hit point

plural hit points · alternative hitpoint

1. chiefly roleplaying gamesA unit of damage, used to specify the amount of damage a character or object can withstand before it is defeated or destroyed.

   Damage reduces the monster's hit points; if the monster's hit points drop to 0, it's defeated.

   2005, Bill Slavicsek, Richard Baker, “Playing the Game”, in Dungeons & Dragons For Dummies, Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley Publishing, →ISBN, page 78

   2 more examples

   You can bestow keys, gems, torches and powders, and restore gold, food and hit points. Hit points and experience points can be increased to a maximum of 9999, although you'd better be careful.

   1984, InCider: The Apple II Magazine, volume 2, Peterborough, N.H.: IDG Communications, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 60

   All characters have "hit points" that increase as they traverse the dungeon performing their brave deeds (unless they're smitten by some monster).

   1986, MicroTimes: California's Computer Magazine, volume 3, Oakland, Calif.: BAM Publications, →OCLC, page 86

   Synonyms: HP, health point, life point

2. computer graphicsIn ray tracing, the point in a scene at which a ray strikes an object.

   The in/out status for the hit point is determined by examining the loop which has the subelement (edge or vertex) closest to the hit point.

   1991, Michael John Muuss, Lee A. Butler, “Combinatorial Solid Geometry, Boundary Representations, and n-Manifold Geometry”, in David F. Rogers, Rae A. Earnshaw, editors, State of the Art in Computer Graphics: Visualization and Modeling, New York, N.Y.: Springer-Verlag, →ISBN, page 213