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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 4108500" data-attributes="member: 56189">There's been a lot of discussion on the nature of hit points in D&D 4e recently and it seems to stir up a lot of emotion. I have to admit that in the past even I've been guilty of dissatisfaction with the hit point system and have sought out other solutions.But after playing various systems and mellowing out in my old age I've come to not only accept the abstraction of the hit point system, but also to prefer it. For me, at least, complexity and simulationism are less important than simplicity and functionality.Anyway, I brought up this topic with a friend of mine last night and although he could accept that the D&D hit point system is abstract and representative of a multitude of things in combat, he still couldn't wrap his head around the naming conventions. To him, if it was called a 'hit' point and if you did 'damage', then that's exactly what they were and exactly what you did.Although I could see where he was coming from, personally, it just wasn't something that bothered me. I could just look past it and see the benefit of ignoring literal translation, but he couldn't. In effect, it ruined his suspension of disbelief.So, I figured instead of arguing the point, we should try and come up with a solution. I was adamant that the system itself remain unchanged and the concept of hit points as being representative of many facets of combat stay as is. What obviously needed to change wasn't the system, just the terminology.Now, I'm not claiming this is genius or even original. It's most likely been done already in thousands of games and probably even other systems around the world. I'm just posting it as a possible suggestion to help others accept and work with the system without jarring them out of their fantasy dreamings.Basically, you change all the terminology to the following: Hit Points become Survival Points, Damage becomes Threat ('hitting' is folded into this term, instead of saying you hit, you say, "I do threat!") and healing becomes Restoration.Combine this with imaginative gameplay and it becomes much easier and less jarring for all involved.Fighter (rolls Attack): I threaten the orc with a mighty swing of my sword! (rolls Threat) A crit! 15 threat!DM: (1 hit point left on the orc) the orc barely manages to bring his shield up in time as your sword blow smashes into it, sending wood flying into his face as he staggers beneath the blow. He grunts in obvious distress but manages to recover and thrust his spear at you... for 6 threat. The spear, though easily deflected with your sword, glances off your armour and causes you to side-step.Fighter (rolls Attack): I follow it up with an upward sweeping blow for 8 threat.DM: with his spear thrust he over extends himself, leaving a nice opening for you. Your sword connects with his midriff and bites deeply into the flesh as you slash upwards, blood spraying into the air as the orc falls at your feet.Just a suggestion. Works for me <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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