Recent articles on HP in DND next have stated that they are a mix of, Physical ability, experience and luck and cosmic karma. http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd%2F4ll%2F20120521 This is something that I have been giving a lot of thought on for a number of years as my rpg group in general does not like the loads of hit points school of playing. In particular we nearly always use mooks with low levels of hit pots for most npc. In general only one or two htis are needed to knock them out of the fight. My current thought on DnD hit points is that the additional hit points above constitution are basically a buffer, allowing the pc to absorb damage, certainly because of experience and skill in line with the dnd next rules. This means that those hits are not actual physical just numerous small nicks and scratches have started to take their toll, just like Conan in the books, or equivilent to using a Fate Point each time you are hit. The key would appear to be what happe...
A running commentary of what I get up to, get distracted by and generally end up not doing with my hobbies of wargaming, rpgs and anything else I find interesting. Key focus at the moment is Mordheim, DnD, Otherworld miniatures and rpgs. Any historical stuff (mainly colonial) I now post on a seperate blog.