Constitution and HP

[Kingreaper]

In every edition other than 3.x, if playing by the Rules As Written, your constitution contributes a larger percentage of your HP at level 1 than at level 20. In 4e, your constitution is added to your HP at first level, and has no effect thereafter [and though healing surges may be relevant, con has a constant effect on them]
In pre-3e editions, your constitution modifier applies to all hit dice, but you stop rolling hit-dice past a certain level.

In 3.x, it's the other way around, as you get the same con modifier to every hit die, and every level has a hit die, but, at 1st level, you get that hit die maximised (effectively doubling the hit points you get from that die) while the con modifier remains undoubled; meaning that constitution's effect on your hitpoints gets smaller as you level.

Which do you prefer? Or would you rather the percentage gains from constitution was constant at all levels?

 

[Sunseeker]

I rather like the idea of getting your full con score at first level in addition to your class HD, and then only your con mod from there on out in addition to HD.

 

[Kingreaper]

I rather like the idea of getting your full con score at first level in addition to your class HD, and then only your con mod from there on out in addition to HD.

If you max the HD at 1st level this actually works out to a constant effect. Which for various reasons is my preferred state.

 

[BobTheNob]

I think there is room for alternate thinking, not necessary, but at least putting the options on the board before assuming it has to be a facsimile of something that has gone before.

One alternate I would throw forward was from Warhammer40k RP where "toughness" was actually modeled as damage reduction. So constitution doesn't necessarily increase HP so much as decrease damage.

Anyone else willing to throws something on the proverbial idea's board?

 

[Kingreaper]

Yeah, I forgot an option for "Constitution doesn't affect HP". Technically it falls under the middle (constant effect, 0 is a constant ) but it's not really the same thing.

 

[Minigiant]

Constant at all levels.

Nature = Nurture

I'd though of it many times and I've decided.

Class bonus/HD (rounded down) should be equal to the Con bonus with a 4 HP base.

Barbarian HD (d12/6 HP a level) = Con 22 (6 HP a level)
Fighter HD (d10/5 HP a level) = Con 20 (5 HP a level)
Cleric HD (d8/4 HP a level) = Con 18 (4 HP a level)
Rogue HD (d6/3 HP a level) = Con 16 (3 HP a level)
Wizard HD (d4/2 HP a level) = Con 14 (2 HP a level)

So a wizard with 18 Con (4 base+ 2class +4 ability) has 10HP and has the same HP as a barbarian with 10 Con (4+6+0).

 

[Savage Wombat]

I don't think the 1e comparison of 1st to 20th level is relevant, as most 1e games aren't played at 20th level. In 1e-2e, Con is a relatively consistant percentage of your HP, until you hit the HP cap at whatever level applies. Just like in 3e, really.

If my fighter gets a +X% bonus to his effective damage for STR, whether he's 1st or 20th, than my dwarf should get a +X% effective bonus to HP regardless of level. The effect of stats should not decrease over time.

If the gap between the CON-haves and the CON-havenots is too big at high level, then the effect of CON needs to be toned down consistently at all levels.

 

[Ahnehnois]

Initially I liked 3e's con mod per level, because it made Con more meaningful, but the numbers really get out of hand. I would prefer some mechanic whereby Constitution had a significant effect at first level (such as hp = con score + HD), but didn't change much with level. Being higher level should really be more about the skill to avoid getting hit, which Con is not.

 

[FireLance]

I would like to point out that in 4e, Constitution had a much larger impact on long-term endurance (number of hit points over the adventuring day) than short-term endurance (number of hit points you bring to each encounter).

Setting aside non-magical healing and other 4e-specific healing issues for now, a fighter with Constitution 20 and 14 healing surges is about 50% more durable over the course of an adventuring day compared to a fighter with 10 Constitution and 9 healing surges, even though the advantage in any one fight is only about 10 hit points.

However, depending on playstyle, these additional hit points could be irrelevant. If the party fights only a few encounters per day and the fighter never uses more than eight or nine healing surges, the actual impact of a high Constitution is less significant.

 

[Hassassin]

Constant or very nearly so, because that makes it easiest to continue considering hp loss % as wounds.