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<blockquote data-quote="Korgoth" data-source="post: 4214708" data-attributes="member: 49613">Well, I've been thinking this stuff over. I don't buy the &quot;stage argument&quot; (because it's really a stage on a stage, and we're back to me not being able to consider it a fantasy), nor do I buy the &quot;minions only have 1 hp vs. PCs&quot; because there will be fights where minions are hitting other minions (like when some minions are helping the PCs or whatever).But you do raise an excellent point here.&nbsp; The OD&amp;D or 1E commoner tops out at 6 hit points.&nbsp; But he could sustain more than 6 cuts if none of them were life-threatening.&nbsp; Plus, you could be a 1 hit point commoner in either of those editions (which are really my standard for thinking about the game and how it is intended to work).Therefore, you must be correct when you say that not every knife cut does at least 1 hit point... it must be possible to deliver a &quot;cosmetic cut&quot;.&nbsp; In Gygaxian D&amp;D, there is either a hit or a miss, and all hits do 1 or more damage.&nbsp; Therefore, a cosmetic cut must be a miss (maybe call it a &quot;miss by 1&quot; or something).So, to carry out this line of reasoning, any wound that does 1 hit point or more, even in Gygaxian D&amp;D (because a character or commoner could have 1 hp), must be a potentially life-threatening wound.&nbsp; If you have more than 1 hit point, you spend whatever amount of those is necessary to zero out the damage... i.e. your hit points above 1 essentially reduce the severity of the wound to a non-life threatening status, either because of your amazing fitness or your ability to dodge or the favor of the divine or your strange metaphysical connection to Chuck Norris.&nbsp; Your &quot;hero-ness&quot; kicks in and the damage is reduced to a mere cut, just as Gary described the high hit point fighter doing in the 1E DMG.Thus, we would be saying not that a cut is a damaging wound that nonetheless doesn't put you down, but that hit points (above 1, at least) are your ability to turn killing blows into those inconsequential cuts that in reality would do zero damage to a 1 hit point character.&nbsp; If that were not so, then a 1 hit point farmer could not sustain a mere cut, which surely as a farmer he can do.OK.&nbsp; That seems to follow.&nbsp; Thanks for taking the time to deal with my skepticism.&nbsp; I'll ponder this some more.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Korgoth, post: 4214708, member: 49613"] Well, I've been thinking this stuff over. I don't buy the "stage argument" (because it's really a stage on a stage, and we're back to me not being able to consider it a fantasy), nor do I buy the "minions only have 1 hp vs. PCs" because there will be fights where minions are hitting other minions (like when some minions are helping the PCs or whatever). But you do raise an excellent point here. The OD&D or 1E commoner tops out at 6 hit points. But he could sustain more than 6 cuts if none of them were life-threatening. Plus, you could be a 1 hit point commoner in either of those editions (which are really my standard for thinking about the game and how it is intended to work). Therefore, you must be correct when you say that not every knife cut does at least 1 hit point... it must be possible to deliver a "cosmetic cut". In Gygaxian D&D, there is either a hit or a miss, and all hits do 1 or more damage. Therefore, a cosmetic cut must be a miss (maybe call it a "miss by 1" or something). So, to carry out this line of reasoning, any wound that does 1 hit point or more, even in Gygaxian D&D (because a character or commoner could have 1 hp), must be a potentially life-threatening wound. If you have more than 1 hit point, you spend whatever amount of those is necessary to zero out the damage... i.e. your hit points above 1 essentially reduce the severity of the wound to a non-life threatening status, either because of your amazing fitness or your ability to dodge or the favor of the divine or your strange metaphysical connection to Chuck Norris. Your "hero-ness" kicks in and the damage is reduced to a mere cut, just as Gary described the high hit point fighter doing in the 1E DMG. Thus, we would be saying not that a cut is a damaging wound that nonetheless doesn't put you down, but that hit points (above 1, at least) are your ability to turn killing blows into those inconsequential cuts that in reality would do zero damage to a 1 hit point character. If that were not so, then a 1 hit point farmer could not sustain a mere cut, which surely as a farmer he can do. OK. That seems to follow. Thanks for taking the time to deal with my skepticism. I'll ponder this some more. [/QUOTE]

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