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It almost does that. There is a (slightly hidden) button for each monster that takes you directly to the statblock in the compendium. All you need to do is copy-paste.

This. Where older editions of D&D created a host of silly issues when healing all but the last 1-10 hp, 4th edition works fine in that range but creates a host of silly issues when healing the last 1-10 hp. The systems are equally abstract, but the abstraction is visible at different ends of the...

But D&D was never a good system for simulationist gaming. For such games GURPS, or even better Harnmaster are much more appropriate. D&D was always among the most gamist of the major RPG systems. So even if the new system has less realism than the old rule (which I don't think it does) all the...

Of course an abstraction that you had 20 years to get used to may feel more "sensible" then any new abstraction. After all 20 years is a long time to develop rationalizations for all the weird effects that the system may cause. And most of us probably were in discussions where we had to defend...

Not so sure it's disingenuous, given your post. You claim that you understand that hp can represent all kind of things other than physical health, but at the same time you seem to imply that characters cannot be physically injured when they are at full hitpoints. If loosing hp does not have to...

Hence my careful use of handwavey terms such as "usually". The point remains that practically (an other handwavey term) all of us know 3.x very well, and thus can speak with some authority about the system.

I think this post highlights the key difference between the two sides in this discussion. 4th edition supporters know 3.x and usually have years of experience playing the game. When making a statement about 3.x, they speak from experience. 4th edition detractors have usually played 0-3 session...

D&D invented the green bar. When a fighter is hit by 6 arrows and looses 20% of his life energy rather than kneel over and die, there is your green bar.

That is the point. HP are abstract, they mean almost anything. HP have always been an extremely gamist concept, and from the 1st edition DMG onward they did not represent physical injury only (or at all).Tthis leads to a whole host of issues with verisimilitude, from falling over poisoned...

Great post, thank you.

More seriously, as hp represent an abstract quality of good luck, morale, endurance and skill, why is it obviously nonsense that eating and drinking would replenish some of these quantities?

Have you seen Mike Mearls article on skill challenges in the dragon. He advocates setting up challenges so that each PC has at least some of the skills necessary to contribute. In general, I agree with you that skill challenges have a lot of room to be developed, and i hope that the DMG 2 will...

So a game construct that allows you to survive multiple sword blows is acceptable but a game construct that allows you to survive multiple sword blows but requires a short rest between each blow destroys realism? I would say both constructs shove realism and verisimilitude aside to allow for a...

Yep. Which makes it particularly funny if the same people that don't bat an eyelash at hp claim that healing surges break immersion into the game.

I don't mean to insult, I'm just using posts in this discussion to illustrate the original point of the OP, and how the pattern he describes can be seen in this discussion. Btw, for a social scientist, this thread would probably be a very interesting read ;). Yep we seem to be having the same...

An other example of an irrational argument fathered by an emotional reaction to the new edition. Ask yourself: How often do characters in RAW 3.x go into fights without being fully healed, or at least at 90% hp? Given that usually the first purchase is a wand of CLW (which can be used by more...

Posts like this serve as perfect illustration of the OPs point. Gamer's (especially on this site) are emotionally so wedded to the traditions (setting and rules) of D&D that they are incapable to rationally evaluate a product that breaks so many of these traditions. Hence their subconscious...

Of course at this point the population of ENworld is preselected. Or do you think gamers that really dislike edition wars still hang out here as much as they used to? It's like a restaurant that serves mainly pork after 6 months asking their customers if they like pork.

However, the OPs post suggests that a 'fair shake' for a new system would be something like 3 weeks constant immersion to overcome your (general you) resistance to change. I'm not sure but I would think that 3 weeks full immersion (120 h) corresponds to maybe 6-12 months of gaming. Now I am not...

This hits the nail on the head. What this thread actually says is that our "rational" arguments for or against a new edition are just rationalizations of the emotional reaction to change.