D&D General Variant HP per HD

Celebrim · Jul 16, 2019

So, I've been doing randomly rolled hit points basically forever. I've also tended to do max hit points at 1st level to make it easier for me as a GM to create an interesting heroic adventure for the mundane tier while minimizing the chance of random unavoidable death.

But I've long been aware that random can go wrong and that of all the rolls at the table my players are most tempted to cheat, it's the hit point roll.

And for all those years I've never had a solution I liked, because I'm traditional enough to not want to get rid of the random roll.

Well, I think I have a rule I like, but not an easy way to describe it because it's too mathy (anything with more than simple addition or subtraction is too mathy for a formula), so I'll just present some tables:

D4 HD

Roll	H.P.
1	3
2	3
3	4
4	4

D6 HD

Roll	H.P.
1	4
2	4
3	5
4	5
5	6
6	6

D8 HD

Roll	H.P.
1	5
2	5
3	6
4	6
5	7
6	7
7	8
8	8

D10 HD

Roll	H.P.
1	6
2	6
3	7
4	7
5	8
6	8
7	9
8	9
9	10
10	10

D12 HD

Roll	H.P.
1	7
2	7
3	8
4	8
5	9
6	9
7	10
8	10
9	11
10	11
11	12
12	12

These tables are primarily intended for 1st level PC's at tables where 'max hit points at first level' feels to non-random or particularly if using something like 1e A&D and you feel that rule interferes with the glory of 19 CON, or for PC's of every level at tables that want ensure no character becomes randomly non-viable because of a string of low hit point rolls. The impact of applying this just to 1st level characters is in the long run minimal, but tends to make characters without CON bonuses a lot less squishy if you apply it to every level. For example, a fighter will average 8 hit points per level rather than 5.5, which gets a fighter up into the sweet zone of not getting squished by almost any single attack or attack sequence by a single monster without extraordinary CON and generates some very 'Isle of the Ape' type uber-PCs with any sort of high ability score generation method (whether something like Method III or a character funnel).

It could also of course be fun to use this table for rolling up hit points for important NPCs or even just as a uniform hit point generation rule for demihuman bosses like orc chieftains.

jaelis · Jul 16, 2019

Just to give you a simple way to describe the method (or an equivalent anyway):
- Roll your hit die. If you get less than half the maximum value of the die, then add half the maximum value to your result.

Or to describe your method exactly:
- Roll your hit die. Divide the result in half, rounding fractions up. Add that result to half the max value of the die.

Though I suppose that using a set of tables is much in the spirit of 1E

Celebrim · Jul 16, 2019

jaelis said:
Or to describe your method exactly:
- Roll your hit die. Divide the result in half, rounding fractions up. Add that result to half the max value of the die.

I do know what my methodology is, but anything that involves division and multiple steps reads rather ugly. And I do admit to liking tables.

DND_Reborn · Jul 16, 2019

One option we used for a while was (at level 1 only), if the die rolled less than 1/2 the maximum, you got 1/2 the maximum.

Fanaelialae · Jul 16, 2019

We always used, DM rolls against you for HP and you take the higher number.

Tony Vargas · Jul 16, 2019

dnd4vr said:
One option we used for a while was (at level 1 only), if the die rolled less than 1/2 the maximum, you got 1/2 the maximum.

My 3.x group always did that.

One of the more extreme ways I've ever seen of dealing with a bad HD roll at level-up, was to repudiate the level. That's how the player put it "I do not accept that roll! I repudiate the level!" I was Ok with it, his fighter dropped back to 2nd, and she ultimately made it to 4th (with less disappointing HD rolls on the way)…

...she was, BTW, one of those characters we old timers sometimes like to rave about: a horribly disappointing set of random stats, that was /only/ qualified for fighter, some willfully bad choices (Weapon specialization: Club) and not very good at it (no bonuses from STR), but who became a fun character to play, in spite of that (or in part because of it).

the Jester · Jul 17, 2019

A system I haven't used, but like the sound of, would be to re-roll ALL your Hit Dice every level. If the new total is higher than the old, keep the new one. Otherwise, add 1 + your Con bonus to the old one, and take that.

Baron Opal II · Jul 19, 2019

I do what Jester mentions above. If starting at full hp at first level, this method keeps hp at average levels while still rolling. If a character is particularly unlucky, they may dip below average for a level if they roll poorly twice. The lowest I've seen was a PC at about 30% of maximum at fourth level with three low hp rolls. The party kept her alive until 5th, and then a decent roll later she almost doubled her hp.

Celebrim · Jul 19, 2019

the Jester said:
A system I haven't used, but like the sound of, would be to re-roll ALL your Hit Dice every level. If the new total is higher than the old, keep the new one. Otherwise, add 1 + your Con bonus to the old one, and take that.

I have a reluctance to endorse any system with non-obvious math.

It think that it is obvious that in the long run the system trend to above average hit points, but how much above average for a given level isn't something that I can intuitively predict.

Since the math gets complicated, I'd probably resort to what I did when I was 14 which is right a simulation program and run it 1000 times to get an average.

Ulorian - Agent of Chaos · Jul 20, 2019

Celebrim said:
Stuff.

Good concept. What I don't like about your solution is how the variance increases as the size of the hit die increases. If you make it vary by the same 1-3 range that the d6 classes have, you'll be more fair to the classes with larger HD.