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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 5833867" data-attributes="member: 42582">I agree that Inflict Pain contradicts the "official" 3E line on hp. I see this as analogous to Gygax apparently contrdicting himself when he describes hp loss from psionics as physical damage, although elsewhere he's told us that hp loss can represent a wearing down of luck, skill etc. Psionics is apparently a ripe source of contradictions in the presentation of hp!I think the contradiction is in describing hp loss as physical damage, when elsewhere it's been expressly stated that hp loss is not exclusively, or for a high level PC perhaps even primarily, physical damage.Personally, I would not be a big fan of that keyword. I like Vicous Mockery and fear that can kill. I think they fit the fantasy genre.I don't think anything is wrong with it at all. That's why I play 4e, and why 4e is the only version of D&D that I have any serious interest in playing.But there are others who apparently do think there is something wrong with it. They appear not to like the possibilities that it opens up (like hp loss from purely mental/emotional effects, martial healing, etc).In 4e to lose hit points is to lose the capacity to survive in a fight. So you are right that hit point loss is not physical. Hit point loss is not, per se, anything in the gameworld. It is primarily a metagame status. But it can be the result of physical injury. It can also be the result of other things, including fear or mind blasts.I don't think that this is genuinely the case. For example, I frequently describe physical injury to the PCs in my 4e game - they are struck by blows, grazed by swords, etc. As they "heal" - being urged on by the cleric, or catching their second wind - they fight one despite these injuries. There is no problem with describing damage.It is a consequence of 4e that no hit point loss, except (perhaps) damage that drops a PC below 0 hp, can be described in such a way that it would be impossible to fight on in disregard of it. (So no disembowelling, maiming etc). But that has always been true of D&D, because D&D has never, in any edition, had mechanical consequences of hit point loss consistent with a PC having been disembowelled, maimed etc.I should add  - this constraint only applies to PCs. For most monster and NPCs, which have no access to in-combat healing, narration can generally be a bit more gory if desired.</blockquote>

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