Are Hitpoints an encouter based resource? Should the be one?

[mmadsen]

It's probably what I hate most about MMOs -- everyone is so risk-averse that every encounter ends up being at full strength, and every encounter plays out almost identically because it's easy to develop highly optimized strategies when you have a concrete starting point and the players are omniscient in regards to monster abilities and tactics.

If the game allows "buffs", it rewards those who take initiative -- in the classical sense, not the "roll to go first" sense. Further, DMs rarely have the monsters go on the initiative to track down the party while they're asleep, out of their armor, with no spells ready, etc., because that would be "cheap".

 

[SiderisAnon]

Further, DMs rarely have the monsters go on the initiative to track down the party while they're asleep, out of their armor, with no spells ready, etc., because that would be "cheap".

Which is something that DMs need to do more of if they want to get characters out of the "two combats and then we go sleep" sort of mentality. My players know that if they retreat and leave to go rest, the bad guys are going to react somehow. Sometimes, this will involved hunting down the PCs. If it's good enough for the PCs to do to the bad guys, it's good enough for the bad guys to do to the PCs. Period. It's not cheap, it's not unfair, it is in fact basically the definition of fair.

It also creates interesting situations. My PCs have been hunting a city for a band of raiders that seem to be able to pop up and disappear at will. After four nights of searching, no luck (except for catching a couple of actual thieves). Everyone knew the heroes were here to solve the city's problem. As the party was bedding down just before dawn on the fourth night, they got attacked in their inn rooms. (Which went horribly for the bad guys because their rogue blew his roll on the first door and was heard opening it, that PC alerted everyone else.) The party ended up using almost all of their magic for the battle and healing afterwards, but they got to beat the location of the bad guys' secret base out of one of the prisoners. Now they're faced with a dilemma. If they go after the base NOW, they've got almost no magic to back themselves up with. If they wait, the bad guys may assume that the party can track them down from any prisoners. What to do?

 

[Victim]

I think having hp always at full is a bit of a wimpy attitude. If you can come up with combinations that make it so good for you, but making a game do it all the time is in myopinion catering to the whiny players.
I have played a character at less than 10% hp for a long time, and never had a problem. AC makes up for low hp and not healing.

Counterpoint: If you can predictably survive at 10% HP, your entire game is too easy and caters to wimpy players.