Rules Clarification: Healing Subdued Characters

[LiAlH4]

The situation addressed here is what happens when you, a bystander or participant in PVP, witness someone subdued in the course of that combat. You have a bag of ash and plenty of other healing trinkets available. Can you heal the subdued character? The answer depends on the context.

Healing a subdued player, if you are not the person who subdued them, is not per se against the rules. However, it should only be done in situations where it makes sense to do so—not just in-character sense for your particular character's mindset and outlook, but considering the situation more broadly. For instance, if there is a large running battle and multiple PCs are lying subdued on the ground, without the subduer standing over them, they could be healed without any issue. In another example, you should not walk up and heal characters who are being held hostage. A subdued character with a knife held to their throat should not be healed by their comrades. Remember that someone who has been subdued has been offered a courtesy, especially in hostage situations. An alternative might be BO or FD, after all.

Note that healing a subdued character does not mean that they are no longer subdued. A subdued character remains subdued until the PVP encounter ends or they are told by a DM that they are no longer subdued. If in doubt, ask a DM for clarification and remain subdued. It does not matter if you are subdued and restored to full health--you remain subdued. Roleplay that as the severity of the injuries just inflicted on you having a lasting effect, or something similarly thematic. No matter what, they remain subdued, and should mechanically cooperate with the subduer when it comes to being moved from place to place, etc.

Also note that someone healing subdued characters is essentially taking sides in the conflict. It makes the healer a fair and legitimate target for PVP.

The degree of "how far away must the subduer walk before an ally can come up and heal this person" is a standard that needs facts to actually adjudicate. There won't be a flat standard imposed there, the context will control. That standard will almost certainly favor the subduer, not the subdued character. If a subduer was standing over a trio of downed foes, waxing about the honor of the Peerage Ward or delivering a delightfully melodramatic villain speech, and someone walked up and healed one of their victims, that would be inappropriate. If the subduer was half a screen away fighting allies of the subdued character, or was similarly very distracted by something (or held by hold person, etc), it is entirely fair to heal a fallen character.

There is some additional leeway on this principle if there are hostile NPCs in the area—as they won't respect subdual status—but that's again a case-by-case situation.

It should go without saying that the subduer can always heal the character that they subdued.

Contact a DM if you have questions about specific situations in-game.

[Damien]

As someone who has played pcs that have been against mobs I am totally against this ruling. Make it illegal without dm approval.

Players mostly randomly heal pcs, before even thinking, which is very frustrating and cheesy/griefy. It also 99% of the time causes players to assume they can get up, and raises the classic vet argument of you might as well fd them.  now.