Concerning Hit Points/ Hit Die

[soulforge]

I'm preparing to start a new campaign later next week w/ the arrival of my new shackled city campaign.. as such I've decided on doing something new with Hit Dice.

I feel a need to change because certain of my group may be a tad more honest than others, and it bothers those said players. Not that they cheat, but they might be more inclined to re-roll w/o mentioning it for abilities and hp. It's not horrible, but why argue about how one person just happens to have the luck to beat the odds for his PC's hp and abilities all the time.

My two thoughts are this: First, each PC gets half of his normal HD.. for example a d8 would give you 4 hit points plus your con each level. This seems decent, and I'm not caring that much that you don't roll. Encounters should still be scaled properly.. my only thought is that maybe I should award the actual median so that at each level the PC would receive 4.5. Won't matter till you get a whole number, but would be a factor in the long run.

My second idea is that the DM rolls the PC's hd type at the same time the PC rolls. The higher number is kept. This would give higher than average, but at least the agreement that it's honest would be kept.

The simplest solution is to say that hd must be rolled in front of the DM, but really it's not a huge issue, and I don't wanna call anyone out or make them feel like I don't trust them as it's a small problem.

Thoughts.. any concerns I should watch for? I think the MM hp would work fine under this situation?

 

[Infiniti2000]

I wouldn't do half HD. Taking the average (e.g. 4.5 on 8) would be better, or maybe just round up (take 5 on 8). You should also use the point buy method.

 

[Thanee]

If you want to roll HD, but prevent low rolls, the best method (IMHO) is to just roll once and if the roll is below one-half the HD (< 4 on a d8), it simply counts as one-half the HD (4 on a d8).

It is a smaller increase in average hit points than what you get with the reroll and it *completely* negates the unwanted low rolls.

Works perfectly fine!

Bye
Thanee

 

[Andre]

Our group awards HD/2 + 1 for every level after first.

D4 = 3
D6 = 4
D8 = 5
D10 = 6
D12 = 7

This gives the characters a minor boost over average (an extra 1/2 hit point per level), but completely avoids the issue of two similar characters having significantly different HP totals.

 

[Palskane]

My group has successfully used the "DM rolls at the same time, higher number is kept" method for quite some time.

Everyone rolls in front of everyone else, and the player doesn't feel cheated because the chances of both the DM and player rolling a "1" are pretty slim.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Thanee, the conceptual problem with that approach is that the better you roll (below average), then the less of a bonus you receive. E.g. eight-sided HD:

1 - gain +3 hp
2 - gain +2 hp
3 - gain +1 hp
4-8 - gain no additional hp

You're basically rewarding the low rolls. Our system (and I say our because we rotate DMs and use the same houserules to keep things consistent) is to roll hp and you may reroll once, but you have to keep the second roll. Someone has to witness it. In a game with people who are not such longtime friends as our group, then maybe I'd recommend having the whole group witness it.

I really don't like the method you propose. I especially dislike one idea I heard, which was to reroll 1's. So, it was actually a major benefit to get a 1 instead of a 2 or even really a 3.

 

[seans23]

why doesn't everyone just do their rolls in front of the DM? Then there shouldn't be any concern about faking rolls.

 

[soulforge]

I like the feeback I'm getting so far, and the idea to round up makes sense, as it wouldn't really hurt anything. Are there any other options I"m possibly missing that anyone uses?

 

[Warehouse23]

Some groups have been known to roll two dice and keep the higher of the two (all in front of the group). This is nice because sometimes your barbarian is just destined to roll snake-eyes and that's the way it is.

 

[werk]

Why not just do max HP for every die? If you do this for monsters/everyone, it should balance out without anyone feeling like they got a bad roll that will plague them fo rthe rest of the character's life.

Or you could do all classes HD as a d4+class modifier. Cleric would be d4+4, rogue would be d4+2, barbar d4+6, wiz d4+0...you get the idea.

If you are looking for house rules...