Patryn of Elvenshae said:
Yes, that's the result of running out of plot armor. You are no longer part of the story; you die.
So, why does Constitution add to your Plot Armor? Why not Charisma?
And why do you die so that you're dead and not just die so that you are "unconscious?" People who are central to stories don't just simply die.
In other words: There's a lot of things that could be included in "Plot Armor" HP that aren't part of D&D HP.
Patryn of Elvenshae said:
No, they haven't. They may have thought they were doing so, but they were not.
That's a big problem with your point right there: you think you know what other people need better than they do.
I submit that you are sorely mistaken. That people who have been having fun using HP as mostly-wounds
were actually having fun like that. Legitimately. Maybe even without your permission.
It's not necessary that wounds mechanically affect a character's performance. These are heroic fantasy characters, after all: no, a sprained ankle doesn't hurt their ability to continue fighting. Yes, they can heal from a broken arm in days. They are heroic fantasy badasses who fight dragons and kill vampires, not normal people. The HP system not being a realistic simulation isn't a point against it being used as a wounds system because not everyone who wants HP to represent actual damage actually wants a realistic simulation of that damage.
Wound systems don't need to do any of that.
They just need to draw a line between "I'm in fighting shape," and "I'm dying."
Hey, guess what HP do?
Patryn of Elvenshae said:
So, if you want a comprehensive wound mechanic in your D&D, you need to add it in, because it was not there before.
Neither is a plot-armor system, since Constitution adds to your hit points and Charisma does not, and since falls and swords deal HP damage and being insulted and unlucky does not, and since death is a consequence of HP damage and not a consequence of story needs.
HP does the work of both, so if you want one or the other, you're inserting something. The game
needs a way to risk death from encounters (HP). The game does not need plot armor/stamina/luck points/hero grit/fate peanuts. So why take hp to mean "fate peanuts" and not to mean "the dividing line between fighting and dying?"