Summary: What do you learn about a character from their HP numbers? The most notoriously dishonorable characters have high honour, and the worst pariahs have high prestige. Notwithstanding certain thresholds, like 10 honour to be appointed lord, 20 to run for election, etc. it has no practical use.
Details:
Option 1. Instead of losing HP, create a separate index for negative HP. Currently you can lose honour for acts such as abandoning your unit, looting, and probably some others. Instead of, or in addition to losing a point of honour, they should gain a point of dishonour. Likewise for prestige, they gain a point of humility.
Option 2. Alternatively, show current HP relative to the highest HP ever achieved by the character. If a char has 100 honour and his highest level was 150, then you know that he’s prone to dishonorable acts. Similarly, 45 prestige out of 90 shows, well, how the mighty have fallen. This has the added advantage that it allows for redemption, meaning it will show if a char loses HP, but he can work to gain it back and erase the memory of his dishonour and humiliation.
Benefits: It makes HP meaningful and practically useful. As a member of the nobility, your reputation should precede you. When a new noble with high negatives joins your realm, it’s the equivalent of meeting someone with a bad reputation. The current HP system only showcases the good, not the bad.
Possible Downside: Makes it harder for scoundrels to move to a new realm with a clean slate.
