does hit point loss = damage

[Munin]

This is why I like the VP/WP system.

I second that.


But, in campaigns were I do use the HP system, I play fast and loose. HP loss always represents a hit, but it generally represents more of a bashing or wearing down of a creature more than outright damage.

 

[lukelightning]

The problems with VP/WP are numerous; things like poisoned attacks and contact effects become nerfed because the attack actually doesn't hit you...so a snake with d3 damage but lethal poison is a neglegible threat. Plus it makes criticals way to lethal.

Sure, it's realistic, but I don't play D&D for realism, I play it for heroic adventure. VP/WP is better for games like D20 modern, Call of Cthulhu, and similar genres.

 

[Imperialus]

one problem I've always had with trying to discribe D&D combat is that especially if you are mook fighting characters end up looking like someones gone over them with a meat tenderizer.

 

[painandgreed]

In general, I run it that hit points done equal damage. It's a heroic fantasy idea that the big bad heroic characters can actually take more damage than the nobodies. A 5 HP sword strick on a 0 level peasant will send them to the ground with a nasty gash that their life blood will ooze out of till they die while the 10 level fighter can take the same gash and deal with it. If people want to take it any further than that, i explain that it is a game. If they still want to take it further, I explain that the race they are playing, even if called human, isn't actually like us with flesh and bone but rather a soft spongy material that is uniform throughout and as characters aclimate themselves to combat the core becomes harder to damage as it toughens resulting in more hit points. This is why there are no rules for broken bones in D&D and why healing spells work the way they do.

 

[Oryan77]

But when Rowdy Roddy Piper hits the Junkyard Dog, he doesn't bleed. Yet after 5 minutes, one of them has lost all of his hitpoints and the other is declared the winner. In fact, Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat people with his signature 2x4 weapon all the time and no one ever died.

Therefore, I am lead to believe that hitpoints represent your stamina and fan base. If my PC gets hit by an orcs axe, I'm not actually dead until the DM counts to 3.

 

[shilsen]

hit point lose is not always physical damage

What he said. Except I don't misspell "loss"

 

[Darkness]

But when Rowdy Roddy Piper hits the Junkyard Dog, he doesn't bleed. Yet after 5 minutes, one of them has lost all of his hitpoints and the other is declared the winner. In fact, Hacksaw Jim Duggan beat people with his signature 2x4 weapon all the time and no one ever died.

Therefore, I am lead to believe that hitpoints represent your stamina and fan base. If my PC gets hit by an orcs axe, I'm not actually dead until the DM counts to 3.

That's damn cool.

My favorite hit point explanation is still the dude field, however.

 

[sniffles]

I tend to conceptualize hit point damage as actual physical damage, even though the rules don't quite jibe with that all of the time. I've been known to remark when my PC took 2 HP of damage (if it is a higher-level PC), "Ow, I got a paper cut!". To a certain extent I also look at it as fatigue.

 

[Sledge]

I tend to think of Hit Points as a combination of taking less actual damage per hit, mental resistance to damage as well as shock, and an (Ex) extraordinary level of physical toughness. Always actual damage though.

"Bob the fighter takes a vicious slash to his belly that would have killed any lesser man. Fortunately Bob bleeds very slowly and his body is so well constructed that none of his intestines spill out. With a tremendous grunt Bob heaves his morningstar into the face of the troll, puncturing it with a dozen holes that close up as quickly as they opened.

 

[Klaus]

You know, this is one of those things that I feel is better left abstract. For the most part, IMC hit point loss does equate to damage taken. But I don't have any exact measurement of what equals what, I'm usually just trying to add flavor to the combat.

"You manage to raise your staff to block the blow, but it hits you with sufficient force to get the wind knocked out of you."

"You see the hobgoblin taking careful aim and are shocked to suddenly see your shoulder sprout a crossbow bolt. You can't help but give a cry out in pain."

"The thief managed to dart around you, and you suddenly realize you're being attacked from both sides. You hold your own briefly, but he manages to hit you with a vicious stab to the leg."

"Despite your breastplate, when the ogre's viciously spiked club hits you in the midsection, you're pretty sure you felt a couple of ribs crack."

These wounds are almost always flesh wounds, but the descriptions give the better roleplayers in my group something to work off of. You'd be surprised how many players actually like the idea of emerging from a fight bruised, battered and bloody.

If a player gets a finishing kill, I usually invite them to describe what they do. If a player every gets knocked below minus ten, there's that dreadful sucking in of breath and glances traded around the table. It happens and so far no one's flipped off the handle, so I feel pretty safe after I've gauged the emotional reaction to describe what happened. This actually seems to be a little cathartic, both for me and the player, and gives the other player emotional reason to get even more engaged.

Couldn't have said it better myself.