Hit Points and High Levels

[Uller]

You don't have to describe 15 arrow hits as mere scratches if you think that sounds silly. Instead of saying...:

15 arrows scratch you as you dodge through the hail of bolts. You take 60 points of damage.

...you could describe the fighter dodging his way through the hail of arrows like this...:

"The company of archers lets fly with a volly of arrows. You dodge and twist your way through them, but many hit you. Most glance harmlessly off your heavy armor, several strike you solidly enough that they will surely leave a serious welt but fail to penetrate or do serious damage. Two sink deeply into the flesh of your right thigh and one finds an unarmored spot in your torso under your arm. You take 60 points of damage are seriously staggered, but otherwise able to act normally."

Now...many say that all the arrows MUST do real damage because what if they are poisoned...well...in the example above, the fighter will likely pass his fort save for the vast majority of the "hits" anyway...so whether or not they do real physical damage and/or break the skin everytime is irrelevant. Even if he fails several saves, those two or three that did "real" damage also really poisioned him...

Besides, as has been said: If you want realistic damage models for higher level characters, you need to seriously modify the game or play something else becuase D&D is purposely not realistic...After all, a 10th level fighter with high con can easily fall from 100ft, get up, sprint for 10 minutes, fall in a vat of acid, climb out, get struck by lightning and then still act normally. It's only a game...It's only a game...it's not supposed to be realistic(and it is only as believable as your typical James Bond movie or heroic myth).

 

[SableWyvern]

In amidst his many points, Uller said something I will emphasize:

Using a "hits that miss" rule does not cause problems with regard to such things as poisoned weapons. Since the DM decides arbitrarily which hits hit and which miss, a little intelligence will allow him or her to state that anything that does poison the character (etc) _did_ hit - be it a scratch or a skewer.

 

[Kirowan]

In amidst his many points, Uller said something I will emphasize:

Using a "hits that miss" rule does not cause problems with regard to such things as poisoned weapons. Since the DM decides arbitrarily which hits hit and which miss, a little intelligence will allow him or her to state that anything that does poison the character (etc) _did_ hit - be it a scratch or a skewer.

That's exactly how I've been playing it so far.

 

[Vaxalon]

Au contraire.

First, hit points have to be "real damage". The system falls apart otherwise. ("So, the arrow missed me, but I somehow still got poisoned?")

Au contraire, mon frere.

Hits which deliver poison clearly have broken the skin. Have you ever fallen into a briar? I know from personal experience that a human being can suffer and survive HUNDREDS of small scrapes and scratches without being seriously disabled.

For me, the only solid hits start coming down when the hit points are in the single digits. That, and critical hits; I always describe critical hits as being serious wounds, wounds that will leave scars of some kind.

 

[Mal Malenkirk]

Stop visualizing everything in detail. It won't work.

Have you ever tried to visualize how a collossal dragon could possibly be hurt by any weapon available to a PC? Or how that same dragon can fly? (Magic? But why have wing at all in that case?)

Just play the game.

(Heh, that could become a slogan, like Nike's Just Do It!)

 

[Uller]

Stop visualizing everything in detail. It won't work.

Have you ever tried to visualize how a collossal dragon could possibly be hurt by any weapon available to a PC? Or how that same dragon can fly? (Magic? But why have wing at all in that case?)

Just play the game.

(Heh, that could become a slogan, like Nike's Just Do It!)

Heh! Yeah. I generally save cinematic descriptions for fatal/near fatal and critical hits that do substantial damage. Generally, I leave the flavor description to the imaginations of my players. As a player, I hate it when the DM desribes the actions of my character for me...I can imagine my character ducking and tumbling his way through a hail of 300 arrows myself, thank you very much.