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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empath Negative" data-source="post: 5933612" data-attributes="member: 6690794">This is about the "hp as abstract" discussion.The people who keep harping about how abstract HP is see to forget that short of some very special rules the ONLY modifier ever added to HP is Con, which represents your physical durability and hardiness. Your Fortitude.The HP = Abstract folks are taking it a bit too far. If they want HP to be that much of an abstraction... why have an attack roll and armor class?If someone can hit someone every round for any made up fluff reason and never FAIL to hit someone every round for said fluff reason because HP is such an abstraction...Well... take it to its logical conclusion. If the attack roll fundamentally doesn't matter because of the abstraction of HP then just ditch the mechanic altogether as so much useless filler.Armor would be DR, dex and con, morale and enhancement bonuses all get added to HP and everytime someone swings they lop off a chunk of hp because some of it is fate, some of it is quickness, some of it is fortitude... whatever.See my point? Why do we not add DEX to hitpoints? If HP is that abstract, why the hell not?I'll tell you why not. Because Rolling the d20 is done to determine if you have succeeded or if you have failed. Dex would prevent you from getting hit, but it wouldn't matter all that much after you have been. That's what seems to be lost here.That the d20 mechanic determines if you have succeeded or if you have failed.Do you resist the poison or do you die? Roll the d20. Did you scale the wall or not? Roll it.If they changed the mechanic to give the reaper a second d20 roll to see if they made glancing strength damage I'd be all for it. I'd think it was pretty awesome.But they don't. They embrace the "HP as abstract" principle in all the wrong ways.The abstractness of HP is actually pretty well defined by the game rules themselves when you get right down and think about it. I'm not talking about any outright definition of HP... but how the rules themselves treat HP.More than anything else HP represents toughness and expertise in frontline combat. This is why the Fighter and the Barbarian get gobs and gobs of hitpoints. If it was about reflexes, being quick, etc etc then the ranger and the rogue would have far more than the big lumbering barbarian. A first level barbarian with 10 con would have more hitpoints than the hardiest first level dwarven rogue.</blockquote>

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