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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 5921413" data-attributes="member: 56189">You're both coming at it from the wrong direction. You're interpreting hit points to have a direct correlation to an amount of damage and although the system does give that impression, it's a false impression from years of poorly worded phrases such as 'hit points' and 'damage'.The fact is that the only 'hit point' that matters in terms of actual, physical injury to the character, is the very last hit point. In this sense, every character has only one REAL hit point.How they get to a point where their actual life and actual physical injury are a risk is what all the other hit points represent. They're the buffer between death and Die Hard beat downs.So whether it was a cat scratch or falling down a flight of stairs is irrelevant. The damage that tipped your character from 1 hit point to 0 hit points is the only one that matters. The cat nicked an artery in the leg, the fall cracked the spine, etc.And even then, it doesn't matter so much that the PC (and it should be also considered that this is for PC's who are, in all aspects, special considerations above and beyond the norm) took an injury or how life threatening it was because ultimately a few bandages, a bit of rest and they're back in business. So it wasn't really all that life-threatening after all. It was a close call, a bit scary, but it wasn't the life-ending sword through the gut that spilled the intestines out onto the muddy ground at their feet. That blow is the one that takes them from 0 to minus Con + Level.Again I think you're misinterpreting what an injury actually is in D&D. The 'sword in the gut' is an injury that takes your character to the very brink of death and the very brink of death in this system is somewhere between 0 and minus Con + Level.If your fighter has 80 hit points, then everything between 80 and 1 is luck, skill, minor cuts, scrapes, bruises, etc. Sword in the gut would be something along the lines of -10 or so hit points where they've got a genuine chance of dying. Anything before that simply ISN'T a sword in the gut type of wound. And if you're playing it that every blow is some sort of devastating effect then that's fine, that's your game, but it IS NOT how the hit point system is intended to work and if you're not using it how it's intended to work, then OF COURSE you're going to have problems with it.Adapt it, by all means, change it to how you want it to work, but the core concept of hit points has always remained the same from day 1 of D&D and I believe it should remain that way in the core rules. Have alternate, modular rules for lingering wounds, etc. but make the modular and not part of the basic, core system.It should also be noted that the core system in the playtest doesn't allow you to take a 'long rest' if you're below 1 hit point.</blockquote>

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