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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Narrating Hit Points - no actual "damage"
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<blockquote data-quote="FrogReaver" data-source="post: 7347630" data-attributes="member: 6795602"><p>I haven't but I have thought about the issue extensively. </p><p></p><p>HP being totally non-physical just doesn't feel right. Healing doesn't seem to work right when it's no meat. Hitting an orc with your greataxe for 12 damage mechanical just feels off when it's narrated as basically a miss. Also, if HP doesn't represent something physical or tangible in the game it's hard to characters to make informed in game decisions. </p><p></p><p>However, I do think we often overexaggerate how much meat is actually being affected. I think you are right that having your characters sliced open and arrows sticking out of their backs isn't always genre appropriate. In general for PC's I would have 1-2 hp from most blows consist of actual physical trauma like scractches and bruises and such. The other hps lost from the hit would be morale, windedness, luck etc. This distinction doesn't need tracked it just needs recognized that hp is always a combination of meat and non-meat. When monsters are hit by players I would allow the narrative lean more meat heavy because I believe that will be more enjoyable to my players. They want to see their great axe slicing deeply into the ORC. They want their fireball spell to genuinely burn it's flesh. The only truly major physical trauma players should take is when they are knocked to 0 hp IMO.</p><p></p><p>HP was made ambiguious for this very reason. It can be narrated as mostly meat when desired, as mostly non-meat when desired and it doesn't have any actual affect on the mechanics and rules. This approach should jive more with 5e's quick recovery timeframes for players and since most monsters generally don't ever need recovery rules then we are free to narrate successful attacks against them as more meaty as we won't have to worry about explaining the quick natural recovery time they would otherwise have.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="FrogReaver, post: 7347630, member: 6795602"] I haven't but I have thought about the issue extensively. HP being totally non-physical just doesn't feel right. Healing doesn't seem to work right when it's no meat. Hitting an orc with your greataxe for 12 damage mechanical just feels off when it's narrated as basically a miss. Also, if HP doesn't represent something physical or tangible in the game it's hard to characters to make informed in game decisions. However, I do think we often overexaggerate how much meat is actually being affected. I think you are right that having your characters sliced open and arrows sticking out of their backs isn't always genre appropriate. In general for PC's I would have 1-2 hp from most blows consist of actual physical trauma like scractches and bruises and such. The other hps lost from the hit would be morale, windedness, luck etc. This distinction doesn't need tracked it just needs recognized that hp is always a combination of meat and non-meat. When monsters are hit by players I would allow the narrative lean more meat heavy because I believe that will be more enjoyable to my players. They want to see their great axe slicing deeply into the ORC. They want their fireball spell to genuinely burn it's flesh. The only truly major physical trauma players should take is when they are knocked to 0 hp IMO. HP was made ambiguious for this very reason. It can be narrated as mostly meat when desired, as mostly non-meat when desired and it doesn't have any actual affect on the mechanics and rules. This approach should jive more with 5e's quick recovery timeframes for players and since most monsters generally don't ever need recovery rules then we are free to narrate successful attacks against them as more meaty as we won't have to worry about explaining the quick natural recovery time they would otherwise have. [/QUOTE]
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