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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gentlegamer" data-source="post: 2226271" data-attributes="member: 2425">Hit points are abstract:  just because the character lost some hit points doesn't mean he actually took damage.  It could be he used up some of his 'luck' dodging a blow or resisting a magical attack.Not under Gygax's intended rule of d6 per 10' per 10' cumulative.  Also, in such cases, the referee could make a reasonable ruling that a save vs. death (or crippling) be made.You're right: it is artificial for a person to survive lots of bloody battles and so on.  Realistically, a person who wishes to survive avoids physical conflict as much as possible.  Would that make for a fun game, particularly for warrior-types?  Try playing a warrior in GURPS and see how far you make it.  I once thought as you do, but I've since come to appreciate how abstract hit points allow characters to act boldly as a hero.Here's a further post I made in that DND-L from years ago on the topic:It depends on a case by case basis.  What actually happened to thecharacter?  Using your examples:  if he has been in battle after battle, andhad not been killed, you could rule that the character (at the arbitrary 10hp total) is severly wounded (huge cutes, broken bones, concussions, ect.).That would be perfectly fine.  However, realistically, regardless of howskilled any character is, if he goes through battle after battle he has astatistically low chance of surviving.  And if he is, in fact, severlywounded, he should have have wound-based penalties applied to his actions(similar to being at negative hit points).I recommend creating a warrior type character in GURPS and see what I mean.Those characters have a low hp total (avg 10) and must rely on armor andcombat skill (parrying, and shield blocking) to avoid being hit.  Once hit,the character prays the damage is mostly absorbed by the armor (GURPS armorhas damage resistance that reduces hit point damage).  And when damage issustained, there are several standard conditions that come into effect onthe wounded character:  stunning, knockback, location specific critical hits(with attendent limb crippling effects).  Unless using cinematic rules(which make highly skilled characters unbeatable to low-level types, like inthe Amber chronicles) the character can be slain quite easily by good dierolls.This is all fine if that is the type of game and genre (realistic) that youwant, but becomes very difficult to obtain hero level at all.  I should alsonote that realistic systems (GURPS in particular) makes this quite plain inthe rules and advises players to know how to avoid combat or other high risktype activities.  Again, this is fine, and rather realistic, but not for aplayer who wants to be able to be daring on a regular basis.</blockquote>

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