does hit point loss = damage

[Dog Moon]

In my group, the only time we describe damage is either when we critical hit or we kill them.

Example:
DM: "Okay, you killed him." [After player critical hit]

Player: "Oh yeah! That arrow flew into his face."

Player: *swing* "Smash. Splort! Ain't nuthin' left but crushed bones and a bloody mess."

You get the idea, though those aren't actual examples. The closest we get besides that is when we take a lot of damage in a single round and we go 'Ow, that hurt.' So though I never really thought of it like the Soul Calibur method, I suppose that's how I'd have to say we do hp damage.

 

[Darkness]

I can't reconcile that hit point damage doesn't equal (at least some degree of) physical damage with rules such as poisons,

Yeah, it's interesting that poisons in 3e usually do ability damage/drain. Works for me, though, I suppose...

 

[Bastoche]

Do not conceptualize it.

 

[Henry]

I can't reconcile that hit point damage doesn't equal (at least some degree of) physical damage...

That's me, too. I will always describe it as something, even if only a cut, and especially as a cut, sting, etc. if the attacker is using poison.

 

[Chris Durham]

I think that HP damage is more of an abstract. The reason for this is that at higher levels, massive damage notwithstanding, taking a ton of hits or ending up in the maw of a dragon is just a ridiculous thing to survive. I tend to think of it as a combination of physical sturdiness and luck. As your hit points run down, not only do you sustain damage, but your luck runs out as well. I've actually come up with a wound/location system that reflects this philosophy; but is certainly more suitable to a low-fantasy game.

On the other hand, though the rules themselves indicate that combat is abstract, this view is not always borne out by them. for instance, Con bonus is a big contributor to hit points and has nothing to do with luck. Also, do HP draining effects also drain your luck?

Explaining all of HP loss away as actual damage is generally the easiest way to handle what is a kind of awkward mechanic when you try to translate it into real-world terms. Of course, not everything in the game is realistic.

 

[Corinth]

HP loss is actual physical injury; your armor can't soak/deflect the blow, your shield does not block the blow, and you didn't get out of the way- so you took a wound, however trivial- and that's what HP loss represents.

 

[davidschwartznz]

Here's how I have explained the wound/vitality system to players. It's like Buffy. When you've taken vitality points, it's like Buffy in the middle of a fight. She's been knocked around and she's winded, but her hair and makeup are still perfect. When you take wound points, that's like when a Buffy fight gets serious - she's cut or bruised, she's got some schmutz on her face, and that one lock of hair has fallen out of place. You know that if she takes another hit like that... it must be a season finale.

Hit points are like that, except it's more of a judgment call as to when it becomes dramatic or life threatening.

 

[Quickbeam]

Not always, but conceptually I like the idea that every hit results in damage. The problem then, is that I can't reconcile how a person could live through a dozen or so blows from a morningstar.

Best not to think about it too much I suppose.

 

[GlassJaw]

This is why I like the VP/WP system.

 

[Sundragon2012]

The VP/WP system is the only way IMO to make sense of hit points in any capacity. I use it exclusively now. I cannot wrap my brain around the idea of a farmer with 6 hit points recovering from death's door and able to go back to work before the 130hp fighter who was also brought low. Without magic, the fighter would be out of commission far longer and I cannot justify that.

I require a semblance of "reality" in my games even if the reality is closer to Conan and Indiana Jones than the reality I live in. Some things scream BULLSH**! and IMO the old hit point system does just this.


Chris