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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 5833181" data-attributes="member: 53980">No, healing has always been abstract. Otherwise, how does the same 1d8+5 (let's say max roll, or 13 hp) Cure Light Wounds spell bring a 1st level mage from death's door to full health, but only heal a minor injury on a high level barbarian? The 4 hp mage was at -9 hp, so clearly he was very badly injured. A 130 hp barbarian who is reduced to 117 hp on the other hand, is barely injured (if at all).The only explanation that I can see is that the CLW restores mostly physical hp to the wizard, but primarily meta hp to the barbarian. As such, healing is abstract and therefore could always be either.As for 4e making no hp loss physical, that's simply untrue. Some hp must be physical, because otherwise how could you die? I could easily make a revenant barbarian whose hp are represented primarily by "meat" in 4e. What it did was redefine healing.What 4e essentially does is make hp abstract, therefore healing is also abstract. Let's assume, for arguments sake, that a particular 100 hp character is defined as normally having 10% physical hp, and 90% meta hp. Keep in mind, 4e does not make this statement, I'm simply using it for purposes of illustration about "hp fluidity". That character is reduced to 5 hp, and has clearly suffered physical harm (since he's at 5% of his total hp). 4e doesn't say that a warlord can shout the character's wounds closed, restoring him to 100% health (as being 10% physical and 90% meta). What it says is that the warlord inspires the character to power through, "substituting" morale hp, in lieu of physical and other meta hp. So after healing, the character would still be at 5% physical hp, but the rest would be 95% meta (some of which would be morale, or inspiration).Your hp total defines how much harm can be thrown at you without you dying. How you fill, or refill, that tank is left up to the table.Let me put it another way. My roommate has cats. Sometimes they scratch me. When they do, it hurts, but a few moments later it's forgotten. There's no reason why those scratches would impair me if I got into a real fight later. The idea that they would slow me down even a little (1 hp worth) strikes me as absurd. I've been hurt a lot worse than just cat scratches. It's impressive what the human mind can power through and bounce back from. When I was a kid I smashed the back of my head into a metal door frame by accident. There was blood EVERYWHERE. Fortunately, my aunt knew first aid and managed to stop the bleeding, then rushed me to the doctor where I received quite a few stitches. Nevertheless, a few hours later I was running around and playing as if nothing had happened. Was I some child-paragon of tenacity? Yeah right! I'm pretty sure I still cried over scrapped knees back then. Yet, despite suffering what might have been a potentially life-threatening injury earlier in the day, a few hours later I was perfectly fine.Abstract hp make perfect sense, as does abstract healing.</blockquote>

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