Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Art of the Peel
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="IanArgent" data-source="post: 4378681" data-attributes="member: 21673"><p>Hit points and healing surges are purely metagame mechanics. The only thing a character should be able to observe (on either side of the screen) is whether their opponent is "bloodied" or not. There is no "in-game" explanation for or observation of hit points. At that point, the whole premise of the monsters targeting the people with less hit points fails. Everyone knows the hit point status of their own side because, honestly, there's no way to prevent it (especially on the monsters' side). That does NOT mean they should have any idea how much HP any of their opponents have - just whether they are bloodied or not.</p><p></p><p>Also, remember that PCs are by definition special people; they have attacks beyond "basic attack". I would find it metagaming to have a monster know the details of every PC class. Elites or solos might know the basics of character classes they have encountered; but the vast majority of PC-race NPCs in the world do not have PC classes.</p><p></p><p>OTOH, armor types are observable, as are defense values. (When attacking a defense, if an attack roll succeeds against an easy DC for the target's level (see p 42) the attacker knows the value of the targeted defense score regardless of the success or failure of the actual attack). Likewise, the attacker can track how much damage they've done to the target and correlate that with the enemy's "bloodied" state, giving them a rough guide of how much HP they have left. (Yes, I know this conflicts slightly with the metagame nature of HP - OTOH, if HP are a metagame artifact, they are a metagame artifact when dealt as well, and everyone can be generally aware of the metagame artifacts they have generated or are under the effects of).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="IanArgent, post: 4378681, member: 21673"] Hit points and healing surges are purely metagame mechanics. The only thing a character should be able to observe (on either side of the screen) is whether their opponent is "bloodied" or not. There is no "in-game" explanation for or observation of hit points. At that point, the whole premise of the monsters targeting the people with less hit points fails. Everyone knows the hit point status of their own side because, honestly, there's no way to prevent it (especially on the monsters' side). That does NOT mean they should have any idea how much HP any of their opponents have - just whether they are bloodied or not. Also, remember that PCs are by definition special people; they have attacks beyond "basic attack". I would find it metagaming to have a monster know the details of every PC class. Elites or solos might know the basics of character classes they have encountered; but the vast majority of PC-race NPCs in the world do not have PC classes. OTOH, armor types are observable, as are defense values. (When attacking a defense, if an attack roll succeeds against an easy DC for the target's level (see p 42) the attacker knows the value of the targeted defense score regardless of the success or failure of the actual attack). Likewise, the attacker can track how much damage they've done to the target and correlate that with the enemy's "bloodied" state, giving them a rough guide of how much HP they have left. (Yes, I know this conflicts slightly with the metagame nature of HP - OTOH, if HP are a metagame artifact, they are a metagame artifact when dealt as well, and everyone can be generally aware of the metagame artifacts they have generated or are under the effects of). [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
Art of the Peel
Top