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<blockquote data-quote="FireLance" data-source="post: 5879689" data-attributes="member: 3424">Character X sustained hit point damage. No, seriously. A hit point is what you make it out to be. Or rather, at the point that hit point damage is taken, the player can describe why the character is not dead yet. Maybe the character dodged out of the way, and is now tired. Maybe the character got lucky and the arrow just missed him, or conveniently hit something he was wearing or carrying. Normally, I would require that the arrow actually does &quot;hit&quot; in some way, so that the character sustains a non-lethal, non-hindering scratch or cut: a bit of physical damage, but not even 1 hp worth.Think of hit points as a coupon for ice cream. When you actually cash it in, you get to choose which flavor you want.Yelling is optional. A few quiet words of encouragement or a stirring speech will work as well. A cleric could pray, or a bard could lift the character's spirits with a song. Or a character could down a healing potion, use a healing poultice, apply medicinal herbs, activate a psionic power, or spend a few minutes to catch his breath and draw on his inner reserves of determination. Many causes, same effect: the character recovers hit points.It's like getting another coupon for ice cream.No, the arrow hit the character in a vital spot and he died. Whatever he could have used to avoid the lethal hit just wasn't enough: he was too tired, he was out of luck, he wasn't skillful enough. Game over. We're out of ice cream.It has the advantage of simplicity and flexibility. Yes, the ability to describe how your character escaped death whatever way you like, within plausible limits, is an advantage to some. Why do you hate ice cream?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FireLance, post: 5879689, member: 3424"] Character X sustained hit point damage. No, seriously. A hit point is what you make it out to be. Or rather, at the point that hit point damage is taken, the player can describe why the character is not dead yet. Maybe the character dodged out of the way, and is now tired. Maybe the character got lucky and the arrow just missed him, or conveniently hit something he was wearing or carrying. Normally, I would require that the arrow actually does "hit" in some way, so that the character sustains a non-lethal, non-hindering scratch or cut: a bit of physical damage, but not even 1 hp worth. Think of hit points as a coupon for ice cream. When you actually cash it in, you get to choose which flavor you want. Yelling is optional. A few quiet words of encouragement or a stirring speech will work as well. A cleric could pray, or a bard could lift the character's spirits with a song. Or a character could down a healing potion, use a healing poultice, apply medicinal herbs, activate a psionic power, or spend a few minutes to catch his breath and draw on his inner reserves of determination. Many causes, same effect: the character recovers hit points. It's like getting another coupon for ice cream. No, the arrow hit the character in a vital spot and he died. Whatever he could have used to avoid the lethal hit just wasn't enough: he was too tired, he was out of luck, he wasn't skillful enough. Game over. We're out of ice cream. It has the advantage of simplicity and flexibility. Yes, the ability to describe [I]how[/I] your character escaped death whatever way you like, within plausible limits, is an advantage to some. Why do you hate ice cream? [/QUOTE]

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