Hit points

[Greyfeld]

Plot armor. Only the first level HP are "real" hit points, that are actual wounds taken- the rest are just the Plot knocking otherwise killing blows away from the character.

Cure spells do a combination of repairing actual damage and mending the Plot's defenses back together.

Pretty much. Especially when you take into consideration that natural healing regenerates 1 HP per level per 8 hours of rest. Without magical healing, a level 10 wizard can come back from the brink of death to full health in 3-4 days. Even faster on full bed rest and/or regular Heal checks.

It's one of those things that I think most people just hand-wave, much like daily food rations and cheap spell components.