robertliguori
First Post
Stogoe said:
Dunno if I see it as a flaw, myself.
The world of Yellow: HP are totally, 100% physical toughness. If you have the HP of a stone block, then it is expected that you react to non-precision damage in about the same way a stone block does.
The good: Describing high-level defenders stop the dragon's claws with their face is kind of awesome.
The not-so-good: Describing low-level characters absorbing injuries that should by rights be lethal is less awesome.
The problem: HP don't model physical reality that well; nor do they model most dramatic scenes. At some points, it should be approriate to bypass HP; having every single high-level character be literally immune to death from certain threats (as long as said character is well-rested) also limits some plots and dramatic angles.
The world of Red: HP are totally luck, skill, and dodging. Hits that don't kill you aren't hits; that's why Mr. Shouty can get you back at 100%.
The good: It models certain types of dramatic action very well; it explains where the reserves from Healing Surges come from.
The not-so-good: Lots of abilities have the strong implication of inflicting injury. Posions and diseases don't work as close-misses; the bloodied condition itself strongly implies that injuries have started to happen before 0 HP is reached.
The problem: There is a disconnect between what about what hit points mean, and how certain things interact with the character.
The Orange-With-Sparklies method: The game universe does not care whether or not any given adjustment of hit points was physical injury, slowing down, an ablation of luck, or what have you. All the universe cares about is that if a character has HP > a damaging attack's damage, said attack does not inflict an incapacitating injury on the character. In some cases, this can be you catching the golem's slam in your fist (and losing 12 of 312 hp); in some cases, this can be you just barely dodging around the worst of the dagger that dark one just attempted to put into your kidneys (losing 12 of 14 hp). However, the important thing is not whether your luck was ablated, or you took a minor injury, or you fatigued yourself slightly; it was that hit points were used up. If you are stabbed down to negative hit points and a warlord brings you back, you are still injured; however, you are badass enough to fight at the capacity your HP indicates regardless of the fact that you're leaking blood and bile everywhere. (Think Princess Bride). Contrawise, you can be tough enough to wrestle elephants to the ground, but even it it's a piddling little stabby thing that ends up taking the last of your HP, you fall, even if every other attack has been a near-miss.
