Healing

This is the central reference for restoring hit points and clearing poison, by every method: bandages (Healing / Veterinary), spells (Magery), and potions (potions catalog). For poison itself see Poison & status; for dying and getting back up see Death & resurrection.

Bandages — how to use

To bandage a wound:

Make sure you have bandages in your backpack (cloth crafted with Tailoring, or bought from a healer/vendor).
Double-click a bandage in your pack — you get a target cursor.
Target yourself, an injured ally, or a pet. You must be within range (2 tiles on this AOS shard, per Bandage.cs Range).
Wait for the timer to finish. On success: “You finish applying the bandages.” and HP is restored.

One bandage is consumed per application. Higher Dexterity makes each application faster; higher Healing and Anatomy heal more HP and raise success/cure/resurrection chances. Bandaging trains your Healing (or Veterinary) and the matching secondary skill up to 120 skill (CheckSkill cap in Bandage.cs).

Bandage timing (verified)

From Scripts/Items/Resource/Bandage.cs GetDelay (AOS path). Times are in seconds; Dex is the healer’s Dexterity:

Self-heal: max(4, min(8, ceil(11 − Dex/20))). So 4 s at very high Dex, up to 8 s at low Dex.
Healing another person: max(2, ceil(4 − Dex/60)). As fast as 2 s.
Veterinary on a pet: a flat 2 s.
Resurrection via bandage: the non-AOS dex branches add +5 s for a dead target (resDelay = 5.0); treat a res bandage as taking noticeably longer than a heal.

You can only run one bandage timer at a time — starting a new one cancels the old.

Slipping, interruption, and movement

If you take a hit or are disturbed mid-application your fingers can slip (“Your fingers slip!”). Each slip reduces the HP healed (in AOS, by ~35% per slip) and lowers cure/res chance.
If you move out of range (more than 2 tiles from the patient) before the timer ends, you get “You did not stay close enough to heal your target.” and the heal fails.
If you die before it finishes: “You were unable to finish your work before you died.” and it fails.

Best practice: stand still and stay adjacent while a bandage finishes, especially when healing someone else.

How much a bandage heals

The amount scales with Healing and Anatomy (AOS path, Bandage.cs):

min = Anatomy/8 + Healing/5 + 4
max = Anatomy/6 + Healing/2.5 + 4
The actual heal is a random value between min and max, reduced by slips, and reduced if you simultaneously cured poison/bleed in the same application.

In short: more Anatomy and more Healing = bigger heals. Maxing both (Healing 100, Anatomy 100) gives the largest and most reliable bandage heals.

Curing poison with a bandage

A bandage on a poisoned patient attempts to cure the poison instead of (or before) healing HP.

Skill requirement (verified): both Healing ≥ 60 and Anatomy ≥ 60 (checkSkills = healing >= 60.0 && anatomy >= 60.0).
Cure chance = (Healing − 30)/50 − (PoisonLevel × 0.1) − (Slips × 0.02). Higher poison levels (deadly > greater > regular > lesser) are harder to cure; slips hurt.
On success: “You have been cured of all poisons.” On failure: “You have failed to cure your target!” — apply another bandage and try again.

See Poison & status for poison levels and other cures.

Resurrecting with a bandage

A bandage applied to a dead player (or dead pet, via Veterinary) can bring them back.

Skill requirement (verified): both Healing ≥ 80 and Anatomy ≥ 80 (checkSkills = healing >= 80.0 && anatomy >= 80.0). For pets, the Veterinary/Animal Lore equivalents apply.
Success chance = (Healing − 68)/50 − (Slips × 0.02).
On success the patient gets a resurrection gump to accept; resurrecting a dead pet costs the pet a small skill loss (0.1 per skill).
Takes longer than a normal bandage (the +5 s res delay above). The patient’s corpse must be at a spot that “can fit” a body, and some regions (e.g. Khaldun) block resurrection.

Full death/ghost procedure: Death & resurrection.

Magery healing spells

If you have Magery and a spellbook + reagents (see Spellcasting and the magic index):

Heal (1st circle) — restores a modest amount of HP. Does not work on a poisoned target — you must cure the poison first.
Greater Heal (4th circle) — restores more HP. Likewise the lesser heals are blocked by poison; cure first.
Cure (2nd circle) — removes poison; success vs higher poison levels scales with Magery (unverified thresholds).
Arch Cure (4th circle) — area cure that clears poison from multiple targets.

Spellcasting is interruptible: taking a hit can fizzle the heal (see Combat advanced). Mages usually create distance, then heal/cure.

Healing potions

Potions are instant (no cast/bandage timer) but share a cooldown between potion uses (you cannot chug them back-to-back without delay — exact cooldown unverified). Carry them as an emergency button. See the potions catalog:

Heal potion — small instant HP.
Greater Heal potion — larger instant HP.
Cure potion — removes poison (effectiveness scales by potion strength vs poison level — unverified).

To use a potion: double-click it in your pack. Potions are made with Alchemy.

Healing pets — Veterinary

Healing animals and tamed creatures uses Veterinary (with Animal Lore as its secondary), not Healing. The bandage procedure is identical — double-click bandage, target the pet — and a vet bandage on a pet is a flat 2 s (Bandage.cs). Vet can also resurrect a dead pet if your owner/friend is nearby to sanctify it. See Taming & pets.

When to use which

Bandages — your sustainable, mana-free main heal. Best HP-per-resource; trains a skill; but takes seconds and can slip. Use as your default in and out of combat.
Heal/Greater Heal spells — fast burst heals if you have mana, but cost reagents and can fizzle when hit; blocked by poison.
Cure (spell/potion/bandage) / Arch Cure — to clear poison before you can use a lesser heal effectively.
Heal/Greater Heal potions — instant emergency healing when you can’t afford the bandage timer or a fizzle, accepting the cooldown.
Veterinary bandages — the way to heal/res pets.

A common survival pattern: cure poison first (bandage/Cure), then bandage or heal HP, and keep heal potions in reserve for the moment you would otherwise die.