D&D 5E Player Hit Points

[Shardstone]

I run every game with max HP every level. It makes the classes have a significant difference in HP, and it lets me get really aggressive with my challenges. I honestly can't imagine running the game any other way now -- it just gives me so much freedom and really has amped up tension in my games a lot by letting me extend the adventure day or use crazy monsters at lower levels.

 

[Distracted DM]

I run every game with max HP every level. It makes the classes have a significant difference in HP, and it lets me get really aggressive with my challenges. I honestly can't imagine running the game any other way now -- it just gives me so much freedom and really has amped up tension in my games a lot by letting me extend the adventure day or use crazy monsters at lower levels.

My concern on this is the same thing that'd happen if you max all monster hp: combat taking much longer to resolve.

 

[Bacon Bits]

The player rolls. If they don't like it, they can have the DM roll. Whatever the DM rolls is what they get.

 

[Distracted DM]

Does anyone have the statistics chops to work out how using the WWN method of "reroll hp each level, only keeping the roll if the result is higher than current" affects character HP over the levels, compared to using average?

 

[Blue]

Such "misunderstandings" are far better prevented by having ALL rolls done on the table at the session, in full view of others.

"far better" is a judgement call. Having an easily calculable (slightly above) average that can be checked at any time, vs. having to find the record of the rolls, made weeks to months apart, to check sum up and check.

 

[ichabod]

Does anyone have the statistics chops to work out how using the WWN method of "reroll hp each level, only keeping the roll if the result is higher than current" affects character HP over the levels, compared to using average?

It's going to give a slight edge over normal rolling. Say you roll 2d8. That's a nice triangular distribution, easy to calculate. Now say you roll 1d8 and call it x. Then your roll 2d8, but the minimum result is x + 1. That minimum result is going to push your result up a bit. As it turns out, it pushes the average roll up by 0.41015625.

Calculating it exactly for all of the possibilities would be a pain. So I programmed some simulations. Compared to a rounded up average, the WWN method is down about 3.7 hit points over 20 levels (assuming rolling for first level). On the other hand, the standard D&D method is 10 hit points behind the rounded up average over 20 levels. One difference is that standard D&D rolling is going to be 10 hit points behind regardless of the size of the hit die (the previous results in this paragraph are based on a d8 hit die). For the WWN method how much is lost compared to rounded up average depends on the size of the hit die. For example, a d10 hit die only loses about 2.3 hit points over 20 levels compared to rounded up average.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

Average always. We don't randomise whether you get the other class features as you level up either, why would we randomise the HP?

That's exactly what Shadowdark does. You roll for class features.

 

[Lakesidefantasy]

I like to randomize my characters because I like the character to be little bit out of my control. It makes the character feel more real somehow. Like it has a life of its own.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

My role-playing group has it where we don't roll for hit points beyond 1st level. Instead we just add the same amount of hit points our characters got at 1st level to our previous hit point total at each level up.

so max HP. you do max HP.

 

[cbwjm]

Last campaign I ran out was players choice, roll out average. For me, after 1st level I like to roll for hit points.