aspect of the cruel physician

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earcaraxe
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aspect of the cruel physician

Post by earcaraxe » Wed Jan 23, 2019 9:12 am

This spell seems simply bad. It especially seems bad when i consider "not choosing another fifth lvl spell instead" a cost.

What am i missing?

Tattered Rags
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by Tattered Rags » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:17 pm

There are few options for healing in the middle of combat, and they usually can't be used on everyone. Fireblood is only for the Talent's owner. Grove Renewal only heals 4 a round, and Elementalists are ostensibly Earthdawn's healers.

Aspect of the Cruel Physician allows that middle-of-combat, bring someone back from the brink action, and the recipient of the surgery gets to roll their full recovery test plus 6. That's almost as good as a booster option with the bonus of being done while the fighting happens.
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lanir
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by lanir » Wed Jan 23, 2019 12:59 pm

I'm still reading over everything and the bulk areas of the player's guide such as spells, equipment, etc. were areas I mostly skipped. But I think I understand the actual use for this spell. It may be a bit niche but it's still potentially quite useful even though it has a trade-off.

The spell allows a nethermancer to pick one group member who can operate on everyone else, giving them an extra recovery test with a +6 bonus. At this circle you begin to have up to 2 extra threads so you can provide up to +2 rounds or +2 effect. The result of this is one character can quickly heal up others with even a short break of a few rounds. The spellcasting rank is likely to be around 5 or 6 when cast so at least 5 rounds of this means 5 targets. If you use 2 extra threads toward effect it's a free +10 recovery test. Consider what that looks like with 3 rounds of casting (with 2 extra threads) plus 1 round per character operated on and you get a feel for how this could be a pretty big deal even if it adds a wound to those getting the extra recovery test. You could do something similar with healing potions but it could be pretty expensive.

That's just the numbers bits. Thematically this is exceptionally good at capturing what makes nethermancers both seriously useful and seriously creepy. At a glance (I may have missed something while skimming) it looks like one of only two healing spells nethermancers have access to, the other being Last Chance at 4th circle. As that spell has a lower bonus and a rather grim requirement (target must be newly dead) I can definitely see some use in submitting to the gruesome surgery rather than rely on the caster's ability to revive you.

earcaraxe
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by earcaraxe » Wed Jan 23, 2019 5:57 pm

Thx, u kinda convinced me its not obviously useless. I bet I have to try it in action to see its real value.

Belenus
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by Belenus » Sat Jan 26, 2019 11:20 am

Oh, wow, I always overread the "heal as standard action" part and never considered to have it used in combat :shock:

Waijhou
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by Waijhou » Sat Jan 26, 2019 4:31 pm

What book is that from? I haven't seen that spell.

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Mataxes
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by Mataxes » Sat Jan 26, 2019 4:42 pm

Waijhou wrote:
Sat Jan 26, 2019 4:31 pm
What book is that from? I haven't seen that spell.
Fourth Edition Player's Guide.
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Waijhou
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Re: aspect of the cruel physician

Post by Waijhou » Sat Jan 26, 2019 4:48 pm

Ah, under Nethermancers, Thank you!

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