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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Xyl" data-source="post: 4155395" data-attributes="member: 55828">Hit points do not represent how much physical damage you can take before collapsing. Instead, they represent the ability to survive abstract damage. That ability might take the form of physical toughness, skill, luck, quickness, magical defenses, or anything else that will let you survive a fight longer.Healing surges, in this scheme, represent the ability to recover your ability to survive after a fight - no matter what the source of that ability. The particular rationalization you use for them depends on what you think your hp represent. The fighter bandages his wounds. The rogue catches her breath and regains her composure. The cleric gives thanks to his god and prays for luck in his next fight as well. The wizard renews the minor defensive spells that deflected enemy blows.If you wanted to, you could break hp down into all the different things that make it up - wound points, fatigue points, luck points, magical defenses, and whatever else you can think of - and track them seperately, with different rules for recovering them. Or you could just take hitpoints for what they are, a simple to use abstraction of all those things, with a unified recovery mechanic called "healing surges".</blockquote>