack' from Cutting Words pulled out and stapled to the baseline Bardic Inspiration. Which is good, because now the ability works just as well on several smaller hits (heal) vs 1 really big hit (damage reduction). And as part of Cutting Words it was really not the best use of the ability given the other choices. However, this does make it less useful against a creature rolling a damage spell like Fireball or Dragon's Breath. Which was the unique situation where Cutting Words (damage reduction) shined.
All in all though, I think the move to a single player heal to decreasing the damage of a hit is a 50/50 to me. Either option is a good one, though for purely being a unique ability, I'd vote it go back to damage reduction.
Thank you, I don't know why I read that wrong. It's funny that the Bard has to be aware of the target, but the target doesn't even have to know the Bard exists to be inspired by them. Haha
Okay well I guess I'm saving all those dice for desperate heals until, let's see... level 7... sigh.
I think I am going to recommend that it return to being a bonus action and remove the healing. Basically dropping the proposed changes to Bardic Inspiration. I think that it has worked really well over the life of 5e and I haven't seen any real benefits to changing it so far.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
I wouldn't save it. The trick to the new BI is to use it when it will make a difference. Whenever someone is rolling a D20Test you ask yourself "Does it really matter if this person succeeds or fails to me?" If yes, consider throwing on an additional Inspiration, but most of the D20s you see someone roll don't really matter that much. Sure everything 'Helps' but that's not the same as 'Matters'. The average attack action of a player? Nah, there's always another one. The Clerics Dex save vs a Dragons Breath. Ok now might matter.
In fact I don't think there are many standard Actions that you'd REALLY need to Inspire, its when players take the "Improvise" action, thats likely the time to really pay attention. The average players improvised action is likely to be far more impactful than something 'precanned'. And that's because the Improvise action excites the game and the players at the table. The DM, at that moment, likely WANTS the improvisation to succeed, but tension dictates that a roll be called for and the moment of a failed improv roll turned to a success by Bardic Inspiration is like the buzzer beating 3pt winning shot from half court that every basketball player dreams of.
As far as the reaction heal? if someone gets knocked to 0 then throw out that reaction heal to keep them in the fight, its the most epic use of that ability that I can think of, and in my opinion, the most epic moment is the most appropriate moment for a Bardic Inspiration. Just try to specificy "Before they fall prone, as a reaction, I want to heal them using my Bardic Inspiration by furiously playing my violin to wake them up". Paint the picture for the DM and they'll likely go along with it.
Hahaha, great image.
Since my Bard is based on Intimidation, he'll probably just yell at them to 'Stop being lazy and get back in the fight! This is no time for a nap!'
Then give them a hug later for doing a good job because he's nice.