Fellow DM, How do you handle Hit Point at each new level ?

[Thanee]

When your player character are level up and they roll a 1 on the Hit Point dice, do you allow them to roll again or do you have houses rules about how to handle HP ?

I've found the best method is not a reroll, but rather a fixed minimum.

If a player rolls below half the HD (i.e. below 4 on a d8) then the result is simply half the HD (4 in this case).

This is very simple, does not increase the average by too much (less than a free re-roll) and it completely removes the chance for extremely low results.

I really don't see anything positive about having someone play a character who rolled a 1 for hit points.

There are plenty methods to lessen the chance for a 1 (i.e. one re-roll, if you don't like the result, or choose between HD/2+1 or a normal roll), but most of them still have a chance for a 1 (or another extremely low result, a 2 on a d10 is about as bad), but I like this the best, since there is absolutely NO chance left. You'll always have at least slightly below average hit points, and the chance for extremely high hit points is not really increased (at least not significantly).

The other method I like is to not roll at all, but rather take a fixed amount (average as per the DMG, or the rather common HD/2+1 (I think this is the LGG method)).

Another idea I had, is to change the HD to something more acceptable, like d4 -> d3+1, d6 -> d4+2, d8 -> d5+3, and so on, or something like that.

Bye
Thanee

 

[MonsterMash]

IMC its maximum at 1st level then at higher levels players choice average(low) or roll - if first roll is a 1 then reroll allowed, but on second roll if a 1 comes up then that's what you get.

 

[renegade]

Maximum HP at first level, we've done that for so long, that I'd forgotten there were other options.

After that, due to a habit of putting in tought fights and Enemies using Coup De Grace, they have to roll higher than their CON bonus, of course that means 16 CON wizards hve 7hp per level and are surprisingly tough.

But it does stop your 20 CON Barbarian from having a glass jaw.

/PHil

 

[IamTheTest]

HD+Con mod. Glassjaw barbs and Toughasnails wizards are good for roleplaying.

 

[Snowy]

The campaign i've been running this year we picked on.
roll your class hit dice if you dont like it roll the next dice size down and and so on till they get a number they like. It still allows some randomness, gives the excitement of rolling dice and doesnt leave the barbarian with less hit points than the wizard (I exaggerate here of course).

so
d12 -> d10 -> d8 -> d6 -> d4 -> d2

also seems good to me as it skews the probabilities for larger hitdice classes to be at least average, as they can roll more dice, but still with a chance of a 1.

we also went for die at - CON rather than -10 also on the grounds that the bigger and healthier you are the longer you last.

monsters have either whatever the book said they have or whatever i wrote down on my cheat sheet when i modified them. Classed bad guys have whatever I decided (using what classes they have as a guideline) id guess its usually just over average.

 

[fuindordm]

A couple more interesting methods I've seen:

One DM calculated HP based on the average roll over 20 levels plus max HP for the first 2 levels, then distributed that total over all 20 levels so that you start with max HP and the number gained slowly decreases. For example the d10 distribution was 20 + 5.5*18 = 119 hp, and the table looked something like this:

10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6 6 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 4 4

Another method that I've heard of is to have the player reroll all their hit dice at each level gain, and only
modify their HP if they acheive a higher total.

Ben

 

[Nathan P. Mahney]

Roll the dice and take what you're given. It's worked for me for the last 16 years, there's no reason it won't work now. I do allow max hit points at first level, but only because it's in the core books. I miss the days when guys would roll 1 hit point... I let the players level up by themselves, though. If they lie to me, then I don't know about it.

 

[ironmani]

I tell my players up front they either can take the average of your hit die plus your con bonus (If positive), or they can roll. If they roll, thats what you get. Get a one.....that sucks, but thats life.

 

[diaglo]

Hello,

When your player character are level up and they roll a 1 on the Hit Point dice, do you allow them to roll again or do you have houses rules about how to handle HP ?

Thanks you !

roll them at every level. keep what you roll. referee has to see the roll.

 

[Narfellus]

In DnD only, I always let my players max at 1st level plus CON, and at level up they couldn't get less than half their hit die. So if a fighter rolls 1,2,3,4 it still equals 5 hp.