Heal True (Healing Mastery): Spell No. 8
"I have, maybe, the power to heal her body, and to recall her from the dark valley." (III)
Experienced players know: Middle Earth Play By Mail is a game of economy. The less you have to spend, the less you have to risk, the less you have to do, to acchieve your goal, the better. Why move to a hex and then join the army a turn later when you can do both? Why make steel weapons and bronze armor and then equip an army when all of this can be done when the troops are initially hired?
This logic prevails in terms of Heal True. This spell leaves no ifs ands or buts about it. If successfully cast, the recipient will be back to 100 health. Just got mauled by a dragon (and lived)? No problem. Just Heal True and you are ready to go. Just get wounded by the local guard in your attempt to steal gold? Not a big deal. Just Heal True and continue your life of crime.
However, this healing power comes with a price. First, it is a Hard spell to cast. This generally means a much higher failure rate than with other spells. This also means that if a wizard intends to cast two spells during the turn, that the wizard better expect to take a LOT of health damage. Additionally, Hard spells are out of the range of most mages.
Second, learning the spell requires learning one of the weakest spells in the game: Minor Heal. After all, for the ease of an average spell, Greater Heal packs nearly as much punch when combined with a character's natural healing process. On the average, a lower level mage would be better off learning the Healing Ways list instead of waiting around to gain enough skill to learn this spell.
Finally, this spell suffers all the weaknesses of all the other Heal spells. It is hex specific (The caster and recipient need to be at the same location) and is cast before any other spells or actions cast this turn (This means the character does not gain any extra ability to resist "Curses" or survive an encounter or succeed in personal combat). These weaknesses are probably more apparent because the game does not provide a method of achieving either of these actions. As an additional note, the rulebook indicates the spell adds UP TO 100 points of health. The spell does not heal up to 100% health. Presumably, there may be characters with health stats above 100...
In summary, if you are out hunting dragons, or big into personal combat, grab this spell. If you start the game with the spell, count yourself lucky. But if you want a mage to pick up some healing spells (in case of an emergency), then stick with Healing Ways.
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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.