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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 5702257" data-attributes="member: 1645">I suppose we should ask what you mean by flexibility and narrative cohesiveness, and how do you see them trading off?The standard complaint against hit points -- which I think goes to your point about narrative cohesiveness -- is that a game-mechanical hit is calculated against armor class, which implies that such a hit is not only an actual hit, but one which overcomes the target's armor, but the target can conceivably take, say, nine such sword blows without dropping or even being impaired, implying that he's somehow not really hurt by them, but he nonetheless needs potent healing magic to recover from them, etc.  If the weapon's poisoned, or the attacker only needs a touch attack, then the hit is even more explicit.If you really like the way hit points play, but you find that they don't make sense, then I suggest that the problem is in (1) calling them hit points, (2) losing them on a "hit" that does "damage", and (3) recovering them via "healing".Instead, we might call them Grit Points and use them like Fate Points, Drama Points, etc. in other games, just way more common and usable for "momentum" in a fight, completely untied to damage; you could use them to adjust to-hit rolls against you, saving throws (including damage saves), etc.</blockquote>