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*Dungeons & Dragons
Schrodinger's HP and Combat
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<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]
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