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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 7843006" data-attributes="member: 53980">By default, you're free to narrate the damage however it makes most sense. Even in the case of a character that has greater than half hp, it only says that they typically show no injury. The implication there is that sometimes they might have a visible injury (such as when suffering a small wound for the purposes of poison damage).There are tons of things that are abstracted and simplified in D&D. For example, many poisons should have a delayed onset time. However, unless you have a computer tracking everything (or are the rare person who can track dozens of things at a time in their head without error) that's just extra overhead at the gaming table. Plus, it's not that fun. Who wants to wait 5 rounds to see their poisoned dagger have an impact? Additionally, there's balance to consider. If the average fight lasts only 3-4 rounds then that 5 round onset poison arguably needs to have an overwhelming impact, since most combats will be over before it comes into play. However, then you end up with players who shoot a boss with a poisoned arrow and then run away and wait for the poison to take it down. Makes sense from a CAW perspective, but it's anticlimactic as heck. It reminds me a statement I once heard, something to the effect of: "Given the option, players will optimize all the fun out of a game."Personally, the reason I dislike the idea of meat points is because I've had ridiculous experiences with DMs who preferred that outlook. They would describe a 50 hp bite from a dragon as 'ripping into your barbarian's arm, which is left hanging by only a few threads of sinew'. My character would still have 75 HP left and I'd respond, "okay, well, I heft my two handed axe and return the favor". It's absurd because if my character's arm is barely attached he shouldn't be able to wield a two handed axe, for obvious reasons. Moreover, he should probably be on the ground bleeding out, not still in the fight with the bulk of his hp. It turned what was supposed to be a serious campaign into essentially the scene with the black knight from Monty Python's Holy Grail. It ruined the verisimilitude for me.</blockquote>

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