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

[Blue Sky]

We use a either/or system.

Either they roll a one, or I give them one.

Actually, my players have a choice. Each level, they can take 75% of the max hp, including .5 if necessary, or they can roll, with a minimum of half the max. For the most part, they take the 75%.

 

[KB9JMQ]

Max at first level.
Reroll 1's all other levels.
No one has ever complained.

 

[Dread October]

Rolling 1's sucks so I give MAX at 1st level, and roll all the others, re rolling ones. A few times along the way I will award MAX HP. Usually every fifth level.

Dread October

 

[blargney the second]

I wonder if anyone uses 1/4 of max. Y'know, for a real sense of mortality.

OUCH! I'll have to try that sometime soon...
-blarg

 

[Belen]

We just use fixed hit points
d4: 3 hps a level
d6: 4 hps a level
d8: 5 hps a level
d10: 6 hps a level
d12: 7 hps a level

Everyone likes this method.

Ditto.

 

[Gunton The Terrible]

In my campaign i use a minimum number based on HD.

1d4 = 1
1d6 = 2
1d8 = 3
1d10 = 4
1d12 = 5

All rolls have to be witnessed by me and the intention announced BEFORE the player rolls. If you roll below the min then you get the min. Ofcourse major NPCs and beasties have the same mins.

Another DM I play with has the min set at your CON bonus.

 

[HenningK]

Diceroll + souped-up Toughness feat

I don't think that our way of doing things have come up yet:

Max at first level.
If the player takes the Toughness feat he or she gets +3 hp (as usual) and can reroll on 1's (but only one reroll per level allowed - the reroll counts, no matter what).

/ Henning K.

 

[Arkham]

Max at 1st, no rerolls.

'Sucks to be you' is a frequently heard phrase.
But rolling well on HP still doesn't let them all
survive Undermountain. *MuahahahaHAHAHAHA!!!*

( Or any of them really. They've all died at least once.
Some more. Some much, much more. )

 

[Rel]

We use the "player rolls and GM rolls secretly, player picks what he rolled or what's behind door number 3" method. It's worked well for us.

 

[delericho]

After one too many instances where a set of bad rolls led to a Fighter with real problems doing his job (such that it was affecting the enjoyment of the game - I like my D&D heroic), we instituted a fixed hit points scheme:

d4 - 3 per level
d6 - 4 per level
d8 - 6 per level
d10 - 8 per level
d12 - 9 per level

Characters get maximum hit points at 1st level, and Constitution modifiers apply, as always.

As an aside, we also use point-buy for ability scores, and maximum starting cash for 1st level characters. I really don't like random elements in character development.

Of course, all of the above only applies when I'm running the game (which is most of the time); the group's other DM likes randomness.

It's probably also worth noting that I'm considering dropping to just over average results for the next campaign (d4 - 3, d6 - 4, d8 - 5, d10 - 6 and d12 - 7), and average starting money. The higher values are fine (even good) at low levels, but do seem to create exceptionally tough characters at higher levels.