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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Larry Fitz" data-source="post: 308127" data-attributes="member: 3949">Brick outhousesI think you may all be missing the real nature of fight's in D&D. It has always been my impression that hit points do not actually represent the flesh of people being attacked, but more their combat abilities and heartiness in battle. That's why it appeared that Aragorn had not physically hit his opponent, because he hadn't actually struck them. Character hit points more appropriately represent 'combat preparedness' not actual physicality. The alternative to this view is that you can have two different men, one a 1st level expert and the other a 20th level Fighter, they can be wearing identical armor and have identical stamina, and yet you will have to hit the fighter 15 times with your longsword in order to kill him and the expert only twice. This is also why a coup de grace is accompanied by a fortitude save, it is possible to wound any indefensible opponent so badly he dies. It is not necessary to do 115 hp of damage to him. When you administer the coup de grace you are not really doing double or triple the damage a sword can do to his flesh, you are ignoring the combat training that could have minimized the damage you were doing, and possibly damaging something vital.Just my take on things....</blockquote>