[Jeff Wilder]

Originally Posted by Wulf Ratbane

Opinions differ emphatically on this point, but I am of the opinion that nothing about character creation should be random.

It's difficult to articulate this, but I'll try. (This is veering off-topic, so I won't take it very far.)

I think, insignificant as it may seem, players like this tiny bit of randomness when going up a level. (And I do mean "tiny bit.") I know that as a player, I'm excited when I roll high HP, and disappointed when I roll low, even though we've got a minimum of half the die (rounded down).

Again, I fully understand that this is one roll over an entire level, and is thus relatively insignificant, but "rolling HP" has been almost a ritual in literally every group of D&D players I've ever played with. We would miss it if it were gone, and I'd wager an overwhelming majority of D&D players would as well.

Given that, and given the disastrous possibilities of linear HD and multiple rolls totaling on the left tail of the bell curve, pretty much every HP house-rule has to do with keeping the randomness and the "boo-yah!" of a max roll, while mitigating the disaster of a minimum roll. And that's what Pathfinder needs to do.

In short, theoretically I agree with you. As the game plays out, if randomized HPs were removed, I'd put them back without hesitation.