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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mengu" data-source="post: 4273544" data-attributes="member: 65726">HP's are an abstraction (if this hasn't been said a sufficint number of times yet). Kobold's Minions, Skirmishers, and Dragonshields are all made of the same flesh and bone. Minions play the role of red shirts. They have no luck, and not enough skill to deflect lethal blows to glancing blows. As such they go down when they are hit. This is what 1 HP represents. Skirmishers are the lucky ones. As they charge in for battle, they just happen to duck under a branch and an arrow barely grazes an ear, instead of lodging in their throat. But they do eventually run out of luck (usually after dodging 2-3 such blows). The Dragonshields have slightly more training and can deflect would be lethal hits off their shields, and parry with their weapons, but they to eventually get worn down (after 3-4 such deflections).As far as game mechanics go, for an encounter to be a meaningful challenge, the monsters need to have a certain amount of resilience. HP's represent that resilience. The difference in HP's between 3.x and 4.0 is alarming for a lot of people who look at 4.0 for the first time. Hopefully they will eventually except that this is a new system, and new pictures of combat will form in their minds eye as their warrior delivers blow after blow on those skirmishers, as a pair of skirmishers dodge around a bush, darting in and out to deliver their own stabs. Leaves and branches fly about, and after several such swings, the debris settles and the warrior is the only one standing with a satisfied smile on his face.</blockquote>

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