Here is the issue with Life Points - it is a complete diversion from the base concept for the game. It ignores the concept of different types of attack doing different damage results. It also destroys the idea that any attack can be deadly.
Life Points based
upon their Constitution stat bonus plus the
number of ranks developed in the Endurance skill.
So generally, your character at level 5 had about +10 for stat bonus and +18 for Endurance...
That's 28 life points and likely about 85 hits.
Your character can only receive a MAX of 8 hits and 2 life points per strike from a tiny attack.
If the individual strikes with a result of 101.
Standard rule reduces that to 81 due to the crit modifier (and then down to 80 due to damage cap).
Crush = 19 Hits. Foe is stunned 2 rounds and is at -15
Puncture = Foe takes 18 Hits, is stunned 2 rounds, bleeds 1 per round, and is at -5.
Slash = Foe takes 20 Hits, is stunned 1 round, bleeds 1 per round, and is at -15.
Grapple = Foe takes 10 Hits, is stunned 1 round, and is at -20.
There are a number of other charts with different results.
Using Life Points...
101 result - 20 attack size modifier = 81
Round down to nearest multiple of 5 = 80
2 points of damage for every 5 = 32 points of damage
1 life point of damage for every 10 = 8
But wait, you were using a tiny weapon... you max at 8 and 2. I still have 78 hits and 26 life points.
I can stand up to your attack for at least 9 more rounds because the most damage you can do to me with a tiny weapon is 72 hits and 18 life points.
The OP's issue was that the combat in HARP was too fancy with multiple critical charts and damage results.
The complaint that others seem to point to is that results are not varied enough and tend to get repetitive.
These are two different issues. To the original poster, I recommend you simply use the charts, but for every bleed, round of stun or -5 maneuver penalty add 5 hits of damage. Simply subtract it from your hits. I recommend you leave in place any of the more serious results (collapsing, bleeding out, beheading, etc.) - but otherwise count those as +10 or +25. But note that this is not really HARP when you play it this way - but if it works for you. Enjoy!
Crush = 19 Hits. Foe is stunned 2 rounds and is at -15 = 19+10+15 = 44
Puncture = Foe takes 18 Hits, is stunned 2 rounds, bleeds 1 per round, and is at -5 = 18+10+5+5 = 38
Slash = Foe takes 20 Hits, is stunned 1 round, bleeds 1 per round, and is at -15 = 20+5+5+15 = 45
Grapple = Foe takes 10 Hits, is stunned 1 round, and is at -20 = 10+5+20 = 35
For those who feel it is too repetitive I would recommend the Martial Law rules (which have many more results) or feel free to incorporate RMU charts with their much more variable results. As for Hack & Slash.... I personally like it, but it does have an issue with magical scaling and despite many reviews to modify it, it was determined better to be left out at this time. That doesn't mean that HARP combat won't be revised some day.. it simply means that we're focusing resources on key things that are needed to make better use of the system that we have today.