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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Libramarian" data-source="post: 5875144" data-attributes="member: 6688858">Concrete HP can  mean everything from "meat" (literal physical toughness) to psycho-emotional elements like  morale, courage, will, stamina, focus, energy, vigor etc. All of these elements  map to something in-game. People depleted in these capacities look and feel different -- they're run down, haggard, tired and beat up. The difference that makes the difference here is between all of these concrete HP factors, and HP factors that are completely metagame like "luck", "divine favor", "plot protection", "fate points" etc. Concrete HP vs. meta HP.Going meta with HP should clearly be a last resort, from a design perspective. It's not something to relish in itself. It's a tradeoff that might be worth it, might not. Concrete factors are better on the face of it -- they inform and enrich the fiction. Most players, most of the time, enjoy it when you take your half-dead character into town and NPCs notice and say things like "oh my! you need to get to a healer!" etc. If you like that, then you like concrete HP, whether or not you want the game to actually describe particular wounds in detail.Maybe some players some of the time would appreciate the story flexibility of being able to waltz a half-dead character around the palace ball without having people remark they look terrible and should go rest. But a) how common is that, and b) a player who wants to go meta with HP in the first place ought not to have a problem temporarily disengaging the default concrete HP interpretation on a case by case basis. The default should be concrete HP. The game should say, as you take damage, you become perceptibly wounded and tired, which brings you closer and closer to making a fatal mistake in combat. Falling also causes the same sort of damage, because it gives you sprains and strains that have the same effect.</blockquote>

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