It's an old debate, but I find myself running with a group of newbies, and they're asking how "seven slashing damage" impales a commoner but inconveniences a (presumably mortal) barbarian.
So how do you conceptualize HP? Does it represent the same narrative idea in every situation (e.g. actual bodily injury), or do you like to throw out multiple, sometimes contradictory descriptions (it's just 'battle fatigue' this time)? Do you have any favorite ways to describe HP-loss?
Depends on the scenario and the forces in play. Generally, HP is more about how much punishment a character can take (whether battle fatigue, glancing blows, near misses that whittle down their 'heroic luck', etc, etc) before they get into the realm of actually bleeding out (HP less than zero). So, just like a level 1 commoner (barring a few exceptions), that barbarian is going to bleed out just as fast when that low on HP.
Things like poison that is delivered through damage, bleed effects, magical burns, etc, I handle slightly differently but essentially the same. Poison can be delivered through minor or shallow scratches, bleed isn't usually as 'bloody' as people generally envision (and tends to whittle down that 'heroic armor' via more than usual amounts of blood loss), you get the idea.
In short, I save the 'bloody depictions of severe battle trauma' for finishing moves or critical hits that leave an enemy severely hurt.
HP encompasses more than just physical damage. IT also takes into consideration fatigue, skill, talent, ability etc. it's an abstract representation of all the things that makes someone good at combat and able to withstand combat. Sometimes it might be you hit him and wind him" or it might be "You seem to get past his defenses easier this time, perhaps you are whittling him down", and then sometimes it might be "You gave him a good cut this time, your blade is bloody"
After while, most groups move past this abstraction and just say damage, and don't worry about the graphic details.
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In many action movies (such as Die Hard), you can see the protagonists take lots of scratches, punches, and outright injuries and keep going because they're Just That Tough. So mid-level PCs are essentially action movie heroes, and peasants are not.
Yes, that means that to a peasant, a 7-hp sword blow is a mortal injury, whereas to John McClane it is a minor inconvenience.
I don't do the whole "fatigue and luck" angle because it's not actually consistent with how the mechanics work; e.g. how a "near miss that increased your fatigue" nevertheless affects you with injury poison, and how healing spells are called "cure light wounds" and not "restore light amount of luck and fatigue". Besides, the game already has mechanics for luck and fatigue, that do completely different things.
The only thing I ever wished for out of HP was a "scars and permanent damage" mechanic. Part of the reason we love pirates, Nick Fury and Snake Pliskin is b/c they wear eye patches. I know Skulls & Shackles has some kind of rules for this, but I wish the main game did.
Obviously we're talking action hero damage: the patchwork of damage on Indy's back, or the twin scars on Inigo's cheeks. None of this damage would likely permanently reduce the character at all. Rather these would be things that are more "character defining" than "permanent penalties."
IMO, in a world of magic healing, scars and handicaps (missing eyes and peg legs for the pirates) should be virtually non-existent, especially for the PC's who should have a healer with them.
IMO, in a world of magic healing, scars and handicaps (missing eyes and peg legs for the pirates) should be virtually non-existent, especially for the PC's who should have a healer with them.
100% this. One of the exceptions I make is for injuries that heal mostly (or entirely) from natural healing, rather than magical. This includes 'Fast Healing' or regeneration. You WILL get scars from that kind of healing (looking at you Infernal Healing), unless actual curative magic (ie, positive energy) is used on you within the same 24 hours period to 'top you off'. Essentially, any HP healing that is done above and beyond your normal HP total starts removing scar tissue.
mostly it's cuts, bruises and fatigue with an optional rule I offered my players. If you take more damage in a single hit than your Fortitude Save, you get an injury. Describe it and write it down, it has no mechanical effects other than to serve as a Role-playing tool.
When you get Healing Magic erase the most recent injury. If you reach full Hit Points and still have injuries, they become Scars.
Again, Scars are strictly a Role-playing hook, there are no mechanical effects to them.
It's a "do it if you feel like it kind" of rule, but I use it myself as a guideline to describing when they hurt the Big bads.
Is there anyone that goes the opposite route? I think most folks describe HP damage as cuts, bruises, heroic luck, using non-vital parts to absorb brutal blows, etc... but is there anyone out there that's like "you took 27 damage from that bite: it rips away 2 lbs of flesh and blood shoots out, yet you're fine!"
I've always wanted to go this route. Class levels literally give you more "heroic essence" that allows you to keep going. This mess would allow for fully on Bleach-style blood and ludicrous wounds:
https://lurei.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/bleach-ep-295-2.jpg
It's silly, but at least it's consistent!
Just seen this thread, I'll tell you what I do in my campaign. For starters I run a low magic campaign where magical healing is A LOT harder to get.
I converted all HP damage to temporary / subdual style damage that you will recover from very quickly outside of combat. Basically rest for a hour or so, catch your 2nd wind and off you go. Good as new (full HP recovery). Critical hits by comparison were "deep wounds" that reflected the idea the character was really hurt and took some form of specialized (alchemical or magical) healing.
Thus the 100 hp fighter might recover from his 75 HP of injuries, but still be carrying around that 25 point wound from a critical hit earlier in the day. Other penalties are generally applied to reflect the fact that the character is seriously injured and in need of medical attention.
This style of game play allowed the party to recover more quickly from small fights and keep going, while emphasizing the idea that as time goes on they would wear down and need downtime (or magic) to heal up. It also means that the party healer was less worried about it if some took HP damage as the biggest threat from it was ultimately it would knock out the party member from the fight. (A KO'd party member could also be insta-killed with a coup-de-grace style attack, so they are not "safe" once knocked out.)
With this idea of HP it is was easier to see them as getting battered, bruised, the wind knocked out of them, etc however the wounds are not generally deadly. As for questions like why did the sword strike not kill them? Well that is why you wear armor....literally.