D&D 5E DMs of EN World: How do YOU assign HP to monsters?

[robus]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses so far. Awhile back I presented max HP monsters as part of a solution to class balance in a less-than-6-8-encounter adventuring day, and I got the impression many players/DMs felt this would turn combat into a slog. So far it seems a lot of people are doing it. The thread is still young, though.

Not sure if I was part of that thread but I do this too because I determined that while my monsters were quite capable of dishing it out they really couldn't last more than a round (if they ended up, as is usually the case with my rolls, low on the initiative order). It became a bit too routine for the combat to end before it really got started. Not much of a challenge, but now, with max HP, things seem much more meaty (at least at my table, in this campaign).

 

[Satyrn]

2. do you not even have HP written down before the session and simply write down whatever you feel like for HP as the combat starts? This seems strange to me, but maybe someone does it and for good reason.

Oh, I've done that a few times, actually. It's essentially wrapped into ad-libbing an entire encounter though. Like, if a conversation with some thieves suddenly turns into a combat, I'll just give them whatever stats make sense to me without ever looking anything up.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

I'm a bit surprised by the responses so far. Awhile back I presented max HP monsters as part of a solution to class balance in a less-than-6-8-encounter adventuring day, and I got the impression many players/DMs felt this would turn combat into a slog. So far it seems a lot of people are doing it. The thread is still young, though....

It's not so bad if you keep it to select creatures and know the group you're playing with. It's the players who determine if an encounter is a slog and you can usually pick up that vibe from them if it becomes that way. But if what you're doing is taking a 2 round fight and making it a 5 round fight, then it's probably still fresh and fun for the players.

 

[Satyrn]

I hardly ever bump hit points up (it does feel like cheating), but I do lower them on a fairly regular basis, particularly where minions are concerned. When you're down to just a few orcs, and the PCs are doing clean-up, and they reduce one of the orcs to just a single hit point or so, it's easier just to say the orc has one fewer hit point and let it die already.

Aye. Since I can't do that anymore - and I absolutely did before - when that comes up in game, I might just end the combat phase and narrate the rest of the fight down to "and as the fight winds down, you see you can easily take down the rest; do you?" And then let them decide to say "aye, we take 'em out," "we demand their surrender," or whatever else they might want to do - including "we want to play it out to the end" (though they've never said that).

 

[mellored]

I maximized both PC and monster HP. It makes combat a bit more tactical and a little less swingy.

There's more reason to do stuff like knocking an enemy down to give your allies advantage if it won't die in a single hit.
It also reduces the chance of dying just because someone rolled a 20, or got a surprise round.

 

[BlackSeed_Vash]

For me, creatures start with what is in the stat block. Then depending upon the following question, is whether or not and by how much I modify HP:

[1] Will the player's normal tactics, gear and/or spell(s) turn a challenging fight into a easy fight?
[2] How many encounters do I plan on running that session?
[3] How threatening does the creature(s) needs to be?
[4] How many of my players resources do I want to burn?
[5] How important is the creature to the plot?

Depending on the answers, the creature(s) HP will be set at: Stat block / 75% of Max / Max / Max*2 / Max*3.

 

[CapnZapp]

Do you just take the average amount listed in the stat block?
Do you roll for hit points?
Do you just assign an amount within the possible range presented?
Do you wing it and adjust on the fly during combat?
Something else?

I actually used to roll all the time - an old habit from my AD&D days I suppose. But that became too time consuming for my session prep. Now I usually take the average amount unless I have a reason to adjust up or down for story reasons. For a group of enemies, I might make some weaker and some stronger, but otherwise aim for the average overall. And I almost always stick to the numbers I wrote down prior to the session (with the occasional "close enough" if the monster is down to just a few hit points and the combat is getting old or I want to reward a particular character with the "killing" blow).

Yes.

To all questions.

Sent from my C6603 using EN World mobile app

 

[redrick]

I usually roll hp, particularly for groups. I like a bit of uncertainty as to how many hp a critter has left, and it tends to even out more or less with large groups. I roll at the table when the combat starts, sometimes not until actual first blood. I find that I usually have more time during combat than I do out of combat.

For single monsters, I might just pick a value, or I might still roll.

 

[Quickleaf]

I guess it was really two different questions:
1. do you adjust during combat to make things more interesting (up or down)? I get the bit about how that can be abused and be considered poor form. I would hope that is being used for story purposes and not to screw over the PCs because they're besting the DMs "pet".

2. do you not even have HP written down before the session and simply write down whatever you feel like for HP as the combat starts? This seems strange to me, but maybe someone does it and for good reason.

Depends on the encounter...I've done all of these at various points:

• Unprepared encounter against big horde of kobolds; I used optional "spillover damage" rule in DMG, allowing PCs to cleave through swathes of kobolds.
• Paladin soloing a bunch of orcs while rest of party was elsewhere, so I spontaneously gave orcs minimum HP to speed combat up & play up Paladin's awesomeness.
• Party vs. solo dragon, during prep I gave the dragon 75% max. HP instead of average so it could last a bit longer (and show off its cool tricks).
• During game prep of a guard patrol I gave their captain (which used same stat block) maximum HP, better gear, and a name to make him stand out.

 

[CubicsRube]

To me, hp is the least interesting thing about a combatant. I will bump up hp if i want to make the fight longer, but id rather focus on tactics and abilities that are visible to the players.

I customise. I'd have no problem having some orc elites take a moment out of combat to use second wind and heal up some hp, and I'd make it explicit. Or a bandit commander who has a potion of expeditious retreat he quaffs and hgh tails it outta there.

Makes it so all enemies are not samey.