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Describing Non-Physical Hitpoint Loss?
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<blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4335541" data-attributes="member: 40961"><p>I don't describe "non physical" hit point loss. I describe "no visible wound" hit point loss.</p><p></p><p>So after a particularly bad hit I might say, "That's 28 points of damage. Your armor holds, and stops the orc's ax from opening your intestines to the air, but the sheer force of impact rips the air from your lungs. You can't take much more of this abuse."</p><p></p><p>Now that I'm in 4e, suppose the warlord shouts encouragement to the wounded character. I'd expect the warlord's player to say something (doesn't have to be shakespeare, just something), and I might add something like "You grit your teeth in determination. He's right. It may hurt, but you'd rather take the punishment than die in this place."</p><p></p><p>See the difference? If I'd said that the character was physically maimed by the ax in a visible way, I'd have to justify why he shook it off. That might be hard. So I use a non visible injury, which by its nature is of indeterminate severity.</p><p></p><p>I also just handwave a lot of it. I can't describe every single attack an enemy makes in an interesting way for the simple reason that I have only a finite amount of material, and if I run through it too fast my players will notice on the repeat.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cadfan, post: 4335541, member: 40961"] I don't describe "non physical" hit point loss. I describe "no visible wound" hit point loss. So after a particularly bad hit I might say, "That's 28 points of damage. Your armor holds, and stops the orc's ax from opening your intestines to the air, but the sheer force of impact rips the air from your lungs. You can't take much more of this abuse." Now that I'm in 4e, suppose the warlord shouts encouragement to the wounded character. I'd expect the warlord's player to say something (doesn't have to be shakespeare, just something), and I might add something like "You grit your teeth in determination. He's right. It may hurt, but you'd rather take the punishment than die in this place." See the difference? If I'd said that the character was physically maimed by the ax in a visible way, I'd have to justify why he shook it off. That might be hard. So I use a non visible injury, which by its nature is of indeterminate severity. I also just handwave a lot of it. I can't describe every single attack an enemy makes in an interesting way for the simple reason that I have only a finite amount of material, and if I run through it too fast my players will notice on the repeat. [/QUOTE]
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Describing Non-Physical Hitpoint Loss?
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