D&D 3.X - You're How Tough?

    Or No You Aren't

    Or No; A 1st-Level Barbarian Is Slower Than Usain Bolt

 

    "The Orc hits you with a Falchion", the GM says.
    "No problem", the player says. "I'm a 1st-level Human Warrior with 12 Hit Points. He can't kill me."
    "Wait...You can't be killed by a direct blow by a weapon which, historically, has been known to sever limbs...while going through the armour?" the GM wonders.
    "Well, no," the player says. "Hit points aren't actual damage. Besides, those were direct blows that hit full-on."
    "But I just rolled damage", the GM asserts. "Besides, the d20 SRD states that: 'Your hit points measure how hard you are to kill. No matter how many hit points you lose, your character isn’t hindered in any way until your hit points drop to 0 or lower.'"
    "It would be more accurate to say that hit points mostly aren't actual damage."

    Socratic dialogue aside, a character isn't meaningfully impaired until their hit points hit zero or lower. At zero, they're disabled. At zero to negative nine, they're dying. And at negative 10, they're dead. So...Only the last ten hit points matter?
    Yes...And no.
    In the d20 SRD, the following quote is used to describe hit points: "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."
     Hit points mean two things, and those two things are clearly specified. Hit points are your physical toughness, and your ability to reduce the effects of blows. At this point; hit points are both damage, and yet not damage...However, the Player's Handbook has something to add, in a paragraph which specifies that, until you hit zero hit points, all damage is "cosmetic". Dents and scratches on armour, a line of blood on your tunic from shallow cuts whose sting the hero (or villain) can easily shake off; and scars (presumably dramatic).

     In short, unless the orc rolls the full 12 damage, the human fighter has a new dent in his armour and/or dramatic face, arm, or chest scar to show off. In other words, hit points are mostly not actual damage. Perhaps the falchion scrapes across his chest, breaking scales in his armour as it is barely turned aside as the human fighter desperately lurches backwards...
    His armour weaker in that area (his hit points *lowered), the human fighter raises his longsword to strike...

    Of course, a player's character is a cut above. Player characters get full hit points at first level, where others must roll; they start with an average close to +2 over the average normal character in all ability scores (actually one and two thirds over); and, of course, they are some of the few characters who have primary classes, not secondary classes. A 1st-level fighter alone is an oddity; fully a full step above the average non-player character. With maximum hit points at first level, PCs are another half-step up, able to turn lethal blows into narrow escapes.
    Just as expected of a heroic fantasy protagonist.
    But not superhuman. Yet. The Alexandrian blog explains that as sixth level, and provides some sound-seeming evidence.

    *Why, you might ask, does Cure Light Wounds also restore this cosmetic armour damage? The Doylist answer is "because cosmetic armour damage is hit point damage." The Watsonian answer is "Because Cure Light Wounds is not a spell formula; it is literally a D&D cleric channelling a D&D deity's divine power to command 'Be Whole'."

    Of course, all answers are my (hopefully reasoned) opinion. Any resemblance to actual truth is hopefully more than a coincidence.

    What was that about a Barbarian? Well, that's a topic for a future column...

    The Legal Necessities: As far as I know, my blog is not endorsed by either Wizards of the Coast or The Alexandrian, and no special relationship is implied or stated.