Hit Dice

There's a new method of self-healing 5e, but it goes by a very old-school name: Hit dice. The hit dice mechanic replaces the 4e healing surge, which, to be honest, was one of my least-favorite aspects of that game. Unlike static healing surges, hit dice are, as the name implies, based on a roll of one or more dice.

A character's hit dice are determined by his/her class and level. A level 1 fighter, for instance, has 1D12, a level 2 wizard has 2D4, and so forth. Characters can spend one or more hit dice to heal themselves during short rests. (Unlike healing surges, hit dice are never spent when a character is healed by other means, such as a cleric's spell, a potion of healing, etc.) For each hit die spent, roll the appropriate die and add the character's Constitution modifier to determine the total amount of healing.

But there's a catch. To use their hit dice, the characters must have access to a healer's kit. At a cost of 50 gp, the healer's kit is sure to become one of the most important mundane items in the D&D game. I can envision parties stocking up on healer's kits just as they stock up on arrows and other consumables. Each healer's kit has 10 uses. When a character elects to spend one or more hit dice, he or she must also expend one use from the healer's kit. So, during a short rest, let's say the fighter wants to spend three hit dice and the rogue wants to spend two. It only costs the party two uses from the healer's kit -- one for the fighter and one for the rogue.

Characters regain all their hit dice (and all their hit points) after a long rest. (The long rest is akin to the extended rest in 4e.) Healing all damage with one night's sleep is a very controversial 4e concept that many old-school gamers despise. I anticipate that Wizards will receive a great deal of feedback on this mechanic, and it wouldn't surprise me if it was changed in the next iteration of the rules.