Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 6472899" data-attributes="member: 42582">This is my view also.I don't care who plays hit points how; it is the claim that the system "used to be consistent" up until 4e that I am responding too.My view remains that, if you want to play "hp as meat" using 4e or 5e, it is as simple as changing the recovery times. Even though this wasn't an expressly stated option in 4e, implementing it is about as challenging as deciding that the Heal skill in 3E is an EX magical ability that speeds recovery to non-earthly levels (ie not very challenging).This is in fact exactly how the hit point system was intended, when it was incorporated into AD&D, to be used. The bulk of hit point loss is metaphysical rather than physical until the last handful is lost: "a mere nick or scratch" (DMG p 61), "nicks, scratches, cuts and bruises" (DMG p 82).Narrating the hit point loss in accordance with its author's intentions is not "quite a stretch".My problem with this is that injury is not someting that comes in quantities, like pouring liquid into or out of a vessel. 4 litres of water is a quantity that is excessive for some vessels, but other vessels have a larger capacity. But having an arrow lodge in one's back is not like that. Injury works by destroying tissue and disrupting physiological processes, and the fundamental processes are the same in a peasant and a 10th level fighter. Both will die if an arrow pierces the heart, or does sufficient damage to the lung such that it fills with blood, or does sufficient damage to the chest cavity such that it fills with blood and/or air, causing the lung to collapse.If a 10th level fighter has 4 arrows sticking from he back, that means that they have not cause any of these sorts of injuries - perhaps they are lodged in the rings of her mail, or they struck a rib or a should blade and hence didn't penetrate any further. In which case they are not the same sort of injury as was suffered by the peasant, even though - at the table - the damage rolls may have all been 4s.And my problem with this is that it turns the game into comedy - either grim or inane, depending on taste. Peasants fall down dead when they get into bar fights, suffer injuries on the farm, stub their toes etc. Whereas in the real world peasants are often quite strong and resilient in their physique, and have life expectancies determined by vulnerability to infection and disease, or the availabiity of food, rather than an inability to withstand a sharp blow from a stick.It's not a model, but the game provides information. It tells us who is winning and who is losing. If my hit points are approaching zero at a more rapid (proportional) rate than my opponent's, I am losing the fight, and vice versa.That is a game that has meaning.The detailed information as to why I am losing the fight is provided, if not obvious (eg a dragon is trying to eat me as I defend myself rather hopelessly with a dagger), by referee narration and player imagination.</blockquote>

Verification