4E's hit point philosophy

[hal]

Hello Folks,
As I drove into work recently, my mind wandered on the topic of why 4E hit point rules leave me so dis-satisfied.

My mind went on the road or train of thought that started with "Why is it that hit points scale with the cube of the weight" but then doesn't follow known physics when it comes to reality?

For instance? Suppose I had a given amount or mass of water. Suppose I had to use X energy to instantly vaporize that water from room temperature into vapor. With the laws of physics, we know to the Joule, how much energy is required to vaporize water based upon mass and room temperature (ie, how much energy is required at a given starting temperature of a given amount of water).

So, the question becomes one of:

If you quadruple the mass of water, would you expect that the energy required to vaporize that larger mass of water to be a function of the cube root of the mass of that water times 8, or would you expect the energy to vaporize four times the water by mass, to be approximately equal to 4 times the energy required to vaporize the smaller mass of water?

My instinctive response would be 4x the energy.

Now why did I take the example of water instead of say, wood, flesh, or something else?

GURPS has the rationale that X points of damage will render an object non-functional, and that 10x that level of damage will obliterate it with total destruction (more or less). Killing a character in GURPS works because you only need to cause vital organs to cease function, and the entire organism ceases to live. Damaging a car engine needs only for some vital "thing" to be damaged to where the engine ceases to function. But in each case, there is an upper limit to how much damage any given thing can take.

So, the water illustration was meant to be a VERY simplified demonstration of what I'm having problems with. Dumping energy into water in the form of a plasma bolt for instance, can be a function of a weapon attack on a non-living thing.

So, in the end, I ponder "Why did SJGames go with the idea that hit points do not scale directly with mass, but scales as the cube root? Energy affecting a given volume isn't a function of the cube root of the volume, nor the cube root of the volume's mass, but a direct function of the mass itself. At least, that is what I seem to recall from the pre-historic era of my education in physics back in the late 70's and early 80's (and yes, I'm OLD - but still breathing at least!)

Comments?

By the by? What started this whole train of thought, is the issue that stems from why Age of Sail ships in history could take the pounding that they did historically, but can't take with the current rules in GURPS 4e. If we know the kinetic energy contained within a cannonball travelling at 1,200 feet per second - and we know that historically, ships could not only take 200 such hits and remain in existence - but be repairable and ready for battle within 14 days - well, you know why I'm really having second thoughts about the cube root function as currently written. :(