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What Are Hit Points?
A recent discussion with reader Tommi turned into a discussion about what, exactly, hit points are in Dungeons and Dragons. When we discovered two different definitions for hit points, the issue turned to which one was right or how to interpret them both simultaneously. Our was limited to hit points as they applied to living creatures, as objects have different definition and standard for hit points.
According to the SRD, “Your hit points measure how hard you are to kill.” It goes on to expand, “Hit points mean two things in the game world: the ability to take physical punishment and keep going, and the ability to turn a serious blow into a less serious one.”
However, according the 3.5 PHB, hit points are “a measure of a character’s health.”
Here we have a conflict in the definitions and the beginnings of a problem. The problem is further convoluted by the PHB and the SRD both saying “Constitution represents your character’s health and stamina.”
These descriptions and definitions only give us half the picture of exactly what everything does.
Constitution provides bonuses or penalties to the fortitude save and hit points, indicating that it provides a general understanding of the creature’s over-all health, regardless of it’s current condition. The fact that normal combat can take place, and a creature may be slain without it’s Constitution being affected until it’s death. In fact, as an ability, Constitution cannot be damaged in normal combat.
Hit points have a direct and obvious correlation to the creature’s death - at -10, the creature is dead. This would obviously imply a connection to health, but there are still multiple ways to interpret this connection.
One interpretation says that the SRD definition, that hit points represent “the ability to take physical punishment and keep going, and the ability to turn a serious blow into a less serious one,” can be said to apply to any and all hit points beyond the first. The PHB definition, that hit points are “a measure of a character’s health,” applies to the hit points between negative ten and one, which is represented by the character becoming disabled or dying after dropping below one hit point.
A second interpretation says that both definitions apply simultaneously to the whole range of hit points. This interpretation, while less realistic, is much simpler when calculating the effects of different in-game events and mechanics that relate to hit points, such as damage reduction and healing.
A third interpretation states that hit points represent health and only health, and that “the ability to turn a serious blow into a less serious one” is represented sufficiently through Damage Reduction.
Determining what definition of hit points applies in a game helps interpret exactly what happens during play, painting a smoother and more consistent image for the participants.
How do you define hit points? Is it something you ever think about? Has the definition ever affected game play, and not just your enjoyment?
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3 Responses to “What Are Hit Points?”
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On an academic level, only the last few hit points really count. Everything up to that is just superficial wounds, rolling with the blow, etc.
On an applied level, I always forget about that and describe every hit as a hit.
Ultimately, though, I think it’s not really worth talking too much about. It’s a game abstraction and ultimately impossible to reconcile in terms of reality. Why does a high level fighter not get healed up to full on the same CLW that heals a commoner? D&D’s a game, and sometimes that’s just the answer.
Asmor’s last blog post..Setting Seeds: Dominus
Somewhere/somewhen in [A]D[&]D evolution, hit points also reflected combat competency, hence the fighter has the most hit points. Finishing hits also reflect this: the fighter does not have “more health” when incapacitated.
Overall, DD hit points are unrealistic. Depending on the setting they can be coherent and believable.
When building my “D&D but better”-game, edition around 4 back then, I had problems with conceptualising hp (falling and such were hard to adjudicate). I don’t worry about them anymore, because I simply read them as the character’s ability to not be fatally wounded. Ditto with SW d20 vitality.
Tommi’s last blog post..As the witch wills