Today, we have made significant modifications to the Hitpoints skill, the most important of these being that all ‘hitpoints’ are now multiplied by 10 and renamed ‘life points’, and the name of the actual skill being changed to Constitution. The numbers you see will be bigger, but they will still affect things in the same way.
It’s important to note that this will not change standard combat or the way you play the game.
The best way to describe these changes is with a few examples:
Example 1
Before today’s update:
A player has level 75 in the Hitpoints skill (this gives them 75 hitpoints).
The player has a max hit of 34.
The player is fighting a lesser demon, which has 79 hitpoints and a max hit of 8.
The player is carrying some lobsters, which heal 12 hitpoints each.
After today’s update:
A player has level 75 in the Constitution skill (which gives them 750 life points).
The player has a max hit of 340.
The player is fighting a lesser demon, which has 790 life points and a max hit of 80.
The player is carrying some lobsters, which heal 120 life points each.
Example 2
Before today’s update:
Two players are in PvP combat.
Player A has 21 hitpoints and a max hit of 7. He is carrying chickens, which heal 3 hitpoints each when eaten.
Player B has 92 hitpoints and a max hit of 45. She is carrying manta rays, which heal 22 hitpoints each.
After today’s update:
Two players are in PvP combat.
Player A has 21 Constitution (giving him 210 life points) and has a max hit of 70. He is carrying chickens, which heal 30 life points each.
Player B has 92 Constitution (giving her 920 life points) and has a max hit of 450! W00t! She is carrying manta rays, which heal 220 life points each.
Example 3
Before today’s update:
A player falls from an Agility shortcut and takes 4 damage. When the player takes damage, the amount of damage they take is subtracted from their current hitpoint total. Their current Hitpoint skill level also decreases by the same.
After today’s update:
A player falls from an Agility shortcut and takes 40 damage. When the player takes damage, the amount of damage they take is subtracted from their current life point total. Their Constitution level is unaffected.
As you can see from the above examples, your basic stat remains the same, but the amount of hits you can take (that’s ALL damage, not just from combat) have been multiplied by 10. Equally, the damage you deal has also been multiplied by 10, and all food will heal you 10 times as much.
Your current life points are displayed in the status globe at the top-right hand corner of the screen, next to the minimap. When you take damage, this number will go down, NOT your Constitution stat.
The Constitution skill on the stats interface is in the same place that the Hitpoints skill stat used to be (at the top of the second column of skills; however, your current Constitution level does NOT reflect how much damage you can take – you’ll have to look at the life point display next to the minimap to see that. The skill icon for Constitution is the same as was used for Hitpoints.
This news outlines what has changed with this update; if you’d like to know more about why we have implemented this update, please read this blog.
Mod Mark
RuneScape Lead Designer
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Really? Was this really nessecary? What does everyone think about the update so far.. praise or hate?
Subject: Hitpoints Update 
Thu Mar 04, 2010 4:56 pm
