Losing hit points has no effect on the creature until it drops to 0 hit points. Whenever a creature takes damage, subtract the damage from the creature’s current hit points. This number changes frequently as creatures suffer damage and heal, sometimes multiple times in a single round. A creature’s current hit points (typically just called “hit points”) can be any number up to the creature’s hit point maximum and down to 0. Hit points in Dungeons and Dragons work the same way that you might expect from any number of video games: Creatures each have a “Hit Point Maximum” which represents that creature’s ability to suffer damage without dying. You’re free to narratively represent hit points however you like in your game. Taking damage might be represented as minor injuries, near misses, or gradual exhaustion as the creature continues to fight. Hit points measure a combination of stamina, mental durability, will to live, and a bit of luck. Hit points aren’t necessarily a representation of a creature’s ability to be stabbed repeatedly. Crippling long-term injuried like losing a limb are exceptionally rare, and generally only occur as a plot point or because some strange creature has the specific ability to cause them.

This is a vague approximation of real-world injury, but it saves us the tedium of tracking things like individual injuries, broken bones, and blood loss. Injuried in Dungeons and Dragons are approximated by damage and hit points. Even the toughest and most skilled adventurers run the risk of untimely death. It’s a simple fact of adventuring that you character will take damage at some point, and they may even die.

Dnd 5e creature types