How do you heal your party?

[RPGaddict]

I have been reading the manual I got from Steam and it tells me nothing about how to heal. I have Durance as a priest and I am not understanding the healing process in this game. The characters have Health points and Endurance points. Everything I see only mentions healing Endurance. The only thing that heals health is rest. Is this correct? Are there not potions to heal your health? Even in the BG games you could heal your character.  Please help...

[Leferd]

Replenishing health is achieved through through rest or talents such as Wound Binding or Field Triage.

 

Endurance is immediately important during combat whereas health is a longterm resource.

[Cantousent]

In Pillars of Eternity, you have health which is the larger stat.  You have a lot of health.  You also have endurance, which is a smaller stat.  A percentage of your health is your max endurance.  Your endurance is what keeps you on your feet per se.  Your max endurance is whatever your current health is at any time.  Think of endurance as the amount of 'hit points' you have per rest.  There are many spells and abilities that replace lost endurance.  Your health is your 'life force' of sorts.  It's the outermost limit of your ability to survive.  You can be knocked out of a battle  when your endurance goes down to zero.  Your endurance will go up and down during battles, but as long as your health is above one, you'll recover.  However, your health only recovers on rest.  There are few other abilities that replace lost health points.  So, let's keep it simple and say you have 1000 health and 100 endurance.  During the battle, you take 101 damage.  You're knocked out and recover after battle.  Your endurance quickly goes back up to your amount of health.  So you have 899 health and 100 endurance.  Remember, your endurance resets after battle and through spells and abilities, but it's harder to replace health.  After several battles, you only have 77 health.  Now your max endurance is only 77 because your endurance is limited by your current health.  Typically, you must rest to replace lost health, either at an inn or with camping supplies.  Resting also replenishes your 'per rest' abilities.

 

Now, assume in that battle in which start at 100 endurance and 1000 health and you took 101 damage.  Let's say you took 35 points of damage and then someone uses an ability to heal you for 25.  You don't get the health back, but you get the endurance replenished.  Now you have 90 endurance and 965 health.  You take another 35 damage before someone uses an ability to replenish another 25 endurance.  You now have 80 endurance and 930 health.  Finally, you take 31 damage before being healed to replenish 35 endurance.  You now have 899 health and 81 endurance.  Over several battles, you might lose all your health, in which case you'll be 'maimed.'  If you take more damage at that point, you're dead.  There is no resurrection.

 

Please, if someone sees a mistake in my math, correct me.  I'd appreciate it.  Hope this helps.

[RPGaddict]

Thanks very much for that detailed description of the health/endurance mechanics. That really did help me understand the game better. Now I need to go do some character changes and get rid of some dead weight. Hopefully I can get a real healer by rolling my own.

[Emptiness]

Over several battles, you might lose all your health, in which case you'll be 'maimed.'  If you take more damage at that point, you're dead.  There is no resurrection.

 

Becoming maimed when you run out of Health is an option that is controlled in the game's options menu.  If the option is turned off, then you simply die when you run out of Health.  Turning on "maimed" makes the game a little more forgiving, if you are finding yourself struggling to keep characters from dying, because it acts as a warning system ("rest now or this character is dead").

[Hebruixe]

Use the level 2 priest spell "consecrated ground" for efficient long term healing. Don't use "restore endurance" spells (i.e., wasteful flash heals) unless it's an  emergency.

 

"Watchful Presence" (priest spell tier 3) is a life saver if everyone is taking huge damage and they are in danger of getting knocked out.

 

"Withdraw" (priest tier 1) is a superb bubble spell that will protect and heal its target, though it also stuns them for its duration.