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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Teataine" data-source="post: 5602038" data-attributes="member: 6678036">"More 'realistic' combat systems could certainly have been included here, but they have no real part in a game for a group of players having an exciting adventure."p.9"As has been detailed, hit points are not actually a measure of physical damage."p.61"It is quite unreasonable to assume that as a character gains levels of ability in his or her class that a corresponding gain in actual ability to sustain physical damage takes place. It is preposterous to state such an assumption, for if we are to assume that a man is killed by a sword thrust which does 4 hit points of damage, we must similarly assume that a hero could, on the average, withstand five such thrusts before being slain!"p.82-Gary Gygax, AD&D DMGPC hit points never were the same as physical damage, but luck, morale, arcane and divine protection, combat skill, sixth sense etc. D&D is an extremely abstract game when it comes to combat. It doesn't simulate actual melee any better than it simulates naval warfare. Hit points are a game mechanic, an abstraction, a pacing mechanism. So I don't see where the "wounds closing due to oratory" bit is coming from, since those lost HP don't represent wounds in the first place.I don't even play 4E by the way, it's just that I find this argument rather moot. If you want swords that deal wounds instead of meta point loss there's still Runequest for example. In fact I'd posit the opposite than you: that "such nonsense" was always inherent in the D&D combat system and that it was an oversight on part of early D&D to have omitted methods of HP recovery other than "wound closing".</blockquote>

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