does hit point loss = damage

[Man in the Funny Hat]

The closest response is "No, a PC can lose hit points without it indicating he has taken any physical injury." but "physical injury" is vague - and that's as it should be. Hit points themselves are vague, abstract representations. What they represent and HOW WELL they represent them varies with the weapon inflicting the damage, the damage compared to the hit point total of the victim, and on and on. Back in the days of 1E we would routinely blow off a really high-damage hit by saying, "It's all fatigue."

Things haven't really changed since then. Any or all of the hit points a PC takes in damage can be actual, physical, bodily trauma - but you can NEVER, EVER say, "THIS hit point, THIS percentage of the damage is physical injury." Because hit points are abstract, representing a wide conglomeration of physical and meta-physical (even meta-game) factors you cannot, by definition, specify that any one hit point, or range of hit points represents any single, specific factor.

 

[Drowbane]

I see it as a form of subdual damage even though there's a seperate category for it. I mean, come on. An orc hits a halfing with a battlexe and the halfing lives? Come on. Sure you could make an arguement that the orc just grazed the halfling, but what about a critical hit? Here's an experiment you can do at home: hit a midget with a sledgehammer. Now, before the cops come over and arrest you, examine the midget. Note the broken bones and profuse bleeding. This isn't just because the midget is 1st level or whatever, it's because when you hit somebody with a sledgehammer it really, really hurts. It doesn't matter if you're a 3rd term Navy SEAL, ribs are going to get broken and that's a long term injury.

I don't bother with detailed injury descriptions until the PC gets down to about 2 or 3 hit points. It's just a game mechanic.

What does this have to do with Halflings/Midgets? Hit ANYBODY with a sledgehammer and see what happens...

 

[I'm A Banana]

"The sword barely misses you. You take 3 points of damge,"

It's not exactly like that.

It's more like, to the Barbarian with 12 hit points: "The sword flashes through the air, and you stumble backwards, caught off guard for a moment. You loose your balance, and twist your ankle slightly. You know you're going to have trouble dodging a blow like that again."

And to the Wizard with 3 hit points: "The sword lands a solid slam against your upper arm. You feel your fingertips numb and a violent spurt of blood coats your robes. You can keep fighting, but you are slower, the pain is blurring your vision, and you stumble with a flood of adrenaline."

 

[GlassJaw]

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.

You do know wrestling is fake right?

 

[GlassJaw]

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.

Just because you only lose VP's doesn't mean the attack didn't hit you. It just means that the attack didn't inflict any noticeable damage. I don't understand why people think dealing with poison is difficult with the VP/WP system. It's easy to say that an attack is a "merely a flesh wound" but it's wound enough to deliver the poison.

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.

True dat. I wouldn't use it for D&D either, but then again, I've had enough of plain ole D&D lately.

 

[tetsujin28]

I envision it more like Blade of the Immortal. High level PCs are losing massive, bloody chunks of themselves. But they Just. Keep. Fighting.

 

[Oryan77]

You do know wrestling is fake right?

Sure it is, and I suppose next your going to tell me that we finally landed on the moon!

 

[Xombie Master]

I envision it more like Blade of the Immortal. High level PCs are losing massive, bloody chunks of themselves. But they Just. Keep. Fighting.

Just like to say Blade of the Immortal rules!

Anyway,
I find HP loss as brushes with near death, until that fateful blow that finally knocks you down. Hits that don't kill you might nick you barely, or consist of the normal bruising a body will fell after it's armor takes repeated blows with a mace. You may not be bleedin' and internal trauma may not be a problem. However if you keep tempting fate by throwing yourself in the way of weapons, one is bound to take you down.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Does a character have physical signs of damage when they lose hit points due to suffocation? No, so no.

 

[Xombie Master]

Does a character have physical signs of damage when they lose hit points due to suffocation? No, so no.

Actually, not to be argumentative, but there are physical signs of suffocation. Skin discoloration being the most immediate.

Sure it is, and I suppose next your going to tell me that we finally landed on the moon!

We landed on the MOON!?!?!