# Hit points

- Term: Tabletop term
- Date: 1974
- Canonical: https://www.lanternhall.org/lexicon/hit-points/

> A number measuring how much damage a character or creature can take before it is defeated. Attacks subtract hit points and rest or healing restores them, turning the drama of a fight into a steadily falling total. Nearly every [Western Computer RPGs (CRPG)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/computer-rpg/) and [Japanese RPGs (JRPG)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/japanese-rpg/) inherited the idea, usually as a shrinking health bar.

A number measuring how much damage a character or creature can take before it is defeated. Attacks subtract hit points and rest or healing restores them, turning the drama of a fight into a steadily falling total. Nearly every [Western Computer RPGs (CRPG)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/computer-rpg/) and [Japanese RPGs (JRPG)](https://www.lanternhall.org/atlas/japanese-rpg/) inherited the idea, usually as a shrinking health bar.

**Origin:** Coined by Dave Arneson while adapting Chainmail's one-hit-kills into longer fights for single heroes in his Blackmoor campaign; codified in Dungeons & Dragons (1974).

## Quick answers

**What does "Hit points" mean?**
A number measuring how much damage a character or creature can take before it is defeated. Attacks subtract hit points and rest or healing restores them, turning the drama of a fight into a steadily falling total. Nearly every Western Computer RPGs (CRPG) and Japanese RPGs (JRPG) inherited the idea, usually as a shrinking health bar.

**Where does the term "Hit points" come from?**
Coined by Dave Arneson while adapting Chainmail's one-hit-kills into longer fights for single heroes in his Blackmoor campaign; codified in Dungeons & Dragons (1974).

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From The Lantern Hall (https://www.lanternhall.org/), a museum of fantasy literature and roleplaying games.