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<blockquote data-quote="~Johnny~" data-source="post: 4010590" data-attributes="member: 16493">Hit points as &quot;will to live&quot; or &quot;main character-ness&quot; get weird in corner cases like poison, but they work just fine 95% of the time.I really enjoyed the wound point/vitality point system in Star Wars, which balanced survivability with the fact that actually getting hit once with almost any Star Wars weapon would kill or cripple you. In lightsaber combat, the moments where you have to exert all your strength to keep the opponent's blade away from your neck, that's vitality.I actually think 4e represents an improvement over 3e in that regard, because it provides a similar &quot;vitality/wound&quot; split in the form of being &quot;bloodied&quot; at half your hit point total. Until half hp, the DM just needs to describe bruises, scratches, and stuff that makes you short of breath. After half hp you start getting mauled (though a burst of &quot;luck&quot; or &quot;energy&quot; can keep you going when a true healing spell isn't available).There are several documented cases of people falling from planes and surviving, particularly in WWII. So, yeah, luck. (Though they probably weren't wearing plate mail...)Besides, any good houseruler doesn't let PCs survive terminal velocity falls.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="~Johnny~, post: 4010590, member: 16493"] Hit points as "will to live" or "main character-ness" get weird in corner cases like poison, but they work just fine 95% of the time. I really enjoyed the wound point/vitality point system in Star Wars, which balanced survivability with the fact that actually getting hit once with almost any Star Wars weapon would kill or cripple you. In lightsaber combat, the moments where you have to exert all your strength to keep the opponent's blade away from your neck, that's vitality. I actually think 4e represents an improvement over 3e in that regard, because it provides a similar "vitality/wound" split in the form of being "bloodied" at half your hit point total. Until half hp, the DM just needs to describe bruises, scratches, and stuff that makes you short of breath. After half hp you start getting mauled (though a burst of "luck" or "energy" can keep you going when a true healing spell isn't available). There are several documented cases of people falling from planes and surviving, particularly in WWII. So, yeah, luck. (Though they probably weren't wearing plate mail...) Besides, any good houseruler doesn't let PCs survive terminal velocity falls. [/QUOTE]

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