Bodies wear out. People die. That is the first unpalatable truth and unavoidable limitation of all Healing spells. The second is that healing requires energy, energy that must come from the patient. Spells tap the patients glycogen and lipid stores; they are therefore tiring, sometimes exhausting, and once these reserves have been depleted, no further healing is possible. A severely malnourished patient may not respond to healing at all.

Moreover, in my games Healing is NOT instantaneous; spells restore 1 hp/hr normal damage, 2 hp/hr (plus con bonus) subdual, up to the total of the spell cast, and not to exceed character maximum. Point to remember: a patient who, due to the severity of his wounds, needs a Heal or CCW to recover still needs those spells, but they take longer to fully implement. Moreover, spells alone are not enough: broken bones treated solely by spells might heal, but if they are not properly aligned and set, could result in deformity and weakness; gaping wounds that are not adequately cleaned and the edges approximated could result in disfiguring scars and, if pathogens or foreign matter are trapped in the wound, infection or ongoing illness as the contaminants work their way to the surface.

Natural healing is 1 hp/day + con bonus + 1 hp/day per healing related NWP of the caregiver (or caregivers) up to a maximum of 3 NWPs. Natural subdual healing is 1 hp/hr + 1 hp/day per healing related NWP of the caregiver (or caregivers) up to a maximum of 3 NWPs + con bonus. If a character has complete bedrest (he is permitted to use a chamber pot and sit up for brief periods in a bedside chair to eat, but nothing more strenuous) he can regain 3 hp/day + con bonus + 1 hp/day per healing related NWP of the caregiver (or caregivers) up to a maximum of 3 NWPs.

A character with the Healing proficiency understands basic principles of first aid and doctoring. Herbalism proficiency means he knows how to use natural medicines as well. If the character tending another makes a successful proficiency check, his ministrations restore 1d3 hit points +1 for each additional healing related proficiency (but no more hit points can be restored than were lost). Only one healing attempt can be made on a character per healer per day.

In addition, Cure Disease is no longer a single 3rd level spell. I have broken it into:

• Cure Minor Illnesses (Pr 2) -- including simple colds; uncomplicated diarrhoea and vomiting; headache (tension or occasional migraine); heartburn and indigestion; cystitis without fever, flank pain, or decreased urinary output; conjunctivitis; fifth disease; etc.

• Cure Moderate Illnesses (Pr 3) -- including measles; mumps; chicken pox; influenza; carcinomas in situ (precancerous conditions); threadworms; dental abscesses; etc.

• Cure Serious Illnesses (Pr 4) -- including hepatitis; pertussis; pneumonia; pancreatitis; scarlet fever; typhoid fever; localised malignant tumours; tapeworms and other significant internal parasites; cholera; etc.

• Cure Blindness or Deafness (Pr 5) -- including (blindness) iritis; optic neuritis; glaucoma; cataracts; etc. and (deafness) Meniere's Disease; otitis media; perforated eardrums; etc. It does not cure hypertensive and diabetic retinopathies unless additional spells are used to resolve the underlying causative conditions. It is ineffective in treating age-related macular degeneration or presbycusis, and does not restore or repair visual or auditory organs irreparably damaged or destroyed by injury or disease; Regenerate would be required in those cases.

• Cure Critical Illnesses (Pr 6) -- including tuberculosis; leprosy; bacterial meningitis; poliomyelitis; smallpox; typhus; haemorrhagic fever; septicaemia; gas gangrene; bubonic plague; etc. At 14th level, a caster can attempt to cure malaria; diabetes; autoimmune diseases (lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Behcet's disease, etc.) aggressive metastasised or systemic (leukaemia, lymphomas) cancers; parasitic monsters; and lycanthropy. At 18th level, a caster can attempt to cure tetanus; rabies; septicemic and pneumonic plague; schizophrenia; haemophilia and other genetic diseases; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; ischemic heart disease; cerebrovascular disease; etc. Regenerate is required to repair organs significantly damaged by disease (heart muscle destroyed by a myocardial infarction, skin pitted by smallpox, limbs destroyed by gangrene, etc.)

There is a 45% chance of spell failure with all of these spells. A successful Diagnostics (NWP) check lessens this chance to 30%; successful Diagnostics, Healing, and Herbalism checks reduce the chance of failure to 15% of treatable illnesses (not all of them are). These results might further reveal that a particular case is more or less serious than the disease usually is, requiring a more advance spell to successfully treat. For example, while influenza is usually considered a moderate illness, virulent catarrh is a critical illness.

A successful spell roll reduces severity and duration by up to 50% (2 d10, each die applied separately), and prevents complications (for example, pneumonia will not progress to--usually fatal--pulmonary hypertension, measles will not cause blindness or deafness, etc.). Cure Illness spells may be cast on the same patient by the same priest once per day until success is achieved; however, a second priest may attempt to cast immediately if the first spell roll was failed.

The material component of every Cure Illness spell is the priest's holy symbol and a sprig of fresh heal-all (Prunella vulgaris).

Additional spells pertaining to pregnancy, childbirth, and neonates are exclusively available to priest(esses) of the god(esses) of Birth, Children, and Families.