Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (
More info?)
Pillsy <pillsy@mac.com> wrote:
> Keith Davies wrote:
>
>> David Johnston <rgorman@telusplanet.net> wrote:
> [...]
>> > Cure Minor Wounds: Cure spells seem to prevent or at least discourage
>> > infection apart from the actual damage they restore, at least as much
>> > as modern first aid disinfection. _Big_ difference. And you aren't
>> > going to see so many villagers hurting themselves per day that you
>> > can't keep ahead of it. And a Cure Minor really speeds up a 1st level
>> > character's recuperation from injury.
>
>> Indeed it would. I'll even allow that a cleric in a poor farming
>> village wouldn't charge the villagers the normal 15gp casting cost
>> (10 * spell level * caster level, * 1/2 because it's a 0-level spell).
>
> It strikes me as a sensible allowance; presumably one of the things
> that Good religions do with the charity monies they receive is using
> them to subsidize healing for the poor.
Indeed. I assume that's how it works -- charge those who can afford it,
to subsidize those who can't (and probably have greater need, at that).
> And even a first level cleric can cast CLW, not to mention CMW. I
> think, between the two, you'd see a whole lot less death by
> misadventure (and possibly childbirth, depending on the details of the
> "damage" involved).
> [...]
Hmm... on the one hand magic can have this effect. However, looking at
the rules it's probably not that profound, unless the cleric is handy.
If the peasant's got even one hit point left he can get back home and
will be back to top condition inside of a week. If he gets knocked
below zero, there's a decent chance he'll bleed out unless the cleric
can get there in under a minute. If he stabilizes his friends could get
him to the cleric (or the cleric to him), but barring additional damage
he'll then recover on his own anyway. That is, with cure spells it only
makes a difference if the cleric is right there.
The other cases either the guy dies, or gets better, on his own. The
cleric can't be *everywhere*. Now, in a city it may well be easier to
find a capable cleric fast enough -- shorter distances, more clerics
(fewer per capita, though), and more powerful -- but only a small
fraction of the population is urban.
Most people are commoners -- Com1 at that. Any significant damage will
probably kill them outright; anything less, they'll get better without
magic. IOW, magic actually doesn't have much effect because there's
such a small window where healing magic can be applied such that it
makes a difference, to most people at least.
Heh, even today -- we've probably got more medical types per capita
today than they had clerics then, and finding someone with so much as
(significant) first aid can take more than a minute. *911* doesn't get
a medic to you under a minute.
It could be that those about to go on 'dangerous jobs' (treefalling,
say) might be given a potion of /cure light wounds/ or two, just in
case, and I'm very sure that a professional (and well-paid) midwife
would almost certainly carry one or two. However, this gets more
expensive (services might be discounted or free, but item creation,
probably not).
Keith
--
Keith Davies "Trying to sway him from his current kook-
keith.davies@kjdavies.org rant with facts is like trying to create
keith.davies@gmail.com a vacuum in a room by pushing the air
http://www.kjdavies.org/ out with your hands." -- Matt Frisch
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