D&D General Rolling HPs

[Yardiff]

Do you roll/allow rolling HPs in your game? If so are you a 'hard line' "You decided to roll so your stuck with that 1" or do you have a way to mitigate bad rolls?
What options I've seen are:
Player and DM roll, DM rolls behind a screen, and player can decide to take either roll. Of course the player cant see the DMs roll before deciding.
Re roll 1's.
If you roll lower then half take half.

How do you go about it.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Do you roll/allow rolling HPs in your game? If so are you a 'hard line' "You decided to roll so your stuck with that 1" or do you have a way to mitigate bad rolls?
What options I've seen are:
Player and DM roll, DM rolls behind a screen, and player can decide to take either roll. Of course the player cant see the DMs roll before deciding.
Re roll 1's.
If you roll lower then half take half.

How do you go about it.

My friend came up with a cascade system that has always been well received.

DM and player roll off HD, with the player taking the higher roll. If they match numbers, it cascades with the HD dropping a die size and then repeating the roll off and adding that to the sum.

So a rogue levels up. Both the DM and player roll a d8, and both roll a 1. Cascade! Now they both roll a d6. The player rolls a 3 and the DM rolls a 6, so the player takes the 6. He adds the 1 from his initial roll as well as Con mod per the usual, for a total of 7 + Con mod HP gained.

While this obviously tends to result in slightly higher than average HP, my friend likes to run a tough campaign, so it works out. Players love cascading, even when it results in less than max HP (as in the example). Additionally, it tends to average out player HP over the long run.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

In the old days we would roll two dice and keep the better one. Or maybe just roll one die, but reroll ones. Some DMs did the take half if you roll lower. Some did not have us roll at all. It was full at first level and half at each level after that, same as Organized Play does it. Or rarely, if it was meant to be a truly heroic campaign, it was max HP per level.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Well, the new game we started is RAW, so max at level 1 and roll after. We roll in front of another player or DM, just to keep it honest.

Now, like others I've seen and used all kinds of systems. One of my favorite for 5E is decrease the HD by 1 step, but make it +2. That way a Wizard, instead of a d6, gets d4+2; a Fighter gets d8+2 instead of a d10.

I am definitely not a fan of max HP at all levels like some people use, though.

 

[LordEntrails]

I allow players to use inspiration (if they have it) to re-roll hit point rolls. Most just take default since it's better than average.

 

[robus]

If they roll a 1 they get to re-roll. I’m not here to be a jerk. Most take the default though.

 

[GlassJaw]

I actually don't allow rolling anymore. You get the fixed value (average rounded up). I've tried rerolling 1s, reroll but you have to keep the second, either roll or take average rounded up, etc, etc. And invariably, somebody chooses to roll and rolls crappy or rerolls and the result is lower and then I get a sob story and the player is mad.

I've seen players want to make new characters at that point. And I'm talking veteran, good players and overall smart and well-adjusted people.

No more. You get average rounded up. Simple. Fair. Done.

Well, the new game we started is RAW, so max at level 1 and roll after.

RAW is actually a choice between rolling or average rounded up.

 

[i_dont_meta]

Roll two and take the avg rounded up.

 

[TwiceBorn2]

Roll once and stick with the result, however good/bad it may be. Low hit points may result in the player/PC having to adjust their tactics in play. If they don't like the odds, they can take average hit points before rolling.

EDIT: I do automatically give max HPs at level 1.

 

[DND_Reborn]

RAW is actually a choice between rolling or average rounded up.

The first option listed is rolling. That's what we do.

Taking average (rounded up) is the coward's way! j/k