Cast Heal Spell: Order No.120
"'I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall her from the dark valley.'" (III)
It goes with out saying that characters die. They might get eaten by a dragon, cursed to death, assassinated, or lose a personal challenge. However, the other side of this axiom is that sometimes characters survive, if only for a little while. Some encounters only damage a character. An agent might be wounded in pursuing a mission. The victor of a personal challenge might be gravely wounded. These wounds only make the character more vulnerable to future encounter.
Now, characters natuarally heal 14 points of damage at the start of every turn (Some characters might have the special abililty of double healing rate and heal at 28 points of damage per turn). Typically, this means a character may take many turns to heal back to a full 100 points of health. Often, there isn't time to wait. For example, a character who is the subject of repeated curses, sickness and weakness spells will quickly die. Characters who enter a personal challenge wounded are at a great disadvantage. Some encounters will only allow a character at 100 health to survive.
This is where healing spells come in. There are four healing spells: 2, 4, 6, and 8. Each heals a different amount of damage per turn, and all require both the caster and the wounded character to be in the same hex. This healing occurs before any other actions, except natural healing, allowing a character to 'toughen up' for the rigors of the upcoming turn.
Sadly, healing has no effect on an already healthy character. There is no way to 'pre-heal' a character that will be facing a known danger. Thus, if a character is at 96 health or more (Because of 14 points of healing per turn), this Order will do nothing for the character. Additionally, as already noted, the wounded character and healer need to be in the same hex to even use this order. This requires quite a bit of precognition on the part of the player.
It is a good idea to have at least one or two healing spells available to a player's nation. During the course of a typical game, there will be MANY occasions where these spells would be very useful. Probably the best use for healing characters is to stick them in a company or army where their skills will see more use.
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Text Copyright 1998 by Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl. All game mechanics and terms are Copyright 1993 by Tolkien Enterprises, as produced, designed and distributed by Game Systems, Inc.