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<blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 5771182" data-attributes="member: 1645">Hit points have always been one of D&amp;D's greatest strengths and one of its greatest weaknesses.Many people have left the game because hit points strain credibility, make no sense, etc., but many of them come right back, because hit points work, even if they can't tell you quite why.The designers of 4E made an interesting leap halfway across the chasm between hit points as health and hit points as mojo.&nbsp; They quite explicitly defined minions as having negative plot protection and just one hit point, they added non-healing healing, etc., but they kept hit points in their narrow role as points of &quot;damage&quot; you take on a &quot;hit&quot; (or sometimes simply from an &quot;attack&quot;), with larger weapons doing more damage, and tougher characters having more hit points.I'd like to see them take the next step and define hit points purely as mojo, with saves or defenses representing actual ability to avoid a hit or take a hit.&nbsp; So an unimpressive hobbit burglar could have low abilities but lots of plot protection, while a star-crossed veteran might die in the opening clash of the battle.&nbsp; What we now call hit points would be usable to boost your saves or defenses against anything -- spells, traps, whatever -- and wouldn't necessarily require magical healing potions to restore.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="mmadsen, post: 5771182, member: 1645"] Hit points have always been one of D&D's greatest strengths and one of its greatest weaknesses. Many people have left the game because hit points strain credibility, make no sense, etc., but many of them come right back, because hit points [i]work[/i], even if they can't tell you quite [i]why[/i]. The designers of 4E made an interesting leap halfway across the chasm between hit points as [i]health[/i] and hit points as [i]mojo[/i]. They quite explicitly defined [i]minions[/i] as having negative plot protection and just one hit point, they added non-healing healing, etc., but they kept hit points in their narrow role as points of "damage" you take on a "hit" (or sometimes simply from an "attack"), with larger weapons doing more damage, and tougher characters having more hit points. I'd like to see them take the next step and define hit points purely as [i]mojo[/i], with saves or defenses representing actual ability to avoid a hit or take a hit. So an unimpressive hobbit burglar could have low abilities but lots of plot protection, while a star-crossed veteran might die in the opening clash of the battle. What we now call hit points would be usable to boost your saves or defenses against [i]anything[/i] -- spells, traps, whatever -- and wouldn't necessarily require magical healing potions to restore. [/QUOTE]

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