Minor Heal: Spell No. 2

Minor Heal (Healing Mastery): Spell No. 2

"...Aragorn bathed the hurts with water in which athelas was steeped." (I)

Every nation has a background steeped in lore. The Noldo have a regal, mysterious flavor; the Sinda, a dying glory. The Witch King radiates raw power while the Cloud Lord is cloaked in subtlety. In addition to the background material, each player brings to the nation a set of goals. Perhaps a player is artifact crazed and wants to find the hidden trinkets scattered about Middle Earth. Maybe a player feels the baneful cry of battle and thirsts for army combat. There is one thing all of the nations, and all of the play styles, have in common. Eventually characters will either die or become injured.

In most cases, there isn't much difference between being injured and being at full health. The character gets to perform the exact same tasks, i.e. two orders per turn. However, in a few situations, being at less than 100% health can spell death for a character. For example, a mage that needs to cast two spells in one turn is just asking to take some damage. A character that will be facing an opponent in personal combat is at a severe disadvantage if previously wounded. Even some encounters, such as with dragons, will allow a character to survive, but only if at full health BEFORE reacting to the encounter.

Of all of the healing spells, this spell is definately the weakest. While "easy" to cast, it only heals up to 20 points of health compared to it's big brother "Major Heal". Even combined with a character's natural healing process (14 points per turn), successfully casting this spell will only restore a third of a character's health, and is STILL 1 point short of what Major Heal could have accomplished for the same order slot.

This does not mean that Minor Heal is completely useless. In fact, it is a requirement for a character who hopes to learn Heal True (100 points of healing!). A good technique is to get a low level mage (or combination mage/any other skill class) this spell early in the game, and then late in the game learn the Heal True spell. If a nation intends on seeking out the more dangerous encounters (Dragons, for example) this might be a very good plan. Further, many artifacts allow the casting of Minor Heal, meaning that a character need not even be a mage to provide 'medical attention'.

Probably the most important thing to remember with Minor Heal, as with all healing spells, is that the turn sequence is very favorable to casting of any healing spells. No other order beats the casting of the healing spell. This means that a wounded character can be refreshed prior to personal combat, army combat, navy combat, encounters, agent orders, or even multiple spell castings. Unfortunately, this early casting does nothing for an already healthy character facing a known danger (None of the healing spells will allow a character to go over the 100 health score.).

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