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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wulf Ratbane" data-source="post: 3727106" data-attributes="member: 94">Comparing skills to BAB and HP is a false analogy, I think.BAB is only a part of the combat equation, and a 10th level Wizard's +5 BAB expresses itself primarily in his ability to target magical rays at his opponents. For a Wizard, BAB is expressed primarily as hand-eye coordination. Should the Wizard start feeling froggy and whip out his staff for a little hand-to-hand, a simple non-magical breastplate negates all the Wizard's "combat prowess" that he has learned over 10 levels. Should he manage to land a solid blow, he's probably dealing somewhere in the range of 4-6 points of damage.If you have a problem with a 10th level Wizard hitting a typical bandit-in-breastplate about 50% of the time and even then, in all likelihood, only wounding and not killing him, you're pretty far gone.A  5th level warrior also has a +5 BAB, but he'll also have a STR bonus to damage; Feat bonuses; and he is far more likely to have invested in a magic weapon. Though they have the same BAB, the 5th level warrior is head and shoulders above the Wizard in standard combat. With regards to HP, they are already such an abstraction that it is hard to even justify arguing about. Suffice to say that hit points are a better abstraction of Heroism than they are of Physical Toughness.Sometimes I think Hit Points would be better off being renamed Fate Points.</blockquote>