Hit Points
"Everyone knows what this is." – Illwinter
Hit Points (or "HP") are a measure of how easy a unit is to kill. At zero HP or lower, it’s dead… unless it has the "Undying" Bless, or one of those alternate forms, or something.
Dominions uses both a hit-point system and an area-damage system for reflecting harm done to units. "Damage" generally refers to the loss of HP, though; Afflictions refer to the mangling and maligning of parts. (Damage can also refer to counters being added to the target, such as with "Fatigue Damage" or "Paralysis Damage", but no matter.) Whether or not a hit causes an Affliction is largely determined by how much HP Damage the hit did, proportional to the target's maximum HP.
Maximum HP also determines the strength of Regeneration.
Stat Examples
| The Example Monster | Their HP |
|---|---|
| Most Swarm Summons | 1 |
| A Hoburg or Markata | 5 |
| A Longdead (skeletal) human | 5 |
| A Vaetti goblin | 8 |
| A Wolf | 8 |
| A female human civilian | 9 |
| A very bookish human Mage | 9 |
| The average human male | 10 |
| A Man at Arms or ordinary Knight | 11 |
| A Pelagian Triton or an Atlantian | 12 |
| A Barbarian | 13 |
| A Soulless (zombie) human | 15 |
| A top-of-the-line human without magic | 16 |
| A Bandar or Great Ape (Size 4) | 18 |
| An average War Horse | 20 |
| A typical Giant (Size 6) with some combat training | 33 |
| A Great Bear | 40 |
| A Dai Oni or Sheshai Anakite (Size 7 humanoid) | 50 |
| A Size 6 Water Elemental | 61 |
| A wild Elephant (Size 9) | 61 |
| A typical Pretender Titan, Size 8 | 80 |
| A typical Pretender Titan, Size 9 | 90 |
| The weakest Tree that blocks your path | 105 |
| A Hill Giant | 106 |
| A typical Pretender Monster with wings, Size 10 | 125 |
| A typical Pretender Monster without wings, Size 10 | 150 |
| A Siege Golem | 165 |
| A Tarrasque | 245 |
| A Tartarian Monstrum | 310 |
| Kurgi - Slave to Unreason | 404 |
| A Monument | 500 |
Note how the Mindless (like Trees) generally have pretty high HP for their size. They can't go into shock due to pain, after all. The Undead are in a similar situation; except for the Longdead, anyway, which are "brittle" and can be knocked over into piles.
Example Damage Scores
Just to give a sense of how much damage a unit will be taking, if Defence Skill fails and there's no Protection or Resistance in the way:
| Example Attack | Damage (without DRN) |
|---|---|
| A Frog bite | 1 |
| Maximum damage from a Whip | 1 |
| Strain from avoiding a Trample | 1 |
| Being blown back by a Size 4 Air Elemental | 5 |
| Weak Poison | 5 |
| A Black Hawk's Talons | 6 |
A stone fired by a  1 mage's Flying Shards | 7 |
| A single spark from Fire Flies | 8 |
| A Hoburg Militia stick-poke | 9 |
| Collateral damage from a meteor (via Gifts from Heaven) | 10 |
| An projectile from a human Archer or Crossbowman | 11 |
| An Archer's Dagger strike | 12 |
Frozen Heart via a  3 mage | 12 |
| A human Militia-man's Spear-poke | 13 |
A Lightning Bolt from a  3 mage | 15 |
| Strong Poison | 15 |
| A Broad Sword strike from a human | 16 |
| Being stepped on by an Elephant | 16 |
| A Great Sword slash from a human | 21 |
A Flare from a  3 mage | 22 |
| A 3 mage's Thunder Strike (main hit) | 26 |
| An Anakite Sword strike from an Ahiman Anakite | 30 |
| "Death" Poison | 35 |
| A Battleaxe swing from a Garmhirding | 37 |
| A 3 mage's Pillar of Fire (main hit) | 38 |
| A Maul hit from a Duiu of Farming | 42 |
A  31 mage's Bane Fire (main hit) | 55 |
| "The Deadliest Poison" from The Sharpest Tooth | 75 |
| A direct hit from a meteor | 150 |
| "Instakills" | 999 |