D&D 5E 10HP Bonus for Level 1 Characters. Thoughts?

Emerald Logic · Jan 30, 2017

Hello All!
I'm considering adding 10 HP to all level 1 characters for my game. My reasoning:
1. Lessens the chance of character death at early levels.
2. Adds a touch more realism, as new levels are not such a dramatic increase in HP at low levels.

Overall I'm wondering if anyone here has done this and if the house rule has had a good effect on their games? Are there other solutions to early character death that you've successfully used?

Thank you.

Here is my conclusion post from page 6:
"Thank you all very much for the suggestions. There are ideas here I hadn't considered at all. At the moment I think I'll likely take different approaches depending on if a game has new players or if a game has veteran players.

New Players: Give them an HP bonus equal to their constitution at first and remove instant kills from the game for at least the first few levels.

Veteran Players: Leave the system as is for the players. Perhaps adjust the stats of lower level creatures to lessen the damage for crits. I feel this would be a good behind the scenes approach that still leaves the excitement of a possible critical. Maybe I'll just give the creatures a "Fumbler" or "Untrained" trait that lessens critical damage instead of stat decreases."

Fell free to continue to make suggestions if you wish.

Sacrosanct · Jan 30, 2017

If you want to, knock yourself out. I would never do it, because level 1 PCs are already pretty robust, and level 1 is just a brief blip. With the way leveling goes in 5e, PCs make level 3 for just being there. Level 3 is the participation award

Harzel · Jan 30, 2017

Sacrosanct said:
If you want to, knock yourself out. I would never do it, because level 1 PCs are already pretty robust, and level 1 is just a brief blip. With the way leveling goes in 5e, PCs make level 3 for just being there. Level 3 is the participation award

Yeah, pretty much this. The only caution flag I would raise is that if you are dealing with players new to D&D, they might get the idea that they are invincible and fail to develop tactics that they will need eventually (or, perhaps, not, depending on how you tend to construct encounters).

Tony Vargas · Jan 30, 2017

Emerald Logic said:
Overall I'm wondering if anyone here has done this and if the house rule has had a good effect on their games?

Did things like that back in the 80s. Max hps @ 1st (which 5e already does). An extra +1d6 hps at first ("peasant points" we called it). And starting as a 2nd level 'brevet' (2nd level but 0 exp).

Are there other solutions to early character death that you've successfully used?

Just putting on some kid gloves for apprentice tier seems to work most of the time.

The only upside I can see that you'd be giving up is that it doesn't create this impression of danger that 1st level otherwise can. 5e gets very safe & easy as you level, but having those 1st level TPKs and the like goes a ways towards mitigating the impression of it being 'easy mode' later on. FWIW.

nswanson27 · Jan 30, 2017

Seems reasonable. Crits received at level 1 can insta-kill too easily, even with a smart party and good tactics.

alienux · Jan 30, 2017

It's your game and you can modify the rules anyway you want, but I would avoid doing this. As has been said, level 1 and 2 go by pretty quickly. But I'm also a fan of the lower levels being more dangerous as the characters are still learning and growing. They're not epic characters yet and I want that growth to be something they experience through trials, not free HP up front.

basaipete · Jan 30, 2017

Years ago (mid-90s, 2ed) I house ruled that characters start with hit points equal to their Con score. It made level 1-3 characters more robust and had almost no long term impact on the game.

TwoSix · Jan 30, 2017

Makes sense to me. By far and away the most deaths I see in 5e are at 1st-2nd level when one crit can take down a full hit point character, and start a spiral (especially in parties with <= 4 members).

Now, if you desire to teach your players an abundance of caution, these early deaths are probably a good teaching tool. My own desire for play that emphasizes maximum conflict and risk-taking makes me try to avoid giving such a learning experience, though.

dco · Jan 30, 2017

I always started at higher levels with other editions but for other reasons.
I would give them 5 HP and -1HP the next 5 levels, if you give 10HP I would give -2HP the next 5 lvls, you want that boost only at the beginning, things get easier later.