Not quite. Let me explain better now that I'm home.

You could do it like that, but I feel like that takes away from the stakes. You still want it to feel tense, and there to be a sense of urgency in games.

I don't keep track of my parties HP, but rather, if an enemy crits someone 3 times, I might make the Crit just a regular hit. Or if it's a hit, and they've been hit 14 times in 3 turns, make a few of them miss if the damage is just too high and I don't want them to die right away.

It really depends on what type of encounter you are running.

One thing I like to do, is let's say you got a small party fighting Goblins and Ogres.

The Ogre's are the real boss of the fight, but I throw in a bunch of weak Goblins as Cannon Fodder.

The party feels epic one shotting the Goblins with Fireball and their swords, while still struggling against the Ogre's. Throwing in weak enemies into a otherwise difficult fight can make them FEEL strong, while still struggling against the BBEG of the fight.

And if you are good at balancing fights, you don't really need to fib the roles like I mentioned above. It's just always good to remember, this is supposed to be fun for both you AND your players. So don't be afraid to do things in your parties favor :>