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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Should the Fighter's "Second Wind" ability grant temporary HP instead of regular HP?
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<blockquote data-quote="BryonD" data-source="post: 6323740" data-attributes="member: 957"><p>I would consider "glaring" to be a rather substation overstatement being that you are putting a 10th level character alongside a 3rd level character and the difference depends entirely upon this contrast. </p><p></p><p>If you find someone who truly embraces the idea that HP = meat and nothing more nothing less then they are already doomed to have major issues. So you have added another nail to that welded shut coffin.</p><p></p><p>A sword through the gut is a sword through the gut. You probably die. ("probably" because we are in a world with magic)</p><p>As any character gains more and more HP representing higher and higher multiples of what would represent a "sword through the gut" to their total, the more this must represent some abstract portion. </p><p></p><p>Let's add a commoner 1 and a fighter 1 and a 3rd level wizard to your example. The Commoner 1 has 5 HP and the Fighter 1 has 12. The commoner is instantly brought to -24 HP. He dies, also instantly. </p><p>The fighter has that "PC Aura" granting him fantastic larger than life abilities to dodge, roll with, or otherwise luck himself out of taking to full impact of the blow. This fantastic PC Aura is mechanically represented by an extra 7 HP. He is instantly reduced to -17 HP. He dies, again instantly. Perhaps his corpse is slightly more intact. Your 10th level wizard had 30 HP, so lets say the 3rd level wizard has 10, (slightly more than proportional, but we do get max at L1). Obviously he is between the two other dead examples and likewise dead. His 5 "PC Aura" HP help, but it is a trivial and pointless degree of help.</p><p></p><p>So far, so good.</p><p></p><p>Now we look at your L3 fighter and L10 wizard. None of these 5 characters have different physiology. The 29 point blow is just as physically capable of killing them as it is of killing anyone else. It has taken the wizard ten levels of "PC Aura" to gain the same extra larger than life ability to avoid damage as the fighter has gained in just 3. I don't see any concern over that portion of their HP recovering in proportion to their mojo (aka "their level"). </p><p></p><p>You could also look at a 100HP fighter 10. If he receives 29 points of damage they heal at the same pace. No problem. If, on the other hand, he has taken 99 damage, then both he and the wizard are at 1 HP. Yet the wizard, again, is back at 100% much faster. But now the wizard has survived roughly double the amount needed to slay a commoner in one blow. The fighter has survived roughly 7 times the amount. </p><p>I'm ok with all that physical + abstract taking more time for the fighter to recover. It is D&D after all, and they are both on their feet at full functional capacity the whole time. Perhaps the fighter has more physical cuts and bruises in the mix. Or, perhaps, the physical wounds of both are the same, and when the wizard is back to 100% a wandering barbarian would not notice that the "still healing" fighter is any more wounded than the wizard. They both look physically recovered, but the fighter is still "healing" the luck portion of his HP. I am not remotely stating that any of these examples are "the solution". I am certain each of us could invent specific narrative scenarios in which any given answer becomes inconsistent. The point is that this is the beauty of the HP system when allowed to be a case-by-case blend of physical and abstract. I have never yet found a case were it wasn't good enough to create a satisfactory representation of high fantasy. (When I don't want high fantasy, I don't play ANY version of D&D)</p><p></p><p></p><p>As I have stated before, to me it is critical that both physical and abstract damage be included in the analysis and any attempt to force any fixed quantification on the mix creates additional problems without benefit in return. HP have fundamental logic issues that have been well known and debated since long before anyone ever heard of 3E, much less 4E or 5E. So I think expecting rigorous logical perfection is unfair and unreasonable. </p><p></p><p>I think HP + instaheal has the same underlying HP issues. And, for me, instaheals adds the further complication of no lasting damage. It creates a new disconnect without adding new value. So I'm just as ok with the "works very good" HP system as I've ever been.