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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 4199772" data-attributes="member: 1645">I agree with foster1941: Non-physical hit points, like abstracted "to hit" rolls, are a post-hoc rationalization trying to make "sense" out of a game-construct in a way that looks good on the page but falls apart under too-close scrutiny (healing and large creatures in the former case, touch and missile attacks in the latter) so I choose not to think about it too much. "Morale healing" fits within the rationalized explanation of what "hit points" represent, but doesn't fit with their actual in-game function which, like it or not, is actual physical damage -- D&D has a separate mechanic for morale, and while combining the two into something more wholly abstract (as seen in a game like HeroQuest, where an effecive maneuver or taunt might inflict just as much "damage" as a sword-blow and "running out of hit points" might well mean that the character's morale has failed, and not that he has been physically killed) is intriguing and might make for an interesting game, that's not how the D&D system is set up. It's not realistic, it's not logical, but it's how the game is set up (and it does make for a fun game...): as characters gain levels they become physically tougher and harder to kill -- a mid-level character can take as much damage as a warhorse, and a high level character as much damage as a T. Rex.</blockquote>