A twist to starting Hit Points, a house rule

[Ancient Gamer]

Hey all, some constructive criticism on this please, feel free to adapt it for your games. Mainly it's a players way to stay in action a little longer... during his begining moments It's not very original, I know, but it may be a good consideration for 5th Ed D&D next year (dripping sarcasium ). My personal opinion is that race and size should be apart of the hp process, not just based of off class and constitution.

Also, if anyone is interested I have some rules for Armour Points, totally seperate, but rules that reflect wear, tear, and combat on armour.

I welcome kind words of wisdom, please...

Thanks,

P.


Race & Size Hit Point Adjustments

This house rule incorporates a one time application of a player character’s hit point adjustment to reflect the chosen race and size of the player character.

Race Table

Race HP adj.
Halfling, Stout 2
Halfling, Hairfoot 2
Halfling, Tall fellow 3
Gnome, Hill 3
Gnome, Wood 2
Dwarf, Hill 3
Dwarf, Mountain 4
Elf, High 5
Elf, Grey 4
Elf, Wood 4
½ Orc 5
Human, Oerth 5

Size Table

Size HP adj
Less than 100lbs + 1
101 – 150 lbs + 2
151 – 200 lbs + 3
201 – 250 lbs + 4
251 – 300 lbs + 5
301 – 350 lbs + 6
+ 50 lbs = +1 H.P. Max.+10

Example:
A dwarf, mountain, fighter (1st level), weight: 205 lbs, 12 Constitution
+4 +10 (max class hp) +4 +1

Total H.P. for a 1st level mountain dwarf fighter is: 19 h.p.

 

[Nifft]

I like the idea behind it, though I use a simpler system for my games. PCs get bonus HP based on their race, while monsters get extra HP based on race or size.

Here's my chart:

Gnome 2 hp (homebrew Tiny variant)
Halfling 4 hp
Elf 6 hp
Dwarf, Human, Half-elf, Half-orc 8 hp
Aasimar, Tiefling 10 hp (ECL +1 races)

These bonus HP replace the "Max HP on 1st HD" rule that made 1st level survivable -- PCs roll all HD.

Yes, this means that a 1st level Dwarf Wizard is probably going to be tougher than a 1st level Halfling Fighter. That's just fine -- the class levels will quickly eclipse the difference in race, but not immediately.

-- Nifft

 

[Arc]

Sounds nifty, but it seems like it would really throw low level play balance off. CR 1 and 2 creatures are going to have significantly less hp than the PCs, and so those first few levels might be too much of a cakewalk.

Tangent: Shouldn't this be in House Rules?

 

[Ancient Gamer]

Hi Arc, your right, but I figure as a DM you can always adjust according for a "home game" and not feel too guilty for throwing 10 or more goblins at a pc party of 5 or so (flashes of the Mines of Moria from LotR's FotR ), with out worrying on making it a pc killing spree, plus you can use a creative touch and have the same idea reflect for opposing creatures, so any Players with the MM memorized will be kept guessing another way.

I goofed and posted it here, then posted it in House Rules! Hurt me later.

Thanks.

 

[Dinkeldog]

Since you said you'd already posted in house rules, I'll just close this one.