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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 6094552" data-attributes="member: 82106">I imagine the conversation in WotC HQ back when designing 4e went something like...Dev A: OK, we could just give PCs a whole lot more hit points than they have now, then they'll be able to go through a day of adventuring and do crazy stuff and not worry about dying every minute.Dev B: But, doesn't there NEED to be some possibility of dying, there should be tension WITHIN an encounter, AND outside each encounter.Dev A: OK, so what we need is a way to have the PCs pushed to the brink, but then be able to roll with it and pull back from the edge.Dev B: Sure, we could add in a hero point that lets you negate one attack per encounter.Dev A: Yeah, but isn't that stuff just part of hit points, why not have a reserve pool of hit points you can tap into to recover? Dev B: Yeah, that's sort of like the old 'stun points' from (some old supers game or other).Dev A: Right, but what if we made healing powers be encounter powers and then they just shift hit points from the 'reserve' to the 'active' pool? That lets us decouple the rate of daily healing from the rate of encounter healing.Dev B: Brilliant, we can call it 'surges'. The concept IMHO in 4e IS built around hit points being the measure of luck, skill, etc. that allows you to avoid 'meat' damage. There isn't a lot of difference between defensive bennies and hit points, it is easiest to fold that all into hit points, which all editions of D&amp;D have mostly done.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 6094552, member: 82106"] I imagine the conversation in WotC HQ back when designing 4e went something like... Dev A: OK, we could just give PCs a whole lot more hit points than they have now, then they'll be able to go through a day of adventuring and do crazy stuff and not worry about dying every minute. Dev B: But, doesn't there NEED to be some possibility of dying, there should be tension WITHIN an encounter, AND outside each encounter. Dev A: OK, so what we need is a way to have the PCs pushed to the brink, but then be able to roll with it and pull back from the edge. Dev B: Sure, we could add in a hero point that lets you negate one attack per encounter. Dev A: Yeah, but isn't that stuff just part of hit points, why not have a reserve pool of hit points you can tap into to recover? Dev B: Yeah, that's sort of like the old 'stun points' from (some old supers game or other). Dev A: Right, but what if we made healing powers be encounter powers and then they just shift hit points from the 'reserve' to the 'active' pool? That lets us decouple the rate of daily healing from the rate of encounter healing. Dev B: Brilliant, we can call it 'surges'. The concept IMHO in 4e IS built around hit points being the measure of luck, skill, etc. that allows you to avoid 'meat' damage. There isn't a lot of difference between defensive bennies and hit points, it is easiest to fold that all into hit points, which all editions of D&D have mostly done. [/QUOTE]

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