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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5832704" data-attributes="member: 53980">I'm not certain what you mean by a damage divisor, but since you're responding to my comment on hp representing purely physical damage, I'll assume you mean "hp as only physical damage." There's no way to muddle through IMO (past the first few levels) with damage being purely physical. By 11th level, an average hp Barbarian (3e) with 18 Con has 111 hp. An improbably lucky barbarian who rolls max hp and has a 20 Con will have 187 hp. By comparison, a megaraptor (huge sized dinosaur) has only an average of 76 hp, while the typical tyrannosaurus only has 171 hp. How exactly can you muddle through justifying that an average 11th level barbarian can absorb more physical punishment than a megaraptor, while a paragon of barbarianism can absorb more than a t-rex? Outside of anime, which I have no qualms with because it's its own sub-genre, how exactly can you justify that an 8 foot man can withstand more injury than a 50 foot dinosaur?Perhaps an even better example is the hill giant, standing 10.5 feet tall, weighing in at 1,100 pounds, and having an average of 102 hp. The 11th level barbarian probably stands no more than 8 feet and weighs about a third or less of the giant's weight, yet the average hp barbarian has slightly more hp than the giant, while the barbarian paragon has almost twice as many hp. That simply does not jive with the idea of hp as purely physical.That's only an 11th level barbarian. A 20th level barbarian, outfitted in Con boosting items and perhaps even hp boosting feats can have a lot more than that. It also doesn't count the significant hp boost he gains from raging. Such a character might be able to take as much punishment as two to four hill giants!The barbarian isn't a magical class. All of his powers are extraordinary, not supernatural. So then how is it that he achieves this seemingly superhuman feat of resilience? I posit that he doesn't. He may take some small amount of physical harm when he is hit, but he doesn't get bitten in half by the t-rex and then pull himself back together through sheer fortitude.I don't think the two are contradictory at all. Gygax didn't typically refer to the meta because the meta is fine being left implicit. When discussing weapon damage, he didn't say "Longswords deal slashing damage, but they won't cut you in half if you still have hp, since some of that attack is absorbed by meta elements such as skill and luck." He wrote a brief essay on the topic in both the PHB and DMG. Presumably, he felt that that was sufficient.As for the term "hit" points, my understanding is that the term is merely wargaming terminology that was carried over and adapted for D&D. The concept evolved but the name stayed the same.Maybe, maybe not. They seem to be making a genuine effort to make a great game that appeals to everyone, so I don't think they'll be as ready this time around to throw the baby out with the bathwater.I agree.Admittedly, the physical interpretation does appear more common than I would have expected. As you say, a broader interpretation encompasses far more playstyles than a limited one.</blockquote>

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