[RPG] Are these homebrew injury healing spells of the appropriate level and cost

dnd-5ehomebrew-reviewinjuryspells

I've introduced a homebrew Lingering Injury system to my D&D 5e campaign. The system is relatively simple but does require the addition of some spells to heal from the injuries.

This question is about the balance of the new homebrew injury healing spells rather than the system itself (which I will be refining through playtesting). However I have included an overview of the system to provide context for the spells.

Lingering Injuries System

When a character is reduced to 0 hitpoints they must make a Constitution saving throw. DC is equal to 10 or half the damage taken whichever is greater. On a fail, they suffer a Lingering Injury and must roll on the table below to determine the injury.

First roll a d20 to determine the severity of injury.

d20 Result Injury Table
1 Roll on Critical Injury Table and subtract 20 from the result
2-6 Roll on Critical Injury Table
7-13 Roll on Moderate Injury Table
14-19 Roll on Minor Injury Table
20 Roll on Minor Injury Table and add 20 to the result

Players then roll on one of three d100 tables to determine the exact injury. The severity of the effects are as follows:

Minor Injury

Low impact effects that can all be recovered on a long rest.

  • Examples: Status effects, conditions, disadvantage on skills checks, minor penalty to speed, etc.
  • Worst Case: One point of exhaustion

Moderate Injury

Similar level of impact as Minor Injuries, but not guaranteed to heal on a long rest.

  • Examples: Conditions, disadvantage on skills checks, disadvantage on attack rolls and saving throws, larger penalty to speed.
  • Worst Case: Disadvantage on all rolls until healed.

Major Injury

Serious effects that will majorly limit characters unless quickly resolved.

  • Examples: Loss of limbs, Reduced ability scores, Permanent Conditions, Reduced Max Hitpoints
  • Worst Case: Death

The Spells

To balance this system I am added the following spells as a means to heal these injuries. My focus is on if these spells are of the appropriate level and cost compared to the severity of the injuries and other similar spells (e.g. Restoration).

Heal Minor Injury

1st Level Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: Creature you touch

Components: V S

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: Bard, Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger

You touch a creature and cure them of a minor injury afflicting them. The injury can be any effect from the Minor Injury Table.

Heal Moderate Injury

3rd Level Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: Creature you touch

Components: V S M (A piece of cloth to serve as a bandage)

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: Cleric, Druid, Paladin, Ranger

You touch a creature and cure them of a moderate injury afflicting them. The injury can be any effect from the moderate or minor Injury tables.

Heal Major Injury

5th Level Abjuration

Casting Time: 1 action

Range: Touch

Target: Creature you touch

Components: V S M (A piece of cloth to serve as a bandage, Diamond Dust worth at least 50gp which the spell consumes)

Duration: Instantaneous

Classes: Cleric, Paladin, Ranger

You touch a creature and cure them of a major injury afflicting them. The injury can be any effect from the major, moderate or minor Injury tables. This spell cannot restore a creature to life, but it can heal the injuries of a recently deceased creature.

The goal is for these spells to be accessible but not trivialise the injury system. I also don't want to entirely replace the existing healing and restoration spells.

I understand there is an opportunity cost to taking these spells due to the limited number of prepared/known spells for the various casters. However I am willing to modify rules if that becomes an issue.

Are these spells of the appropriate level and cost compared to the severity of the injuries and other similar spells?


Note: I am not looking for a critique of the system or whether you feel these spells are a good addition to the game or not. I just want to know if they are appropriate leveled. I'm using this system in a survival/exploration game with a number of homebrew rules.

Best Answer

I'm not sure this system achieves your goals. I'll cut right to the chase; the balance of this system hinges entirely on how often players go down. This system effectively adds a spell slot tax to players going down. If players rarely go down (as is the norm in my experience) the system won't affect the game at all. If they go down a lot, then the costs quickly snowball - now the party that is already losing fights has even less resources.

The second issue is that until the end of tier 2 you have essentially no choice but to live with major/critical injuries. This potentially means the party has to leave the dungeon and retreat whenever someone goes down. To me this is a huge issue in t1/2 play. In t3 play the system will either fade to irrelevancy or remain crippling. In mid t3 resurrection may completely replace major heal injury.

Comparing to other resurrection and healing spells, I don't see any problem with the levels or functionality of the spells. But the game impact this system will have is extremely concerning.

To meet your design goals I suggest a redesign forcing players to interact with the system rather than treat it as a tax.