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<blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 4542723" data-attributes="member: 42582">Fifth Element quoted the following passage:&quot;Why then the increase in hit points [from levelling]? Because these reflect both the actual physical ability to withstand damage...and a commensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and similar life-or-death situations, the &quot;sixth sense&quot; which warns the individual of some otherwise unforeseen events, sheer luck, and the fantastic provisions of magical protections and/or divine protection.&quot;The subject in the second sentence is &quot;these&quot;. This is a plural subject. The reference of the pronoun is anaphoric on some plural noun (or noun phrase) in the preceding sentence. The preceding sentence contains one singular noun (&quot;increase&quot;) and one plural noun phrase (&quot;hit points&quot;). It therefore seems likely that &quot;these&quot; in the second sentence refers to hit points and not to hit point increases, and thus that the second sentence is to be interpreted as follows:&quot;Because hit points, as they increase, reflect both . . .&quot;This edit pretty much concedes the point that hit points are not simply an arithmetically simpler version of a level-divisor rule for damage.Consider characters A &amp; B, both 1st level Fighters, with 7 and 8 hit points respectively. Both suffer 7 hit points of damage. A is now incapacitated and (prior to 4e) either dead or dying (depending on which set of rules is in play). B has 1 hp left and is physically unimpeded, but is metaphysically in a bad way (as the next hit will be fatal, or nearly so). This example is enough to show that the ingame meaning of &quot;lose 7 hit points&quot; is in no meaningful way proportionate to the number of hit points a character has remaining. It's meaning varies from individual situation to individual situation, depending on whether or not it brings a character to zero hit points. The most that can be said is that, if a character has more than 7 hp remaining, than 7 hp never corresponds to a (near-)fatal wound. But that is not a claim about scaling or proportionality.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="pemerton, post: 4542723, member: 42582"] Fifth Element quoted the following passage: "Why then the increase in hit points [from levelling]? Because these reflect both the actual physical ability to withstand damage...and a commensurate increase in such areas as skill in combat and similar life-or-death situations, the "sixth sense" which warns the individual of some otherwise unforeseen events, sheer luck, and the fantastic provisions of magical protections and/or divine protection." The subject in the second sentence is "these". This is a plural subject. The reference of the pronoun is anaphoric on some plural noun (or noun phrase) in the preceding sentence. The preceding sentence contains one singular noun ("increase") and one plural noun phrase ("hit points"). It therefore seems likely that "these" in the second sentence refers to hit points and not to hit point increases, and thus that the second sentence is to be interpreted as follows: "Because hit points, as they increase, reflect both . . ." This edit pretty much concedes the point that hit points are not simply an arithmetically simpler version of a level-divisor rule for damage. Consider characters A & B, both 1st level Fighters, with 7 and 8 hit points respectively. Both suffer 7 hit points of damage. A is now incapacitated and (prior to 4e) either dead or dying (depending on which set of rules is in play). B has 1 hp left and is physically unimpeded, but is metaphysically in a bad way (as the next hit will be fatal, or nearly so). This example is enough to show that the ingame meaning of "lose 7 hit points" is in no meaningful way proportionate to the number of hit points a character has remaining. It's meaning varies from individual situation to individual situation, depending on whether or not it brings a character to zero hit points. The most that can be said is that, if a character has more than 7 hp remaining, than 7 hp never corresponds to a (near-)fatal wound. But that is not a claim about scaling or proportionality. [/QUOTE]

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