12-08-2012, 03:41 PM
Gronan and/or Greg can certainly comment on this better than I, but I seem to remember reading somewhere that Dave liked to use Constitution (or health, or whatever it was called) in place of hit points.
In other words, the "hit point" was a fabrication from Chainmail that took a number of hits (e.g. "hit dice") and converted them into a smaller base unit which was more random, so that a successful attack wouldn't do one hit but a random amount of damage.
I seem to recall that Dave used percentile dice for attributes and that the actual stat represented damage that could be taken, rather than adding an additional "hit point" statistic.
Again, there are probably others more qualified to answer than I am -- I may have dreamed this whole thing up.
In other words, the "hit point" was a fabrication from Chainmail that took a number of hits (e.g. "hit dice") and converted them into a smaller base unit which was more random, so that a successful attack wouldn't do one hit but a random amount of damage.
I seem to recall that Dave used percentile dice for attributes and that the actual stat represented damage that could be taken, rather than adding an additional "hit point" statistic.
Again, there are probably others more qualified to answer than I am -- I may have dreamed this whole thing up.
Marv / Finarvyn
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Visit my Blackmoor OD&D board
OD&D since 1975
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
- Dave Arneson
![[Image: Giladan.png]](http://rizak.info/PIX/Giladan.png)
Member of The Regency Council
Visit my Blackmoor OD&D board
OD&D since 1975
"Don't ask me what you need to hit. Just roll the die and I will let you know!"
- Dave Arneson