Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Schrodinger's HP and Combat
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="innerdude" data-source="post: 6501414" data-attributes="member: 85870"><p>To a degree, this is a straw man with D&D of any flavor, simply because <em>the nature of hit points is nebulous in pretty much every edition.</em> 4th Edition is different from predecessors in that there is non-magical / non-"natural" healing due to surges, warlord powers, etc.</p><p></p><p>But is any other edition really any better, with the whole "Hey, I have ONE MEASLY HIT POINT LEFT, BUT IT'S OKAY.....I'M GOOD"? </p><p></p><p>That said, there is a certain logic to the quote you posted in the OP. When a character takes HP damage, what really <em>did</em> happen? Was he hurt? How badly? Badly enough that a warlord offering encouragement isn't going to increase combat capacity? Or only semi-hurt / bruised / battered, but still able function on a level where non-physical / non-magical "healing" will make a difference? </p><p></p><p>However, the real question is, even if this Rygar fellow is right......who cares? Does it have any material effect on how you run or play the game? Is there some essence of realism or verisimilitude or fun you're missing by implementing, or not implementing Schrodinger's Hit Points? Because if it's a realism / verisimilitude issue . . . then uh, why 4e in the first place? One would think that the choice to run and / or play 4e is a natural acceptance of 4e's inherent strengths and weaknesses, and realism / verisimilitude isn't generally considered a strength of the ruleset (I'm sure more conscientious 4e GM's like [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION], [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION], and [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] might disagree, but I'll defer to them to offer an opinion if they so desire). On the whole, though, I can't imagine what possible reason there would be to use Schrodinger's Hit Points playing any variety of D&D, other than to try and make sense of what hit points are in some kind of "rational" sense. Otherwise, don't worry about it and play on. </p><p></p><p>Bottom line: hit points in D&D by their very nature are nebulous---in definition, use, game impact, "verisimilitude," and whatever else. </p><p></p><p>And just for the record, I have absolutely ZERO "skin in the game" with D&D these days. I've completely dropped 3e / PF as a system I'll GM, have played exactly 3 sessions of 4e in my entire life, and haven't looked at D&D 5e since the November 2013 playtest, and have never run or played a single game with it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="innerdude, post: 6501414, member: 85870"] To a degree, this is a straw man with D&D of any flavor, simply because [I]the nature of hit points is nebulous in pretty much every edition.[/I] 4th Edition is different from predecessors in that there is non-magical / non-"natural" healing due to surges, warlord powers, etc. But is any other edition really any better, with the whole "Hey, I have ONE MEASLY HIT POINT LEFT, BUT IT'S OKAY.....I'M GOOD"? That said, there is a certain logic to the quote you posted in the OP. When a character takes HP damage, what really [I]did[/I] happen? Was he hurt? How badly? Badly enough that a warlord offering encouragement isn't going to increase combat capacity? Or only semi-hurt / bruised / battered, but still able function on a level where non-physical / non-magical "healing" will make a difference? However, the real question is, even if this Rygar fellow is right......who cares? Does it have any material effect on how you run or play the game? Is there some essence of realism or verisimilitude or fun you're missing by implementing, or not implementing Schrodinger's Hit Points? Because if it's a realism / verisimilitude issue . . . then uh, why 4e in the first place? One would think that the choice to run and / or play 4e is a natural acceptance of 4e's inherent strengths and weaknesses, and realism / verisimilitude isn't generally considered a strength of the ruleset (I'm sure more conscientious 4e GM's like [MENTION=22779]Hussar[/MENTION], [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION], and [MENTION=6696971]Manbearcat[/MENTION] might disagree, but I'll defer to them to offer an opinion if they so desire). On the whole, though, I can't imagine what possible reason there would be to use Schrodinger's Hit Points playing any variety of D&D, other than to try and make sense of what hit points are in some kind of "rational" sense. Otherwise, don't worry about it and play on. Bottom line: hit points in D&D by their very nature are nebulous---in definition, use, game impact, "verisimilitude," and whatever else. And just for the record, I have absolutely ZERO "skin in the game" with D&D these days. I've completely dropped 3e / PF as a system I'll GM, have played exactly 3 sessions of 4e in my entire life, and haven't looked at D&D 5e since the November 2013 playtest, and have never run or played a single game with it. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Schrodinger's HP and Combat
Top