[Gulnyr]

Even with normal armor, though, if a character doesn't lose hit points, it didn't really do anything serious. I know that can seem screwy.

To try to tie in the hit point stuff from before, imagine that Terrence Treeswinger swings a tree at Stephanie Standingthere. If it's a miss, maybe Stephanie dodged it with little effort. If it's a hit, Stephanie loses hit points, but maybe she still dodged the tree. Yes, I did in fact say that she still dodged the tree, despite being hit. It just happens that this dodge was more strenuous, so it cost some hit points, which represent training and endurance as much or more than cuts sustainable. So mechanically, she was nailed, but 'realistically' she dodged with great effort.

If we're talking about swinging trees and throwing boulders, I think it's probably best to assume the 'effort to dodge' angle instead of the 'nailed by something stupidly enormous' one. Lot of assumption in an abstract system. It gets hairy.

This doesn't have anything to do with magic stuff. It's magic. It just works. Asking how or why magic works seems like an exercise in futility and frustration. That's irritating, I know. The scientist in me gets upset. I tell the scientist to relax about abstract systems and magical armor.