</p><p></p><p>I can't recall ever really getting hung up on healing for monsters. If it ever was an issue I think you could look at HD and work the same consistency out of that. Though I'd offer that I've found HD to create more disconnects than HP. (Big dinosaurs have decent reflex saves... ??) This is an area of 5E improvement</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="BryonD, post: 6323740, member: 957"] I would consider "glaring" to be a rather substation overstatement being that you are putting a 10th level character alongside a 3rd level character and the difference depends entirely upon this contrast. If you find someone who truly embraces the idea that HP = meat and nothing more nothing less then they are already doomed to have major issues. So you have added another nail to that welded shut coffin. A sword through the gut is a sword through the gut. You probably die. ("probably" because we are in a world with magic) As any character gains more and more HP representing higher and higher multiples of what would represent a "sword through the gut" to their total, the more this must represent some abstract portion. Let's add a commoner 1 and a fighter 1 and a 3rd level wizard to your example. The Commoner 1 has 5 HP and the Fighter 1 has 12. The commoner is instantly brought to -24 HP. He dies, also instantly. The fighter has that "PC Aura" granting him fantastic larger than life abilities to dodge, roll with, or otherwise luck himself out of taking to full impact of the blow. This fantastic PC Aura is mechanically represented by an extra 7 HP. He is instantly reduced to -17 HP. He dies, again instantly. Perhaps his corpse is slightly more intact. Your 10th level wizard had 30 HP, so lets say the 3rd level wizard has 10, (slightly more than proportional, but we do get max at L1). Obviously he is between the two other dead examples and likewise dead. His 5 "PC Aura" HP help, but it is a trivial and pointless degree of help. So far, so good. Now we look at your L3 fighter and L10 wizard. None of these 5 characters have different physiology. The 29 point blow is just as physically capable of killing them as it is of killing anyone else. It has taken the wizard ten levels of "PC Aura" to gain the same extra larger than life ability to avoid damage as the fighter has gained in just 3. I don't see any concern over that portion of their HP recovering in proportion to their mojo (aka "their level"). You could also look at a 100HP fighter 10. If he receives 29 points of damage they heal at the same pace. No problem. If, on the other hand, he has taken 99 damage, then both he and the wizard are at 1 HP. Yet the wizard, again, is back at 100% much faster. But now the wizard has survived roughly double the amount needed to slay a commoner in one blow. The fighter has survived roughly 7 times the amount. I'm ok with all that physical + abstract taking more time for the fighter to recover. It is D&D after all, and they are both on their feet at full functional capacity the whole time. Perhaps the fighter has more physical cuts and bruises in the mix. Or, perhaps, the physical wounds of both are the same, and when the wizard is back to 100% a wandering barbarian would not notice that the "still healing" fighter is any more wounded than the wizard. They both look physically recovered, but the fighter is still "healing" the luck portion of his HP. I am not remotely stating that any of these examples are "the solution". I am certain each of us could invent specific narrative scenarios in which any given answer becomes inconsistent. The point is that this is the beauty of the HP system when allowed to be a case-by-case blend of physical and abstract. I have never yet found a case were it wasn't good enough to create a satisfactory representation of high fantasy. (When I don't want high fantasy, I don't play ANY version of D&D) As I have stated before, to me it is critical that both physical and abstract damage be included in the analysis and any attempt to force any fixed quantification on the mix creates additional problems without benefit in return. HP have fundamental logic issues that have been well known and debated since long before anyone ever heard of 3E, much less 4E or 5E. So I think expecting rigorous logical perfection is unfair and unreasonable. I think HP + instaheal has the same underlying HP issues. And, for me, instaheals adds the further complication of no lasting damage. It creates a new disconnect without adding new value. So I'm just as ok with the "works very good" HP system as I've ever been. I can't recall ever really getting hung up on healing for monsters. If it ever was an issue I think you could look at HD and work the same consistency out of that. Though I'd offer that I've found HD to create more disconnects than HP. (Big dinosaurs have decent reflex saves... ??) This is an area of 5E improvement [/QUOTE]
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Should the Fighter's "Second Wind" ability grant temporary HP instead of regular HP?
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