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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Alzrius" data-source="post: 4544293" data-attributes="member: 8461">Because Character B has more wounds (or a much more severe single wound) than character A does. Assuming both were killed by sword blows, consider the number of hits each took. Character A died from one hit through the heart; Character B died of that also, but suffered a number of other wounds in addition.Healing magic, under the fluff interpretation I proposed, is going to heal the worst (fluff) damage first. The CLW's mechanics is to bring both characters back above 0 hp - the fluff is that this totally heals Character A's one and only wound, whereas it heals the same wound on Character B...still leaving him with a myriad number of other wounds, which will require more time or magic to heal.That the healing system suggests that is your interpretation of the fluff, though. I'll grant you that hit points for vitality do seem ablative, but the fluff is easily able to override the mild suggestion that the mechanics make in this case. There's no disconnect from suggesting that Characters A and B died of the same wound, with Character B being worn down to that point. The fluff I wrote for how healing works solves the problem you mentioned.I'd say it's the former, but really it's not even that. Simply put, the spells aren't misnamed - that's just a misconception based on what the names sound like. Saying that a cure light wounds spell only cures "light wounds," as opposed to more serious ones, is silly. The thing to keep in mind is that a CLW heals only the non-fatal wound, but nothing else. Had a cure critical wounds been applied instead, it would have healed the near-fatal wound first, just like the CLW, but then would have kept going and healed the lesser wounds as well. The idea is that all healing magic starts with the worst wounds (those that brought the character to 0 hp and below) and works backwards from there.It really seems like you negated your own point, here. The 3.5e natural healing mechanic solves this problem quite neatly. Higher-level characters heal more damage, which scales almost perfectly with the fact that they have more hit points in the first place. Problem solved.Maybe it's just me, but that seems needlessly complex. So healing magic can heal not just physical wounds, but also raise a person's morale? Healing spells can make somebody feel more heartened if they've been intimidated? I'm not saying a fluff justification isn't possible; I'm just saying that it's not very good.I'll grant you that a creative interpretation can probably fix almost any mechanics, but as I said, this seems to be needlessly difficult. I can understand "gritting your teeth and getting through it" for a Healing Surge to restore hit points that were previously narrated as a ruptured lung...but that's not temporary in the way that that'd work - the character has just permanently ignored what was described as a serious wound through sheer willpower.I'll admit that I don't play those games, and that I mostly skimmed over the last few pages of posts, but I think the central point remains. The new system of mingling the crunch and fluff of hit points is lopsided, and more difficult than it needs to be, at least compared to previous additions.See above. This isn't the character forcing themselves forward for a few minutes; it's them no longer being troubled ever again by a serious wound.This is a separate, albeit related, issue - the gamist vs. simulationist approach of hit points isn't what we're talking about. We're talking about the mechanics of hit points versus how the fluff works with said mechanics. They're similar, but fundamentally different, which is why the regenerate spell has been virtually useless in every edition of the game.</blockquote>

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