tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post1582719818833035278..comments2024-03-29T20:04:30.755+08:00Comments on Monsters and Manuals: Hit Points as Proxies for Character Traits, and the Genius of the AbstractUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-67188701714956222582015-02-16T11:42:09.785+08:002015-02-16T11:42:09.785+08:0018 Strength and 1 HP? You just described every bod...18 Strength and 1 HP? You just described every body builder I ever heard of in their first bar fight! If Hit Points are an abstract that combines health, determination and survival instinct ( a huge if, but the one I use) then such a character would be a great example of a guy who pumps iron and flexes and benches obscene amounts of weight and could hit really hard, but has never taken an injury ever and damn near dies of shock after being cut once.Spazalicious Chaoshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18244425041829215280noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-6154677353860103442015-02-13T20:40:00.359+08:002015-02-13T20:40:00.359+08:00I put together something similar that focuses on A...I put together something similar that focuses on <a href="http://d4caltrops.blogspot.com/2013/11/ability-score-tags.html" rel="nofollow">Ability Scores</a> to provide a little color to bonuses and penalties (which typically don't inform play as much as they should, or receive just a hand-wavy "I rolled poorly" justification). <br />Decoupling hit points from "Health" and keeping them abstract has long been a preference of mine. I've experimented with using Wisdom as the modifier to help enforce this (they're luck, skill, intuition), and my current preference is to re-roll HD at the start of each combat encounter (this keeps the player's on their toes, and even a high level fighter will change tactics and fight a little more cautiously if the majority of their HD come up 1s). Since the last hit point is really the only one that matters in D&D, they turn into a "fight timer" for the players and are rationalized into things like exhaustion, bad luck, or even "these Goblins are better fighters than the last ones (because I have lower HP)" rather than mass or physical damage capacity. <br />Injury still occurs, but it's usually the result of failed Saving Throws (one vs Death is offered to players when they lose that fatal, final hit point) and creates fictional challenges like broken bones, bleeding, and othersuch. Injury directly impacts a character's capability (be it movement rate, ability scores, etc) in a way that Hit Point loss never really did. ktreyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16680322763419091488noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-46311384206859895302015-02-13T18:13:16.746+08:002015-02-13T18:13:16.746+08:00Excellent.Excellent.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-69178059288451851542015-02-13T18:12:59.108+08:002015-02-13T18:12:59.108+08:00The Bill and Ted thing is deliberate. ;) See below...The Bill and Ted thing is deliberate. ;) See below comment to Antonio. Rationalising levelling up and thinking about cursing are just further interesting things to explore. <br /><br />Goblins are definitely clever opponents, though. noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-43065458598269703192015-02-13T18:11:58.913+08:002015-02-13T18:11:58.913+08:00It can, but it can also make them more interesting...It can, but it can also make them more interesting. Maybe Ted's glass skeleton hardens over time. Or transforms into silicon. Why? Rationalising the abstraction of levelling is yet another element of the same phenomenon.noismshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09933436762608669966noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-54153073977156926722015-02-13T17:21:24.741+08:002015-02-13T17:21:24.741+08:00Level advancement can potentially wreak all of tho...Level advancement can potentially wreak all of those concepts.Antoniohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17258180992723371727noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-35878223167535949102015-02-13T13:33:11.578+08:002015-02-13T13:33:11.578+08:00Ruptect was string and fast but also a hemophiliac...Ruptect was string and fast but also a hemophiliac. Maybe he will improve at dodging blows because his house surgeon said he was likely to bleed out if he cut himself shaving. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2513019539869706574.post-63673085858242248732015-02-13T12:34:32.599+08:002015-02-13T12:34:32.599+08:00I like it, I don't love it.
Bill - Goblins cou...I like it, I don't love it.<br />Bill - Goblins count as clever opponents? (they seem pretty incompetent) <br />Ben - Would remove curse give him more HP or is this curse too strong?<br />Ted - What happens when Ted goes up a level or two, do his bones learn to be not glass?<br /><br />Also we're only one letter off from being Bill en Ted. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com