If you’ve ever GM’d for a big tough guy with many muscles, then you may have heard this line before: “I’m too proud to admit it, but you can tell by my gritted teeth and blood-soaked leathers that I’m on my last legs.”

It’s a fine bit of RP. Muscle guy can be a badass warrior, and the party’s designated first aid cabinet with legs has all the info they need to play the game. After all, we’ve all seen the “on a scale of 1 to 62” meme. It’s not too hard to justify “the healer knows you need healing.” But in a sense, we’re all just as blind as Oracle.

This is one of the weird dynamics you’ll run into when crossing from one side to the other of a GM screen. On the one hand, it’s the responsibility of players to see to their own welfare. Injured PCs can poke the healer; the healer can ask for a roll to diagnose. If they wind up charging into the next battle without topping off the ol’ hp tanks, then it’s on them for getting themselves killed. But on the other hand, when the fiction involves character beat to hell and bleeding from 2d6 orifices of their choice, it’s absurd to suggest that “you guys forgot to heal, too bad.”

That leads us directly into our question of the day. When the party walks into a battle and realizes that “oops we forgot to heal,” how do you handle it? Is it better to provide a bit of retcon? Do you make ’em deal with their own folly? Or is this a stupid artifact of an outdated health system and we should all just play Fate? Whatever your take, make all those vociferous gamer opinions known down in the comments!

 

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