Quote Originally Posted by Azuresun View Post
And that's great for grittier games than D&D. Hit points work perfectly for the heroic fantasy of D&D--they're very simple to keep track of, you have a rough idea of how long you can stay in the fight unless something unexpected happens, there's a lot of room to interpret what a hit actually means, and they give the thrill of being near defeat without also becoming worse at what you do, encouraging going on the attack to drop your opponent before they take you out.
And allows for the very Fantasy Adventure archetypes of the meat wall and the "berserker" (ie charges into battle, laughs at his own wounds), as well as all the associated archetypes. Because if there's a death spiral, charging into battle like that and trying to draw the attention to yourself is, well, stupid and unlikely to give you a lifespan longer than a few battles. The archetype of the guy shrugging off attacks and face-tanking a dragon's attacks with armor or steely muscles is one with a deeply-embedded memetic complex in fantasy.

Different "feels" need different mechanics, especially around things how and when battle should be engaged in.