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General Tabletop Discussion
Character Builds & Optimization
Start high, build slow HP tweak
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<blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5964753" data-attributes="member: 78958"><p>HP aren't the sole measurement of PC power, even staying power. Not being likely to get hit <em>at all </em>is quite possible to achieve at mid levels onward, at least for casters (Mirror Image, Blink, Fly, Invisibility... combine with good tactics). So some PCs at least would feel they're being held back by the relatively fragile frontliners, who simply don't have what it takes to challenge a truly appropriate foe.</p><p>I also don't think it'd be much fun to fight less powerful monsters for longer in a regular game.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>The PC classes won't stay balanced with your tweak. In fact, you just made tanking an even more unsatisfactory job, and flying around under cover of invisibility summoning monsters an even more appealing one.</p><p></p><p>Note that limiting a rules change to PCs conjures huge hassles at least on par with the 'change every monster stat block' approach: what about NPCs, which might be cohorts or followers or otherwise allied to the PCs? What about NPC opponents, who are suddenly even worse for their CR? What about summoning/animal companions/necromancy, which explicitly uses monster stat blocks (now powerful, high-HP creatures do the heroes' work, which is too dangerous for the heroes themselves?!)? 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?</p><p></p><p>Bottom line: the balance of the whole game is altered if you make changes to a fundamental stat like HP. You won't see the end to the repercussions of such a houserule. Note that I'm not saying it's a terrible idea - but your game won't be the same, in many many regards.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p> </p><p>PCs are far from bullet proof in 3.5. If high HP are giving you trouble, there's a myriad of ways to attack PCs that don't involve HP. Even in the HP department, character growth barely keeps up with the way average DPR increases on damage-focused opponents over the levels.</p><p></p><p>If you want certain effects to be deadly at any levels, I'd do changes to those effects specifically, not introduce an across-the-board change to a fundamental stat. I'd also think long and hard about which effects I'd like to increase in potency. I'd ask questions like "Is this effect available to PCs? At what level? What monsters/NPCs have access to it? What is immune/resistant to it?" etc.</p><p></p><p>If you want a system where warhammer hits, lightning bolts and long falls are deadly at all levels, I can only give the following counsel: don't play D&D. In fact, don't play a game which uses HP to model injury. Play some wound- or consequence-based system instead. Hârnmaster, for example, might see a veteran of twenty years with super-high sword skill be stabbed once by a 16-year-old with a rusty dagger and succumb to the wound's bleeding, or later to shock, or still later to infection.</p><p></p><p>One final thing: do your players feel the same way as you? If not, leave well enough alone. If yes, on the other hand, why not ask their opinions on the kind of houserule you want to use?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Empirate, post: 5964753, member: 78958"] HP aren't the sole measurement of PC power, even staying power. Not being likely to get hit [I]at all [/I]is quite possible to achieve at mid levels onward, at least for casters (Mirror Image, Blink, Fly, Invisibility... combine with good tactics). So some PCs at least would feel they're being held back by the relatively fragile frontliners, who simply don't have what it takes to challenge a truly appropriate foe. I also don't think it'd be much fun to fight less powerful monsters for longer in a regular game. The PC classes won't stay balanced with your tweak. In fact, you just made tanking an even more unsatisfactory job, and flying around under cover of invisibility summoning monsters an even more appealing one. Note that limiting a rules change to PCs conjures huge hassles at least on par with the 'change every monster stat block' approach: what about NPCs, which might be cohorts or followers or otherwise allied to the PCs? What about NPC opponents, who are suddenly even worse for their CR? What about summoning/animal companions/necromancy, which explicitly uses monster stat blocks (now powerful, high-HP creatures do the heroes' work, which is too dangerous for the heroes themselves?!)? 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? Bottom line: the balance of the whole game is altered if you make changes to a fundamental stat like HP. You won't see the end to the repercussions of such a houserule. Note that I'm not saying it's a terrible idea - but your game won't be the same, in many many regards. PCs are far from bullet proof in 3.5. If high HP are giving you trouble, there's a myriad of ways to attack PCs that don't involve HP. Even in the HP department, character growth barely keeps up with the way average DPR increases on damage-focused opponents over the levels. If you want certain effects to be deadly at any levels, I'd do changes to those effects specifically, not introduce an across-the-board change to a fundamental stat. I'd also think long and hard about which effects I'd like to increase in potency. I'd ask questions like "Is this effect available to PCs? At what level? What monsters/NPCs have access to it? What is immune/resistant to it?" etc. If you want a system where warhammer hits, lightning bolts and long falls are deadly at all levels, I can only give the following counsel: don't play D&D. In fact, don't play a game which uses HP to model injury. Play some wound- or consequence-based system instead. Hârnmaster, for example, might see a veteran of twenty years with super-high sword skill be stabbed once by a 16-year-old with a rusty dagger and succumb to the wound's bleeding, or later to shock, or still later to infection. One final thing: do your players feel the same way as you? If not, leave well enough alone. If yes, on the other hand, why not ask their opinions on the kind of houserule you want to use? [/QUOTE]
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