gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
For me, hit points cannot be completely physical because if a sword thrust deals 8 hp of damage and kills a normal man, and the same sword thrust barely slows down a 10th-level fighter, either the 10th-level fighter survived something that would have killed a normal man (decapitation, stabbed through the heart, sword in the gut) and just kept going, or he somehow managed to turn the 8 hp wound into something less significant for himself than it would be for a normal man. If the former, it feels unnatural to me. If the latter, then hit points cannot be completely physical.
A couple things, your examples of decapitation, stabbed through the heart and sword in the gut all seem to be special attacks either by vorpal weapons, special monster attacks or class features for possible classes. These things bypass hit points altogether working like Assassinate - if your opponent fails his save, he's slain, no matter if he has 8 hit points or 1800 hit points.
And does it seem realistic that a 1st level character might have 8 HP, while a 10th level might have 80 HP of real damage taking capability? Of course it's not realistic, but it always been part of the mechanic of progressing in level, since 1e. I completely accept this with a suspension of disbelieve - it's D&D, it works as long as you don't put too much real world physics (or biology) into it.
Since I see every HP as real damage and not the combination of adrenaline, perseverance and real damage, healing surges feel 'wrong' to me from a player perspective. I realize this is solely based on my perceptions of hit point damage, which obviously differs from yours and perhaps even the designer's intent. It is how I see it though, and have accepted that way for over 30 years. I'm comfortable with it.
Nothing wrong with healing surges in 4e, that's the way things work, and if I were playing, I'd probably have to give the same suspension of disbelief that that is how things are. I'd accept, but since I don't play that edition, its unnecessary for me to change my point of view.
Mechanically it works out the same a negative hp total of my Con, I'm dead, no matter how I want to perceive how Hit Points work.
Your way is not wrong, it just feels wrong for my personal games, so I don't care for it for that reason only. In D&D PCs aren't normal men, they are heroes and the higher level they are the more heroic they become from abilities to hit points.
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