Hit Points... Up or Down?

[AntiStateQuixote]

When I'm GM, I add up damage to monsters.

When I play, I subtract damage from my hit points.

Why? Because when I'm GM, I generally am not so worried about exactly how many hit points each critter has remaining - what I'm most concerned about is if they are still standing. When I'm playing, what I'm most concerned about is how much longer I'll still be standing, so knowing how many hit points I have left is more important.

I never thought about it, but this is EXACTLY what I do; maybe even for the same reasons. I'm not going to think about it that hard.

Hm . . . seems to be a lot of this going around.

 

[Seonaid]

I play only and it actually varies between sessions and sometimes between encounters! I usually count down (subtract) because that's how I was trained (through CRPGs especially, as mentioned before), but sometimes I'll change and add instead and there's no real method to which one I use at any particular time.


I do like it when the GM adds because then I don't know how close the thing is to dropping . . . but only if the GM is willing to tell me how hurt it looks!

 

[WhimsyTheFae]

I play only and it actually varies between sessions and sometimes between encounters! I usually count down (subtract) because that's how I was trained (through CRPGs especially, as mentioned before), but sometimes I'll change and add instead and there's no real method to which one I use at any particular time.


I do like it when the GM adds because then I don't know how close the thing is to dropping . . . but only if the GM is willing to tell me how hurt it looks!

When I GM, don't I always tell you how hurt I look?

In other news, I do both, but voted Add, because that's what I do more frequently.

 

[Dragonhelm]

He explained it was faster for him... Adding numbers was easier then subtracting.

I don't understand this. It's all simple math. How is adding any simpler than subtracting?

Whatever the case, I've always subtracted. That's the way I was taught, and I like it because it tells me what's left until I hit 0.

I can see how other people would like the other way. I've just never thought of using it.

 

[Asmor]

I don't understand this. It's all simple math. How is adding any simpler than subtracting?

Most people find addition slightly easier than subtraction on all but trivially small numbers (e.g. it's faster for someone to add 15+38=53, as opposed to subtracting 53-15=38). The same goes for division vs. multiplication (most find multiplication significantly easier than division).

Your mileage may vary, but it's fairly well established that this is a very common phenomenon.

EDIT: Did a brief search to try and find something less anecdotal to back up my point. Here's a study which mentions the fact that subtraction is more difficult for children than addition. Not perfect, but better than just saying "everyone knows it's true," and as far as I'm willing to go to back up something as silly as this.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Subtract, whether player or DM at the time. It only takes a split second, so why bother, I figure. Well, I so figure now - never even thought about it before.

 

[Seonaid]

Most people find addition slightly easier than subtraction on all but trivially small numbers (e.g. it's faster for someone to add 15+38=53, as opposed to subtracting 53-15=38). The same goes for division vs. multiplication (most find multiplication significantly easier than division).

Your mileage may vary, but it's fairly well established that this is a very common phenomenon.

EDIT: Did a brief search to try and find something less anecdotal to back up my point. Here's a study which mentions the fact that subtraction is more difficult for children than addition. Not perfect, but better than just saying "everyone knows it's true," and as far as I'm willing to go to back up something as silly as this.

I always chalked it up to not having to worry about carrying the 1.

 

[Umbran]

I don't understand this. It's all simple math. How is adding any simpler than subtracting?

Easier does not equate to simpler. Lifting 5 lbs is not more complicated than lifting 2 lbs, but it takes more effort. Reciting the alphabet forwards is typically easier than reciting it backwards, which is reciting it in random order - but they're all just giving a list of items.

In terms of abstract math, addition and subtraction are synonymous. But that doesn't mean your internal processes for accomplishing them are the same. Addition might be just a little bit faster and easier for your brain (as it has been trained) to process.

 

[Henry]

I add up. Sometimes, quite frankly, I'll switch mid stream when I'm playing, but usually as DM I add up.

Addition might be just a little bit faster and easier for your brain (as it has been trained) to process.

There are quite a few studies available online in "fluency of subtraction and addition":
http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc...serid=10&md5=02f399752dd49e9c92243e8b69965980

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-111453662.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=jE...onepage&q=piaget addition subtraction&f=false

those are just three of them because I'm lazy and google is free to all. That last one is actually kinda neat.

 

[Hussar]

Add another one who goes up as a DM and down as a player.

Although, to be fair, I've gone up as a player as well when playing some VTT games. I can just keep an escalating total on the character token (or monster token) that lets everyone know how hurt something is.

But, generally, player down, monster up.