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<blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 5830670" data-attributes="member: 50987">I was reading another thread on another message board, and it gave me a new point of view on this topic.&nbsp; The argument was something along the lines of, &quot;why do they call them Hit Points,&quot; if they don't represent the number of times you get HIT?&nbsp; Why not call them Damage points, or Life Points, or something like that?&quot;&nbsp; Now, I understand where they are coming from, but where do you draw the line?How does an unarmored person have an &quot;armor class&quot;?&nbsp; Why not call it a &quot;defense rating&quot; like every other RPG out there?How did &quot;save throws&quot; get their name?&nbsp; Wouldn't it be more accurate to call them &quot;luck rolls&quot; or &quot;avoidance checks,&quot; or something?&nbsp; What are we supposed to be &quot;saving&quot; here?How does a vampire suck out my experience points?&nbsp; Why not my hit points, or even my Constitution?&nbsp; I thought these things represented my &quot;life force,&quot; not my level.And so on.The point is, game mechanics have names...very old names, at that.&nbsp; When you are in the game store and you overhear a conversation with the words &quot;hit points,&quot; &quot;armor class,&quot; and &quot;save throw&quot; mixed in, you know immediately that they are talking about D&amp;D.&nbsp; These labels aren't just game mechanics anymore, they are part of the product identity.Some people would like to make this argument more than what it is.&nbsp; They would like to believe that the definition of a game mechanic has a deep and profound impact on the way they play the game.&nbsp; *shrug*&nbsp; Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't.&nbsp; Honestly, I think this is only as big of an issue as you want it to be.&nbsp; Judging from this poll, most people don't pay all that much attention to such things.I think the developers of 5E should just leave these things alone...especially hit points.&nbsp; They stand very little to gain, but a lot to lose.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="CleverNickName, post: 5830670, member: 50987"] I was reading another thread on another message board, and it gave me a new point of view on this topic. The argument was something along the lines of, "why do they call them Hit Points," if they don't represent the number of times you get HIT? Why not call them Damage points, or Life Points, or something like that?" Now, I understand where they are coming from, but where do you draw the line? How does an unarmored person have an "armor class"? Why not call it a "defense rating" like every other RPG out there? How did "save throws" get their name? Wouldn't it be more accurate to call them "luck rolls" or "avoidance checks," or something? What are we supposed to be "saving" here? How does a vampire suck out my experience points? Why not my hit points, or even my Constitution? I thought these things represented my "life force," not my level. And so on. The point is, game mechanics have names...very old names, at that. When you are in the game store and you overhear a conversation with the words "hit points," "armor class," and "save throw" mixed in, you know immediately that they are talking about D&D. These labels aren't just game mechanics anymore, they are part of the product identity. Some people would like to make this argument more than what it is. They would like to believe that the definition of a game mechanic has a deep and profound impact on the way they play the game. *shrug* Maybe it does, maybe it doesn't. Honestly, I think this is only as big of an issue as you want it to be. Judging from this poll, most people don't pay all that much attention to such things. I think the developers of 5E should just leave these things alone...especially hit points. They stand very little to gain, but a lot to lose. [/QUOTE]

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