The Riddle of Steal: HD, Attrition, and Black Sheep

We all have an understanding of HD. Bigger amounts are better, heartier, can likely do more damage. Lesser amounts are weaker, chaff, the yet-to-be-bleeding meat to be cleaved! It's become such a main stay of RPG conventions, specially those that revolve around D&D to include them or some analogous form of them. Two pillars of the most agreed upon idea of attritional play rest upon them though, Cleave Rules and ever increasing HP totals. These two ideas work in tandem to allow higher level PCs cut through the lesser fodder with little fear as to their safety. The big focus of this kind of attritional play is watching your ever shrinking pile of hit points dwindle closer and closer to zero and trying to find the perfect time to reap the benefit while avoiding the danger. Cleave also remedies the large encounter sizes the 1974 version of the game has. Fighters can break ranks of weaker foes with ease! HD surely has a place in all of our games for how easy it makes this kind of play.…