LostSoul
Adventurer
I won't profess to be an expert on 4E, so perhaps you can explain to me how hit points help you overcome fear and mental control or to dodge a poisoned dart.
Hit points can't be used to resist an Intimidate check, can they? Is there a cause fear spell that fails if it doesn't do enough "damage" to its victim? A poisoned dart "hits" regardless of hit points, right? That's purely a question of armor class.
If I am still above 0, I can still do things - like make saving throws. In the fiction, the wicked ghost might have possessed me, but it's only temporary, because I have the stuff to fight back.
If I go down to 0, I'm not fighting back any longer. He's using my body as his personal puppet.
Someone can scare me - like the Deathlock? Wight - and I might retreat a bit, but if his attack doesn't bring me down to 0 HP I'm going to act again. If I do go down to 0 HP, that's when I succumb to the fear.
Or someone might deal some damage with an Intimidate check, and I might do the same thing, but if I'm down to 0 HP I might run away.
Someone might nick me with a poison dart, but if the ongoing poison (save ends) damage doesn't kill me, the HP helped me to resist the poison.
Page 42? Of what book? The skill listing for Intimidate suggests that a success should cause bloodied opponents to flee or captured prisoners to give up valuable information. It doesn't suggest damage.
The DMG. There's a relationship between skill checks and damage. The key is that it takes a Standard Action and the DM's okay.