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<blockquote data-quote="Tony Vargas" data-source="post: 6682939" data-attributes="member: 996">Those would be very extreme ways to play a character, yes.I don't think that's exactly the middle-ground.&nbsp; PCs aren't using the scientific method to collect data about how many arrows they can be 'hit' by before dropping, they're just living in your DM's fantasy world, with, presumably, a wealth of detailed life history neither he nor you have the time or inclination to come up with in detail.&nbsp; Hps are necessarily meta-game information, but how you use it is up to you.&nbsp; If you want to draw a stark line in the sand and never use it, you get different results than if you decide to meta-game with it, or decide to integrate it partially somehow.&nbsp; You could decide a brave character at 3 hps is starting to remember the value of 'discretion' while a cowardly one at full hps is maybe willing to take a calculated risk, if there's no other way.&nbsp; Rather than hps being quantitative, as they are for you, they could reflect imagined qualitative or subjective judgements on the part of the character.&nbsp; Even that compromise, though, allows you to make decisions for the character that are /in/-character.&nbsp; You're just also making conscious determinations about what would be in-character - as you must, for instance, any time you play a character who isn't just exactly like you.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Tony Vargas, post: 6682939, member: 996"] Those would be very extreme ways to play a character, yes. I don't think that's exactly the middle-ground. PCs aren't using the scientific method to collect data about how many arrows they can be 'hit' by before dropping, they're just living in your DM's fantasy world, with, presumably, a wealth of detailed life history neither he nor you have the time or inclination to come up with in detail. Hps are necessarily meta-game information, but how you use it is up to you. If you want to draw a stark line in the sand and never use it, you get different results than if you decide to meta-game with it, or decide to integrate it partially somehow. You could decide a brave character at 3 hps is starting to remember the value of 'discretion' while a cowardly one at full hps is maybe willing to take a calculated risk, if there's no other way. Rather than hps being quantitative, as they are for you, they could reflect imagined qualitative or subjective judgements on the part of the character. Even that compromise, though, allows you to make decisions for the character that are /in/-character. You're just also making conscious determinations about what would be in-character - as you must, for instance, any time you play a character who isn't just exactly like you. [/QUOTE]

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