Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Ximenes088" data-source="post: 4358504" data-attributes="member: 59899">In a word: no. Bloodied = halfway to defeated. That's all it means. During the prototypical two-man unarmored swordfight, the combatants aren't systematically carving large slabs of flesh out of each other. The winner of the fight may be- and often is- essentially unhurt. The loser is the one who made the first real mistake or got worn down to the point where he opened himself up to the killing blow. There was not some mysterious middle point where he was injured but not killed- there was &quot;totally unwounded&quot; and &quot;disemboweled&quot;. That's what most D&amp;D fights are about. That's what most D&amp;D fights have _always_ been about, since the hoary days of olde when Gygax was patiently explaining to us that a 5th level fighter didn't take five times the bodily harm of a first level one before he fell over.It's possible to take some ultra-hardline definition of HP as health, like &quot;At level 1, an 8 HP blow disembowels you. At level 10, an 8 HP blow nicks you. At all levels, damage always indicates some degree of injury. Thus, curative spells always indicate some degree of physical healing.&quot; You can do that. And then you can explain why it's ridiculous that a 10th level PC can spend five minutes applying Bactine and be good as new for all practical purposes.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Ximenes088, post: 4358504, member: 59899"] In a word: no. Bloodied = halfway to defeated. That's all it means. During the prototypical two-man unarmored swordfight, the combatants aren't systematically carving large slabs of flesh out of each other. The winner of the fight may be- and often is- essentially unhurt. The loser is the one who made the first real mistake or got worn down to the point where he opened himself up to the killing blow. There was not some mysterious middle point where he was injured but not killed- there was "totally unwounded" and "disemboweled". That's what most D&D fights are about. That's what most D&D fights have _always_ been about, since the hoary days of olde when Gygax was patiently explaining to us that a 5th level fighter didn't take five times the bodily harm of a first level one before he fell over. It's possible to take some ultra-hardline definition of HP as health, like "At level 1, an 8 HP blow disembowels you. At level 10, an 8 HP blow nicks you. At all levels, damage always indicates some degree of injury. Thus, curative spells always indicate some degree of physical healing." You can do that. And then you can explain why it's ridiculous that a 10th level PC can spend five minutes applying Bactine and be good as new for all practical purposes. [/QUOTE]

Verification