Adventuring is Hard: Part 2

So, I have established that going to the bathroom can be a horrible experience. Yet, there is one worse than that: fighting.

Fighting is the bread and butter of the adventurer and is typically undertaken by the warrior, paladin, barbarian, or whatever. Fighting, though, hurts. No matter how good you are or how well armored you may be, eventually, someone is going to stab you with something sharp.

To counter this problem (namely bleeding), there are healers. Those who faithfully bind wounds, cast healing spells, and generally see to the health of the party.

These people are great for the party, but horrible for the fighters.

I can hear the hue and cry now. “But healers keep the melees alive!” “But without healers, melees would never fight!”

Both are true, but consider this: A warrior fights, gets injured (if not dead), has to heal up and then fights again. It is a slow process, but one wherein the warrior does not spend the majority of his time being stabbed.

Now, put a healer into the mix. A melee fights, gets injured, gets healed, fights again, gets injured again, gets healed, etcetera. Basically, what the healer does is ensure that the melee is in nigh constant pain.

Have you ever been punched in the face? It was probably unpleasant. Now, imagine that you knew you were going to get punched. It was inevitable. Bad, yes? Now imagine that you were going to get punched 100 times, only someone would make you feel better in between punches. Welcome to the life of the warrior.

Even worse is considering that the majority of healing is done through spells and that to maximize the healing spells, you had to be injured a certain amount. It might go something like this.

“So, who’s that Garin’s fighting?”

“Not sure. Looks like there’s about twenty of them though.”

“Yeah. I won- oooh, that looked painful.”

“Meh. Nothing a Cure Critical won’t fix.”

“Huh. Wow, Garin’s really taking a beating. Shouldn’t you be healing him or something?”

“Nah, I’ve got a Cure Massive ready. He needs to be really injured though; otherwise it’s overkill.”

“I think his arm just came off.”

“Not yet.”

“Ummm, he’s screaming and I think I can actually see his lungs.”

“That’s about right.”

Healing happens and the battle ends.

“Garin seems a touch upset.”

“He’ll get over it. Besides, there’s another group coming over the rise. Don’t worry, I’ve got another Cure Massive.”

Tomorrow: Quests and the People that Love Them