Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Add Reply
A good illustration of hit points
Topic Started: Aug 1 2008, 07:24 PM (69 Views)
Pamela
Member Avatar
Molly
 [  *  *  *  *  *  ]
Lord Soth, a poster at Cafe de Nuit, wrote this excellent description of hit points:

Quote:
 

For instance, in any prior edition of the game, a character with enough hit points could survive a fall that would kill anyone in the real world. Is that because he was just that friggin' tough? Nope. That's because hit points don't just represent the characters raw toughness. They also represent plot armor. That character didn't survive because the levels he'd gained made his body tougher than iron. He survived because he bounced off an awning on the way down and landed on an apple cart. In short, those hit points represented pure, unadulerated luck.

Likewise, having 100 hit points doesn't mean that you need to be stabbed 20 times with a longsword before you die. If you're put into a stockade it isn't going to take Jack Ketch five whacks at your neck to finally decapitate you. They represent your ability to turn a potentially lethal blow into a less serious one, or avoid it altogether. Whenever I thought of hit points, I always treated them as a combination of things. They weren't just physical injuries (they rarely were, and that was usually only the case when a hit reduced you to 0 or less, or when a hit could be described as inflicting damage without being normally lethal, like a punch or a kick). For the most part they were a measure of morale, luck, and other factors. For instance, this is how I viewed combat in D&D:

A fighter, a thief, a mage, and a cleric are fighting an orc. The fighter charges at the orc, bellowing his war cry as he brings his sword down hard onto the orcs head. The orc raises his shield in time and blocks the attack, but his knees buckle from the force of the fighter's onslaught (subtract 9 hit points). The thief follows up, creeping behind the orc, as he tries to stab him in the back. The orc notices at the last second, and twists out of the way, the thief's dagger skidding off of his chainmail (subtract 6 hit points). The orc strikes back, swinging his scimitar wide at the fighter before him, who stumbles back, the scimitar blade mere inches from his throat (subtract 6 hit points from the fighter). The mage, seeing an opening, reaches into his component bag and pulls out the components for a Melf's Acid Arrow, which he casts at the orc. The orc, however, sees the missile coming and easily dodges out of the way, laughing at the mage's pitiful magics (no damage). He's not laughing for long, though, as the cleric charges him from behind. Just as the orc turns to look at him the cleric swings his mace wide, connecting with the orc's jaw and sending blood, spittle, and teeth flying as he knocks the orc unconscious (subtract 5 hit points, and reduced to -2).

So the only real damage the orc took, there, was the hit from the mace which brought him down. The rest winded him, demoralized him, etc. Likewise, the fighter lost hit points because of his close call. Throws off his reactions, his timing, etc. And each time he gets thrown off his game his hit points are reduced even further, til finally his hit points are low enough that someone can land a telling blow on him and take him out.

That's the way I've always played it, at least, as hit points as they stood just never made any sense to me (that's why I was hoping for something like the Damage Save from M&M in 4E). 4E, however, went and changed the definition of hit points so that they reflected the way and I many others treated hit points. From the PHB:

Quote:
 
Hit points (hp) measure your ability to stand up to punishment, turn deadly strikes into glancing blows, and stay on your feet throughout a battle. Hit points represent more than physical endurance. They represent your character’s skill, luck, and resolve—all the factors that combine to help you stay alive in a combat situation.


So a healing surge isn't a case of regenerating wounds like Wolverine or anything of the sort. What they represent is inner pools of resolve that allow you to push onward, ignoring the pain from aches and bruises incurred during combat, whereas most other people would stop to regroup. They represent morale boosts, fortune turning in your favor, and the will to fight on. Cleric healing isn't just raw healing. It's also inspiration, soothing frayed nerves, and replacing fear with resolve. It's why you can have a non-magic healer like the Warlord, now. He doesn't actually heal you. Rather, he inspires you to press on. So nope, hit points aren't just wounds. They're much more then that, with physical wounds being a small part of what they're made up of.


I've always been bad at seeing hit points being removed via damage. I've really got to remember this for future use in the game. :)

PS Link is here for those who are interested.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Darkwind
Member Avatar
Native
 [  *  *  *  *  *  ]
That's kinda straining the concept, IMO. If clerical healing is mostly "inspiration, soothing frayed nerves, and replacing fear with resolve" then why doesn't the spell Remove Fear, or paladin's aura or bard's song, for that matter, also heal damage? Why do we need them to channel positive energy explicitly through cure spells/lay on hands?

What I would do is get rid of gaining HP at level up altogether. You would start with a certain amount of health, modified by your Constitution, and stay with that forever. Your ability to avoid attacks, on the other hand, would improve with experience.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
eocine
Member Avatar
Sometimes you just have to burn the card fate dealt you.
 [  *  *  *  *  *  ]
I think in general terms that’s the way I’ve always treated it, because of the fact that obviously in real life you can really only sustain one bad wound before hitting the deck.

What I’ve tried to do is base it on UFC and similar. Whereby you can see fights occur that are basically just a collection of grapples and submission attempts, with neither man actually sustaining much damage. As the time goes on though you can see both men tiring, holding their hands lower and doing everything with less explosiveness, and things start to look a little sloppier, and then, as they really start to suffer you see them going for bigger and bigger shots, forgetting combinations and really leaving themselves open to being KO’d.

However, this only works for some creatures, and especially the PC’s.

If you’re fighting zombies and the like then by all means have limbs flying off. :P
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · General Discussion · Next Topic »
Add Reply

?x=100