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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kaisoku" data-source="post: 3964664" data-attributes="member: 58447">Something I always found odd was that the average farmer (usually considered what a Commoner would be) would be MORE frail than a scholarly wizard. In fact... the only class to best represent a scholarly type NPC was an Expert or Adept... which both have more HP.I can't think of a single "farmer type" person I know personally that wouldn't be best represented as having at least a d6, and a 15+ Con score.I dunno.. maybe I just never liked the d4s in general, never rolls right, heh.Back on topic...D&D needs a mechanic to represent attacking and surviving those attacks.Doing damage from a successful hit is simply a rating in how much threat to kill a person you are doing. Any attack that was aimed well enough (lands) could potentially kill a person. Your hitpoints simply represent how much threat you can handle before you die (or fall unconscious at least).This can be taking the hit and shrugging it off... or it can be turning a blow that would normally hit your lung into just hitting your shoulder. Or it can be handling the aftereffects of being smacked (you don't fall unconscious or whatever), or it can be knowing in how to position yourself so that you aren't as vulnerable. Or, it can just be luck.The loss of hitpoints simply indicates that over time, all those hits add up and you get worn down. Eventually you let that one hit get through...In this way... a Fighter has better training at dealing with physical combat situations, while a wizard doesn't. Whether he's adventuring or not, he's just not training on how to take physical hits, etc.Now.. IF they had some mechanic for mental combat, such as breaking down your willpower or driving you insane, etc... the case should be the opposite.An adventuring Wizard has the advantage over the normal person because they have levels. Someone that's been dungeon crawling for years will be in their teens, and have over 30 hitpoints likely (even in 3e). That dagger thrust from a lvl 1 thug is no longer a major threat even against a wizard with no magical defenses whatsoever. What does that tell you? He HAS to have learned how to take a hit at least a little bit over the course of his adventuring right?Difference between adventuring Wizard and regular scholar = Hitpoints from LevelsDifference in training between Fighter and Wizard = Hitdice differences</blockquote>

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