Classless humanoids and hit points

[Angel Tarragon]

I've been thinking about a problem I have and can't come to any conclusions. What stats should a humaoid (core races) baby have and what should its hit points be?

 

[DreamChaser]

a humanoid with no racial hit dice (thus every PB race) must have at least one level in a class. Most would have the commoner class. Some would have warrior. Fewer still would have expert, adept, or aristocrat. A very few would have an adventuring class.

This is a unique feature of humanoids. It is mentioned in the type description, I believe.

Editing now that I saw the word "baby" on my third read (man it's late here). I would make baby's essentially objects. Until they are toddlers and able to move, they are unable to defend themselves in any meaningful way. Even a toddler would be essentially helpless. They would be like normal plants: alive but still completely helpless.

I would give them 1 hp. Any real attempt to kill or injure a baby is going to be successful.

DC

 

[Vrecknidj]

I think I'd give a newborn baby 0 hit points; but I'd give it a better chance than 10% to stabilize, if it slips into the negatives (newborns have been recorded to live through all kinds of things that adults probably wouldn't have). I think that by the time it can crawl, it will have 1 hit point.

Dave

 

[Li Shenron]

Why would you need the stats of a baby/puppy? Is it just curiosity?

On the top of my head, I think a little child would probably have at least -4 in all the stats, and with no levels in the classes not more than 1d4 HP. But a baby is much harder to define, since basically it's hardly moving at all.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

This is needed for an adventure I am planning where the adventurers need to rescue a baby from a cult that has planned the sacrifice it in order to resurrect an old god.

 

[Li Shenron]

Ruleswise, I think it's probably ok to just consider him helpless .

 

[Taryn]

I've noticed on a few occasions that there are no rules for dealing with creatures beneath the base age for their race. I'm having a similar problem with a character in my campaign - he has a daughter (age 5-7 or something). I can't define her as being a level 1 commoner, since at a later time she might take levels in a PC class - if I were to give her a level in commoner simply because she's "too young" to be considered a level 1 rogue or something would imply that -all- characters start out with one level in commoner (or perhaps "one level in child" would be more to the point).

A system I've toyed around with is called the '0' level: 1d4+con mod hp; 2+int mod skill ranks, etc. The only problem with this is that the hp and skill ranks just go 'poof' once they get a class. The only way I can see around that would be to give them 1+con modifier hp and 1+int modifier x 4 skill ranks, then when they actually attain first level, they get to add their classes' HD-1 (d4-1, d8-1, etc) and however many more skill ranks they'd get. *shrug*

If anybody could come up with a decent system to actually get the correct stats for a child, without things going 'poof' and taking into consideration that -everybody- was a child at one point (read: do the impossible), it'd be great.

 

[Aaron2]

A system I've toyed around with is called the '0' level: 1d4+con mod hp; 2+int mod skill ranks, etc. The only problem with this is that the hp and skill ranks just go 'poof' once they get a class. The only way I can see around that would be to give them 1+con modifier hp and 1+int modifier x 4 skill ranks, then when they actually attain first level, they get to add their classes' HD-1 (d4-1, d8-1, etc) and however many more skill ranks they'd get.

I had rules for 0th level a while back but I don't use the 4xskill points for first level. Instead, I just add 1x for the first class and let the character pick from a list of class skills based on their background. For hit points, characters roll 1d8 for 0th level. Younger specimens take a huge hit to Con to lower their initial hit points. When they gain their first level, they roll that hit die and take the higher of the two. (this replaces the max HP at first level rule). The number of starting skill points a character has is based on his starting age with 0 for babies and (4+int mod)x3 for adults.

I put a copy on my web page. I removed the age stuff since that's rarely used DM stuff. I can email you my table if you'd like.
http://www.freewebs.com/hedgehobbit/0thlevel.html


Aaron

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Interesting Aaron. But what happens when you roll an 8, then later the character decides to gain a level in Sorcerer/Wizard? How does your campaign reflect that these characters are really only supposed to have 4 hit points at first level?

EDIT: Guess I should have read your document before posting. I really like what I see, I just might have to yoink it.

 

[Taryn]

It's a very interesting system, I think I may have to look into the ramifications of doing something similar with my campaign... thanks Aaron.