JamesonCourage
Adventurer
Check out what happens to Boromir at around 33 seconds in. Or to Strider at around 2:07.The problem with trying to nail down how much hit points are meat is that its not dependent on the players. Or the setting. It's dependent on the enemies.
Take a 20' tall steel golem. There's no sane or sensible way a humanoid with roughly human physiology survives a direct blow from a fist. Each fist weighs on the order of 2,000 lbs to 10,000 lbs (depending on exact scaling). I've seen empty steel frames that weighed 800 lbs.
That hits you dead on, you be dead son.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpssk85XTQQ]Cave Troll scene - YouTube[/ame]
Blam. Hit. And most people are okay with this. There's a lot of people advocating for cinematic combat. That's not one of my primary goals, but I get it. But, it's fantasy. I can see a glancing blow by a giant in fantasy. And most people can watch the cave troll scene and not get yanked out of their shallow immersion. Some do get yanked out, of course.
At any rate, the HP thing is just preference. It doesn't work for you. It obviously works for other people. I really think beating the "it doesn't work" drum will only resonate with half (or whatever) the people here, but it probably won't change any minds. Why? Because people have different expectations. Just the way that works. As always, play what you like