Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 4541875" data-attributes="member: 1645">The question is, to what degree is a D&amp;D character getting meaningfully wounded as he loses hit points?&nbsp; Hit points aren't consistent, so we can't really say.Let me repeat that: hit points aren't consistent.Gygax himself admits that it's preposterous to assume that a high-level fighter is, say, nine times as resilient as a lower-level fighter.&nbsp; He's only negligibly tougher; those extra hit points come from skill, luck, divine favor, magic, etc.So almost 90 percent of his hit points are intangible, and just over 10 percent are tangible toughness.When he gets hit by a dozen goblin arrows, does he really have a dozen arrows sticking out of him?&nbsp; If he's wearing armor, that's not unimaginable, but if he's not?The only thing we really know is that bad things happen, in a hurry, when he loses all his hit points.But wait; hit points aren't consistent.&nbsp; He requires more healing to recover from those dozen grazes than his squire requires to recover from a life-threatening (4-hp) wound.We can go back and forth all day, but no explanation stands up to much scrutiny.&nbsp; The real point is that hit points work out mathematically in play -- there are few gotchas! where someone turns out to be much tougher or more fragile than they looked -- and they're simple.Moving forward, should something that's 90 percent intangible be so closely tied to physical wounds?&nbsp; Or should we simply accept that they're primarily intangible?&nbsp; And maybe even introduce another mechanic for physical wounds?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 4541875, member: 1645"] The question is, to what degree is a D&D character getting meaningfully wounded as he loses hit points? Hit points aren't consistent, so we can't really say. Let me repeat that: [b]hit points aren't consistent[/b]. Gygax himself admits that it's preposterous to assume that a high-level fighter is, say, nine times as resilient as a lower-level fighter. He's only negligibly tougher; those extra hit points come from skill, luck, divine favor, magic, etc. So almost [b]90 percent of his hit points are intangible[/b], and just over 10 percent are tangible toughness. When he gets hit by a dozen goblin arrows, does he really have a dozen arrows sticking out of him? If he's wearing armor, that's not unimaginable, but if he's not? The only thing we really know is that bad things happen, in a hurry, when he loses all his hit points. But wait; [b]hit points aren't consistent[/b]. He requires more healing to recover from those dozen grazes than his squire requires to recover from a life-threatening (4-hp) wound. We can go back and forth all day, but no explanation stands up to much scrutiny. The real point is that hit points work out mathematically in play -- there are few [i]gotchas![/i] where someone turns out to be much tougher or more fragile than they looked -- and they're simple. Moving forward, should something that's 90 percent intangible be so closely tied to physical wounds? Or should we simply accept that they're primarily intangible? And maybe even introduce another mechanic for physical wounds? [/QUOTE]

Verification