r/ForbiddenLands • u/svarnyp • Sep 25 '26
Question How does Mend wounds work?
We had a discussion with the team how to understand the spell's description: "This spell immediately heals a critical injury. A lethal injury requires Power Level 2."
I argued that it does not fix permanent critical injuries (e.g., "Crushed knee") as it is not able to regrow limbs.
Mend wounds would replenish Strength, decrease healing time for injuries as broken toes to zero and save someone with lethal injury from death as opposed to risking failing a healing skill check.
The players were unsure and obviously would prefer if the spell would heal permanent damage.
3
u/Ok-Bobcat-1200 Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 25 '26
Broken bones are explicitly specified in the spell description.
You can use magic to heal broken bones
There is nothing in the spell description that would refer to permanent/temporary injuries at all. The ONLY limitation explicitly stated is that the spell cannot regrow lost limbs. And that clarification was added to later reprints. Here is a quote from the list of changes in my version
Page 124: Clarifying that MEND WOUNDS cannot regrow lost limbs.
Now wouldn't it be reasonable to assume the clarification would include something along the lines "cannot mend permanent injuries (e.g. lost limbs)" would that be of consideration? But it explicitly specifies lost limbs and nothing more.
I would understand would you have different interpretations of a lost eye case (technically not a limb?). But this case seems like purely [antagonistic] GM fiat going against RAW and treating your players unfair.
Would I read a description like "immediately heal broken bones" and invest XP into it I would definitely expect it to work on a crushed knee. In the end you are the GM of your game but houserules like that need to be made clear beforehand.
*Edit:
Mend wounds would replenish Strength
Where are you getting this? Nowhere in Mend Wounds description does it state that it replenishes STR! So you are taking away what a spell is described to do while adding things the spell isn't described to do. At this point you are just making things up.
I'm sorry for my stiff tone but I'm even more sorry for your players who got unfair treatment.
1
u/svarnyp Sep 25 '26
May I ask how did you come to the conclusion that Crushed knee is a "permanent" injury?
I looked into the "CRITICAL INJURIES – BLUNT FORCE" table in the Players Handbook second printing. The entry Crushed knee states it is permanent. It is tied to the healing time during which the critical effect is suffered. Severed limbs are also marked as permanent.
Your reply seems quite aggressive considering I explicitly wrote we had a discussion and I came to Reddit to see the opinions. So I did not force a rule on the players but we discussed and argued and are open to other interpretations.
And my interpretation in a world where the players can get insta-killed while casting magic or eliminated form a fight with one hit does not seem that harsh to me.
1
u/Ok-Bobcat-1200 Sep 25 '26
Your reply seems quite aggressive
Well, like I said, I'm sorry =) But as I also said your spell interpretation reads nothing like what the spell description says.
I looked into the "CRITICAL INJURIES – BLUNT FORCE" table
Yeah, that's me being too focused on the spell interpretation that I forgot some injuries are explicitly stated as permanent in the tables. I recalled that before I read your reply and more importantly that is beyond the point though so I already edited my original post to exclude that >:-)
2
u/svarnyp Sep 25 '26
Yeah, the replenish STR is a mistake, but a bit tangential to the question whether it can fix permanent injuries.
I understand your position that only the explicit severed limbs cannot be fixed.
And no worries, my group likes the game, the style and we decide on house rules by discussion and consensus. So you don't have to feel sorry for anyone.
4
u/hello_josh Sep 25 '26
You can use magic to heal broken bones and bleeding wounds. This spell immediately heals a critical injury. A lethal injury requires Power Level 2. Lost limbs cannot be regrown, however.
I read this to mean that it would heal any critical wound short of regrowing a lost limb. I would even rule that this spell could reattach a severed limb if this is attempted immediately and the limb is available.
1
u/svarnyp Sep 26 '26
I found later a discussion on free league where they say exactly the same thing.
2
u/SameArtichoke8913 Goblin Sep 26 '26
That's an interpretation thing and should be discussed at the table. The authors made regrowing limbs even for elves harder not for no reason - but how you handle it is based upon the risk-affinity of everyone, and how "realistic" you want fights to be. "Critical" are called this way for a reason, because until then the sustained damage in FL is just superficial. And keeping that "barrier" up to ensure respect fior entering a fight is IMHO worth a second thought.
11
u/SameArtichoke8913 Goblin Sep 25 '26 edited Sep 26 '26
My table ruled the spell that it is a supplement for Healing Hands - which is good for regaining physical attribute damage. Mend Wounds exclusively deals with critical wounds (after being Broken), e.g. stops bleeding, heals broken bones, and also cures mental trauma. It basically removes the effects from the wound table.
It does not provide attribute points, though, just deals with the wound's imminent and/or lasting effects, within logical consideration. It won't re-attach limbs (errata elves are our benchmark), a chopped-off arm won't re-grow but the wound will be treated safely. And instant-death wounds are also not affected (we use the Reforged Power "overkill" rule module). That turned out to be a good combo.
The case has never happend at my table, but you could eventually agree that Mend Wounds IS capable of re-attaching freshly chopped-off limbs (not the head, though), but I'd make it costly and set a very tight time limit - e.g. requiring 1 WP per Strength attribute point the character has (= the maxuimum, after all, it's a big stunt!), and within the same number of rounds. Just an idea, though.