[Edit: I am very happy to report that the constructing of this post did not involve harm to animals, and additionally was not considered to be wasteful, grief-laden, off-kilter, insane, nor lacking in right-mindedness!]
[Edit 2: Also, I would never have dreamed it was necessary in a role-playing game forum, but I must apparently disclose and disclaim that: this is a forum about D&D and not any of the numerous other systems; these are my opinions formed by decades of involvement and by largely accepting the principles espoused by the designers and pundits; I have stated these to the best of my ability; they represent analyses and assertions pertaining to a fictional GAME with its own internally "consistent" mathematical model; and lastly, that I have every right under the sun to hold my own opinion about a game, and find it laughable when others swarm to impugn me directly for my...opinions about a...game.]
Regarding the abstraction of hit points and their increase with level representing greater survivability:
The Hunted: ***SPOILER ALERT*** In the final knife-fight (melee) scene, there are several grievous wounds but none until the end were lethal or mortal. An untrained/inexperienced combatant would have gone down almost immediately with perhaps only nicking the skilled/experienced fighter despite using the exact same type of weapon (d4 or whatever plus some modifiers due to strength or feats).
Young Guns: ***SPOILER ALERT*** A grizzled old guy with his profile-masking duster in a matter-of-fact manner gets to it against several proficient gunslingers—including dropping slightly to reduce his target area, using boldness to affect enemy morale, and relocating to a tactically advantageous (esp. versus ranged weapons) structure providing high cover and concealment. Every opponent in that setting had rapid-fire ranged weapons with penetrating power and a single bullet to a vital area would have ended it for that person. Why did it continue for some dramatic minutes instead of being just an immediate resolution: their quarry goes down while potentially bringing one or two with him?
Morale (non-fiction): “As long as an army was reasonably well fed, had adequate clothing and shelter, and could expect to be paid more or less regularly, its morale might be considered adequate to the task at hand. Belief in a “cause” was thought less important than strong affection for a leader, or the promise of glory or loot. During eras when armies faced each other across open fields, the outcome of battles often hung on the state of morale. An intuitive desire for safety or instinct for survival could lead soldiers to abandon their duty and dissolve into rabble, while those suddenly inspired might snatch victory from defeat.”
Some games specify that characters are immune to influence short of failed-to-resist spells or other effects. They are never forced to advance or retreat (due to morale failure). But perhaps the increased hit points represent that ability to “snatch victory from defeat” despite stacked odds (e.g. having the same types of weapons that deal the same amounts of damage—but having fewer of them!). This can be translated into increased toughness compared to other humanoids.
Muay Thai: Defenses in muay Thai are categorized in six groups:
- Blocking
- Redirection
- Avoidance
- Evasion
- Disruption
- Anticipation
Having survived blows by reflex and positioning (martial fighting techniques sometimes involve vectoring and moving in ways that are unexpected to the untrained), you could simulate that dramatization by rolling a miss chance before taking HP away from the true, relatively small total, or else you could abstract how many different ways that creatures and classes are just difficult to hit and damage—whether due to skill, morale and determination versus wavering opponents, or even some raw vitality due to size or supernatural imbuement.
[Edit: Also, I recall that studies explain how "
shock" is often a cause of impairment and even death. Would not it be reasonable to infer that the toughening up of a character mentally and physically over time including increasingly knowing what to do and think in dangerous situations when wounded--represented by leveling--helps them withstand greater punishment as manifested by increased hit points versus the-same-defined-range-of-damage attacks and hazards?]
This "abstraction" due to fuzzily-defined vitality or avoidance of real damage at the last moment means, of course--like a layer within a layer in
Inception--that this is one more heavily abstracted layer of survivability apart from the less abstracted "defense rating" due to: attributes, natural or worn armor, feats, skills, abilities and effects (Ex, Sp, Su), and so on. This is, if you will, a last catch-all category to cover that which has not been--nor necessarily needs to be--explicitly defined.
A trained melee fighter knows over time how he or she reacts to and withstands falls, cuts, blows, poison, fire, etc. from large, bizarre, supernatural and other inimical creatures confronted. That results in confidence plus effective caution and tactics which further result in lasting longer against more punishment whereas the inexperienced drop immediately under the same onslaught.
The same damage dealt by an orc sword-thrust, an ogre club bashing, a drow fireball, or a dragon's acid breath represents different threat levels to characters of different experience levels, but you do not need to adjust those rolls up or down (except for crits, vulnerability, etc.), rather you just subtract from a larger pool and narrate (or not) how you survived!
Post Scriptum: The players in my campaigns may or may not calculate the raw number odds for different creature or other threats, but they never assume that they have a deterministic result because there are so many situational and other variables that I DO utilize, that there is always a sense of danger/challenge only deliciously mitigated by successful intel-gathering (incl. knowledge checks) while adventuring.
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