NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ydars" data-source="post: 4154723" data-attributes="member: 62992">As someone who has done a bit of test cutting with a sword, I can tell you that actually getting even a razor sharp sword to CUT is NOT easy. As a result, most blows by non-experts are not at the correct angle (which for a sword has an incredibly low tolerance for error) and results in a slap that hurts, leaves a mark but doesn't even break skin (if you are wearing armour). Most people can manage to cut a target only by moving the weapon very slowly. It takes years of practise to be able to cut everytime moving your sword at normal speed even attacking a stationary target. When you factor in parrys, shields, armour and the fact your opponent is moving, most hits are not going to be serious, although they can really hurt or break ribs.Polearm fighting is the same; many blows end up coming from quarterstaff or halfstaff like moves that deal crush damage that is more easily strugged off than a serious cut. This is because grappling was actually an absolutely ESSENTIAL part of sword and polearm combat and so one tactic everyone would employ against a longsword (which is actually wielded two handed) or a polearm, was to get inside the point and attack the man (usually with a dagger).So I would argue that HP represent your ability to make that minor tweak to your opponents attack that makes it fail to cut or connect. It sort of represents exhaustion and mental/physical effort as much as damage. Because let's face it; one sword chop and you are out of action so an accurate combat system would HAVE to mean that all wounds affect skills, combat ability etc.Since HP loss doesn't do this in D&D, HP cannot represent pure physical damage.</blockquote>

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