Alternative names for "Hit Points"

[UngainlyTitan]

My favourite would be "ScriptImmunity".

As you reach higher levels, your scriptimmunity is higher and you can last longer. Those poor 1st level guys have very little scriptimmunity, and as for the minions...

Spot on that or PlotProtection.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Its been hit points since forever and is now part of the cultural landscape. We all know roughly what it means.

No. We don't. Leastways, not in the narrative of the game.

Heck, I'm not really a regular, but just on this site over the years I've seen approximately 70 or 80 threads expressly on the subject of what hit points mean, with everything from polite disagreement to the declaration of holy war against the infidels resulting from the conversation.

"Hit points" implies and the exact definition of an in-game "hit" are so nebulous it's amazing. I'm a "only the last hit and maybe crits get described as an actual wound" kind of guy, but I've seen DMs describe the loss of 1/10 of your total hit points from a normal attack as a sucking chest wound. Of course, how else do you describe a "hit" with a giant axe that causes you to lose "hit points" if you're being literal?

 

[Desdichado]

So... let me make sure I've got this straight. You're not proposing an alternative to hit points, you just want to rename them and yet let them work just the same way hit points always have?

Yeah, I'm definately voting "why bother?"

 

[Vyvyan Basterd]

None of the above.

Hit points = Breath
Bloodied = Winded

At zero Breath you would be Out of Breath and possibly dying (if not resusitated or if you don't catch your own breath [roll a nat 20]).

 

[JRRNeiklot]

No. We don't. Leastways, not in the narrative of the game.

Heck, I'm not really a regular, but just on this site over the years I've seen approximately 70 or 80 threads expressly on the subject of what hit points mean, with everything from polite disagreement to the declaration of holy war against the infidels resulting from the conversation.

"Hit points" implies and the exact definition of an in-game "hit" are so nebulous it's amazing. I'm a "only the last hit and maybe crits get described as an actual wound" kind of guy, but I've seen DMs describe the loss of 1/10 of your total hit points from a normal attack as a sucking chest wound. Of course, how else do you describe a "hit" with a giant axe that causes you to lose "hit points" if you're being literal?

I prefer hit points to represent - in part - an actual hit. So, the hit with a giant axe for 10 points of damage is a mortal wound at first level, but merely a scratch that was ALMOST avoided at 10th level. Hit points should always represent SOME physical damage.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I voted for Vigor. Because, at higher levels, HP aren't neccessarily HIT points. Oh, and XP for PlaneSailing.

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[N0Man]

Plot Protection Points (Not on the list)

 

[SKyOdin]

"Hit points", or more often than not just "HP" is so commonly used not only in D&D but in videogames as a whole that I don't think you could get away with changing their name unless you were using a radically different damage system.

Though I suppose you could get away with "Life" or "Health" ("health points"? It has the same acronym...). After all, the terms Life Meter or Health Meter are recognizable enough in videogames, albeit not RPGs.

EDIT: Looking again at the poll, I think a lot of those options would be a poor choice. Stuff like Energy, Anima, Power, and Spirit all sound like terms for MP (Magic Points), not HP. Other terms, such as Stamina, I have seen several times particularly in reference to health that regenerates quickly. For example, in Halo 3:ODST, Stamina is the portion of your health that regenerates quickly, while Health is the part that requires a Med-Kit to heal.

I think that it is apparent by this point that I think recognizability by a general audience to be an important consideration.

 

[Stormonu]

Keep the name "hit points", but give me some sort of condition track.

I'm tired of enemies and characters who run at full steam until they simply fall over dead. As well as systems that can't replicate broken bones, bleeding wounds and the like.