Major Heal (Healing Ways): Spell No. 4
"Sam's wound was not deep, but it looked ugly..." (I)
Life is dangerous in Middle Earth. Sadly, most characters die after having an adverse encounter (be it with enemy characters, random encounters or other mishaps). However, sometimes the character is merely wounded instead of killed. In such a situation, a character has only two ways to heal: let time pass (14 points of healing per turn) or have beneficial magic cast.
Major Heal is one of only 4 spells that allows healing. It is an easy spell, so even a low level mage can cast it. It needs to be cast on a character in the same hex. When successfully cast, the Health rank will be improved by 35 points (or the character will be at full health if previously suffering from less than 35 points). Combined with the natural healing process, this effectively will refresh a character by up to 49 points per turn.
This spell is especially useful if the caster never intends on learning any other healing spells. This is because the next spell in this list, Greater Heal, only restores up to 50 health points (although it is an spell of average difficulty). Clearly, a low level mage will get more bang for the buck (75% more) than this spells "Li'l Brother", Minor Heal, which restores only 20 points of health. On the other hand, if the character wants true healing power, this spell will not act as a 'stepping stone' towards learning the hard spell, Heal True (heals up to 100 points of health).
Major Heal is an important spell in many circumstances. Having this spell available allows a character to recover from just about any mishap. For example, a mage might cast two spells in the same turn, suffering a health loss. Major Heal on the next turn will go a long ways towards a speedy recovery. Or, a Commaner/Mage might lead troops into battle and suffer some wounds as a result. On the next turn, the character could cast the Major Heal and move the troops into the next victims.
Finally, as with all healing spells, it is important to remember this spell comes off before any other orders go through. This is sequencing is both beneficial (as the spell will heal a character facing grave perils two turns in a row) and useless (the spell does nothing for an already healthy character about to face a dangerous situation). Over all, this means that to get the most out of the spell, careful coordination of character locations is necessary.
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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.