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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5830735" data-attributes="member: 53980">What if the first fighter was a low level fighter, at full hp? In that case, he simply wasn't quick enough to get out of the way. He lacked the meta factor that allowed the second fighter to survive with relatively little harm. That factor might have been sixth sense, plain luck, or something else; it really doesn't matter that much.The point is that there were meta aspects to even allow a (wounded) fighter to get that far. Every one of those cuts or bruises could have been lethal to a low level fighter. What allowed the fighter to turn a lethal blow into a bruise? Some meta factor.To use your original example, what causes the fighter's armor to hold when the dragon bites him? I would guess luck, as I can't imagine skill or tenacity having much to do with it. Whether or not the armor then cuts him is irrelevant to my point. If the dragon did more damage to him (enough to kill him) then the dragon's teeth would have pierced his armor and he would have died. Some meta factor inherent to hp prevented that from happening, thereby merely denting his armor.If two human fighters are standing side-by-side, but one is high level while the other is low level, it's absurd to think (from the standpoint of a semblance of realism) that the high level fighter could withstand a sword being thrust through his gut while the low level fighter can't. Clearly, the high level fighter is simply better at avoiding becoming shish-kebab. What allows him to do so? Some meta factor. Clearly it isn't just speed. The low level fighter might have a much better dexterity, a much higher initiative, and even a better reflex save. Those don't change based on hp loss. At best, hp loss might prevent him from utilizing his speed at that moment, but that's fairly abstract and meta.If you look at hp as purely physical, then hp are just meat. That makes sense if you compare a bear to a low level fighter, but not a high level fighter to a low level fighter. Obviously, then, hp are more than physical. If you want to always include some physical factor then, again, that's fine. But if the same attack and damage has a different outcome against a high hp/level fighter than a low hp/level fighter, then meta factors are implicit therein.</blockquote>

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