Start high, build slow HP tweak

N'raac · Jul 9, 2012

Palocles said:
The good thing is that a DM can match the party against, probably, twice as many monsters of CR1 or less straight away and have dramatic battles right away (cause i don't think 4 PCs fighting 3-4 Orcs is very impressive).
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Some how a slower HP proggrassion strikes me as leading to more tense combats and a more agreeable game style (for me atleast).

Seems like you want to flatten the curve - more power at low levels and less at high levels. If 4 PC's fighting 3-4 Orcs isn't impressive enough, how will it feel at 15th level if the characters are less than capable against typical L15 opponents?

Udalrich's example showing a difference of 96 vs 115 hp for a 16 CON fighter at 13th level seems to indicate this makes a pretty limited difference. Bump that CON to 18 (or take the Toughness feat) and he's back up to 109 hp. If we make him L20, he would have 175 hp (old model) or 130 under your model, so a 45 point drop at the high end and a 13 point bump at L1.

A 12 CON wizard would have 18 hp at L1 instead of 7, and 56 at L 20 instead of 74, an 11 point swing (only a bit less than the warrior) at L1, and an 18 point swing (much less than the fighter) at L20.

Is that enough of a change to meet your goals?

At lower levels, it seems like it would be much easier to just start PC's at L2 with max hp. Now starting characters can take more punishment, but the world need not change to accommodate them. You discuss raising enemy CR's at higher levels - do they need to drop at low levels now that PC's are so much heartier?

Palocles · Jul 12, 2012

Sorry, i've been meaning to reply to this again but haven't had time.

Thanks again for the insight.

Empirate it is clear from what you've described that what i was thinking might be a little tweak is more of an overhaul.

"What about temporary HP - which become much more useful to PCs than they are to monsters? What about fast healing or regeneration abilities, magical healing, DR, etc., which are all available to PCs and suddenly take on a whole new meaning?"

Yes, all these things would have new worth to PCs. The issue is still finding a balance between new low HP PCs and existing monster CR though.

The worst part is that it will suck to be a highlevel melee character compared to magic users. And the most important consideration is, like you said, whether the players would want to play that way. I haven't got any experienced players around here so the answer is probably "no".

N'raac, what i initially considered was a progression more like 20 hp at first and only about 2 per level. Or Con at first and Con bonus per level. That's why i referred to it as an overhaul above.

I'll just play the game how it is for a while longer and if any of my new players want to try something wierd i'll try the Con at first, Con bonus per lvl and take some notes on how it interacts with CRs and other effects.

(Yes, lower CR monsters would have gone even lower)

N'raac · Jul 12, 2012

Palocles said:
I'll just play the game how it is for a while longer and if any of my new players want to try something wierd i'll try the Con at first, Con bonus per lvl and take some notes on how it interacts with CRs and other effects.

You mean remove HD entirely? So a 16 CON Wizard has more hp than a 14 CON Paladin?

Palocles · Jul 13, 2012

Yup.

I'm pretty sure a Wizard would rather have points in Int and Dex than Int and Con though. But a melee class might also want Str and Dex instead of Str, Con. Melee characters might need more points for stats.

Anyway, like i said. It's basically a whole new game and i wont be doing it anytime soon.

Start high, build slow HP tweak

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