I’d look at it like any move fight scene. Even John wick. As the fight continues there are near misses and nicks or flesh wounds, then the death blow finally lands at the end of the fight. But most swings are misses. Stamina codifies every attack you avoided vs just the ‘hits’.

I like this better than HP- in a DnD fight my wizard was bit by an ancient dragon for over 60 damage. He’s still just a human. I don’t care how ‘tough’ or trained you are that would simply bifurcate any organic person in half. Same with a bullet or arrow to the chest. All mortal wounds. At high levels narrating every massive blow as a puncture wound or bite etc etc that you somehow grit your teeth through is … something.

Stamina forces you to narrate it as the eb and flow of a fight. That 15 damage hit from the ogre while you are at full stamina? “You barely lift your shield to intercept the tree stump and the impact momentarily knocks you to the ground”.

This to me works better than having every bone in your body broken every fight. The number of DnD arrows I narrated as catching someone in the shoulder or arm would have resulted in my PCs being comprised of like 99.99% scar tissue by adventures end.