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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Crazy Jerome" data-source="post: 5827923" data-attributes="member: 54877">Yes. And then throw in-combat healing into the mix, and we have the other part of hit points, which is a combat pacing mechanic--to deliberately extend the combats longer than they otherwise would be while avoiding the extreme swings of a system where this is relegated to parries or dodges. We can argue about particular implementations of this pacing as too fast or too slow, but the "hit points are physical damage only" idea is ignoring this key piece of D&D at peril. After all, RuneQuest has hit points as only physical damage, with parries and dodges, precisely to throw out this pacing. And you know how RQ fights go? It's all fun and games for a second or two, no one is appreciably hurt, then someone loses an eye. Grandma told you not to run around with ducks waving giant cleavers. Then someone gets a crossbow bolt or spear in the gut, and party over. As an optional, much grittier module for D&D, that kind of thing might have a place. But it is not the base D&D, and never should be. Now, I'd say a more valid argument is along the lines, OK, hit points are physical damage, luck, morale, fatigue--already a lot of stuff--and now you want to tell me they are plot protection and combat pacing on top of all that? No wonder they have holes. They are trying to do too much.  If you then want to replicate the plot protection and combat pacing through some other means (almost assuredly metagaming mechanics if they are not to be too intrusive), then hit points could be nothing but damage/fatigue, and a breaking out into two scores wouldn't hurt too much, now that plot protection and combat pacing are not interacting wonkily with them. However, generally I've found that people that are most serious about hit points as physical wounds are not at all interested in something like a pool of action points or the like turning hits into misses, either.  Plus, these systems tend to be slower to adjudicate than D&D hit points.  So I guess I'd say the burden is to determine how you would replicate the plot protection and combat placing, rather than assuming that they don't matter.</blockquote>

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