Healing potions

By Bearpaw, in Descent: Journeys in the Dark

I remember seeing somewhere that Kevin Wilson himself once advised to house rule healing potions to heal 4 wounds instead of only 3 after the FAQ change that allows only one potion to be drank each turn.

Can anyone confirm this?

I've seen that story repeated several times, though I believe accounts differ as to whether he suggested it, or someone else suggested it and he agreed it would be reasonable.

I wasn't around when it allegedly took place, though, and I'm not aware of any lasting record.

The Enduring Evil has healing potions that heal 3 in a 4-hero game, but heal 4 in a 3-hero game, and 6 in a 2-hero game.

I remember that discussion, back on the old boards. We were comparing Descent Health Potions to Doom Health tokens and saying that wounds in Doom are much more precious, due to their limited amounts and how armor worked, so healing 3 wounds was about right in Doom. However, in Descent, since wounds are more aplenty and drain faster, the Health Potions that heal only 3 seemed relatively weak. Some ideas were thrown about of bumping it to 4 or 5, and then Kevin chimed in stating that having the Health Potions heal 4 wounds wasn't a bad house rule.

Note, he basically said he liked the idea, and that it was a good house-rule, not that it has ever become official nor made its way into any FAQ. Also, the difference in potions has nothing to do with RtL, it was simply Health Potions in general.

-shnar

The way Shnar tells it rings a couple of distant bells for me. It probably wouldn't break the game to boost healing potions to 4 (or even 5) considering how little they get used as is. It would be a house rule, no matter what Kevin said, since it's not in the FAQ. That doesn't mean it's bad, it's just something everyone at the table needs to agree to.

Try playing a game where they heal 4 if you want to. Encourage heroes to buy and use healing potions so you can actually see if it makes a difference to your play style. If it doesn't work out, change back.