The thread about HP/Healing Surges got me to thinking that perhaps the problem of "realism" is HP itself.
HP is basically a flexible system of randomly determining how powerful each successful attack is, and how well the character can withstand it.
What if however you were willing to trade a little bit of flexibility for a little more narrative cohesiveness? What if instead of counting HP you counted how many blows your character can take?
If for example instead of having 42 hp you had 6 body blows you could absorb. If one scores a crtical hit you instead count 2 body blows and perhaps impose a penalty (tripped, disarmed, slowed or what have you. It is only when you get down to 1 or 2 body blow that you are considered physically wounded, a condition that rarely happens because of abilities such as second wind, warlord or bardic inspirational words or clerical prayers allowing you to recover them. When they are actually wounded they need a cleric and bed rest, but it should happen about as often as a character death happens in D&D 4e now.
True, this wouldn't allow for unpredictable rolls bringing someone from full hit points to near death, but I don't particularly mind that loss (I don't like save or die spells and poisons either). It would also unfortunately ensure that a lot of the drama of glancing and grevious blows gets taken out of the system, though perhaps critical hits can compensate for that.
I don't mind the idea of a party being predictably ground down over an encounter or over a day either (like it is in 4e), I just need to be judicious about how and when the body blows are recovered to prevent the idea of a lack of danger.
The only question then remains is how many body blows should one receive by class? Should one be able to withstand extra body blows wearing armor? Should one be able to withstand more body blows at higher level, or just be better at recovering them?
HP is basically a flexible system of randomly determining how powerful each successful attack is, and how well the character can withstand it.
What if however you were willing to trade a little bit of flexibility for a little more narrative cohesiveness? What if instead of counting HP you counted how many blows your character can take?
If for example instead of having 42 hp you had 6 body blows you could absorb. If one scores a crtical hit you instead count 2 body blows and perhaps impose a penalty (tripped, disarmed, slowed or what have you. It is only when you get down to 1 or 2 body blow that you are considered physically wounded, a condition that rarely happens because of abilities such as second wind, warlord or bardic inspirational words or clerical prayers allowing you to recover them. When they are actually wounded they need a cleric and bed rest, but it should happen about as often as a character death happens in D&D 4e now.
True, this wouldn't allow for unpredictable rolls bringing someone from full hit points to near death, but I don't particularly mind that loss (I don't like save or die spells and poisons either). It would also unfortunately ensure that a lot of the drama of glancing and grevious blows gets taken out of the system, though perhaps critical hits can compensate for that.
I don't mind the idea of a party being predictably ground down over an encounter or over a day either (like it is in 4e), I just need to be judicious about how and when the body blows are recovered to prevent the idea of a lack of danger.
The only question then remains is how many body blows should one receive by class? Should one be able to withstand extra body blows wearing armor? Should one be able to withstand more body blows at higher level, or just be better at recovering them?
