Cure x Wounds - Explain this

[Errant]

... imagine how a person would look after 30 slashes from a greatsword--and remember that each and every of those slashes would probably kill a commoner outright (okay, mortally wound)...

Lets imagine how any human would look after just ONE solid hit from a greatsword. Picture it. Gaping wound. Gushing blood. Traumatic shock setting in. You get the idea.

Can you imagine anyone surviving such a wound without aid? Can you imagine anyone surviving thirty such wounds?

I can't, that's why I look at Hps as the ability to AVOID a solid hit. A high level fighter/barbarian/whatever doesn't just grit his death & refuse to die (well, maybe a barbarian does while he's raging, but that's another topic). He hurls himself aside just far enough to avoid the worst of the blows that would otherwise bypass his defences and strike home.

Naturally, there's only so many times one can keep dodging well aimed blows, so you keep losing Hps until finally a blow does strike home and you suffer a life threatening wound. A wound that likely WILL kill you unless treated. A wound that drops you into negative Hps.

Looking at it this way just seems to make more sense to me.

 

[Nightfall]

Let's not go there! A discussion on Annihilating Strike deserves a thread all of its own.

Probably right...but I couldn't resist!

 

[Eryx]

Hit Points

This is how I view it...

You can't always turn a game mechanic into a real world example, especially when it's something as abstract as Hit Points.

Hit points could be seen as any number of things, damage reduction/toughness/experience...etc, but it's irrelevant. Your looking at a game mechanic - Don't try and visualise it.

 

[Vaxalon]

Here's how I handle it in my game.

You don't get "Horrible gaping wounds" until you're at zero or lower.

hit points (among other things) represent a kind of "plot immunity" that comes from doing important things. Cure spells don't heal wounds so much as replace the positive energy that is the manifestation of that luck.