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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TheFindus" data-source="post: 5839237" data-attributes="member: 75791">HP in 4E are not physical wounds only, they are a form of will-to-survive, endurance, morale, etc.Also, DnD has never been a game with a death spiral such as Rolemaster, for example. In any edition of DnD, every character could fight or cast spells just as well with full hp or one hp.In my group, we roleplay different amounts of hp differently, though. Since I do not know the actual hp of the players (I do not seem to have the need for this with 4E: when PCs go down, they go down and the leader is responsible for healing - but that works really well and is always very dramatic), they narrate what the effects of the wounds are. In that way, the battlemind at the table with 10 hp left would describe a crossbow-bolt-hit that makes him lose 12 hp as more severe than with 70 hp.When the PCs damage their opponents, I do the same thing. And opponents and players will behave differently on the battlefield when their hp are low. They flee or try to move in a different way, for example.So no, with 10 hp left, "my" players do not ignore a crossbow-bolt.If they are at full hp, it becomes a story issue. Damage in 4E scales nicely, but mechanically I doubt that a high level 4E fighter would be dropped to 0 hp by a single crossbow bolt. In my campaign, high level characters have the equipment, hp and what they stand for, powers and combat experience, so that their players can very plausibly narrate how a blow that would kill any other man is turned into just a small cut. As a GM, I can do that, too. But I think that problem, if you want to call it that, comes up in any edition of DnD. It is unrelated to 4E.So I can see that it would depend on the story, on what the purpose of the crossbow-wielder in the story is and why he threatens the high level fighter. I guess, in edition of DnD, really, I would let the player decide how this scene should play out and wing it from there. In 4E, page 42 and saying "Yes!" help a lot here. If there are several crossbowmen, say 5 or 6, then I guess they would be able to cause a lot of damage to the characters, because of the 4E damage scale. That would endanger 2 or 3 characters at the spot if targeted. I guess the players would roleplay accordingly. But you would have to take the story into account here as well, of course.</blockquote>

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