What are hit points now?

Rabbitbait

Grog-nerd
I've been thinking about this I don't think the concept of hit points works any more if you think of them as a measure of damage taken.

I'm going to consider them a mixture of energy and will to keep fighting. That would mean no-one actually gets injured until their hit-points gets down to zero, which is when the last person who hit finally got past the defenders guard and delivered the fatal blow.

This seems more realistic to me in a simulation sense. In the broadsword fighting I have done, most of the fight is simply trying to tire the other person out so that they can no longer avoid your blows. One decent hit is usually enough to end a fight in real life as well.

How would that work with magic missiles/fireballs etc? I imagine they would singe and annoy a defender, sapping energy and morale, as well as taking a certain amount of effort for the person to cover their face, swat off the missile, duck etc.

It also means that healing surges are not healing actual damage - they are helping a character to pull on reserves on energy they wouldn't normally have (thus second wind) and Paladins and Clerics are using their leadership abilities to encourage their companions to keep going.

That would then make sense that after a 5 minute rest you'd get your breath back and be ready to go again, but if you'd been fighting all day it would reduce your ability to recover.

Thoughts? Be nice - this is my first post :confused:
 
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I would say that is a fair interpretation. There are currently two other threads in this forum discussing hitpoints (one about healing and one about camping, IIRC), if you'd like to take a gander.

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