Chad Verrall

Consider a D&D character that starts with a lot of hit points, but only gains a few as they level up. At 1st level, HP = Con score + 1 hit die. Each level gained adds Con modifier to HP. Each tier gained also adds 1 new hit die.

(For example, a 1st-level fighter with 16 Constitution has 16 + 1d10 hit points. At 2nd level, they gain 3 hit points from their +3 Constitution modifier. At 5th level they advance to tier 2 and gain an additional 1d10 hit points.)

However, to represent their skill increasing, characters gain a bonus to Armor Class equal to their level. Our 1st level fighter in ring mail starts with an AC of 15 = (14 + 1). At 5th level, they’ve gained combat experience and a suit of splint mail, raising AC to 22 (17 + 5).

The current system of “bounded accuracy” prefers to keep ACs and to-hit bonuses low so that even kobolds can always pose a threat. However, because of ballooning HP, encounters like this become wars of attrition; lots of misses before middling hits.

The main benefit of high-HP low-AC system is you hit a lot, which means you’re always contributing a little bit. Missing and doing NOTHING feels like you’ve wasted your turn, which sucks. This is all down to game “feel.” One hit doesn’t mean much, but one miss FEELS terrible.