Games With Automatic Escalating Hit Points?

[JoeGKushner]

Just trying to think of games where it's assumed that the characters will continue to become more and more difficult to kill once they're hit.

Rolemaster: Level based and while you don't have to buy 'concussion' hits every level, it's probably a good idea.

...

That's it. Most other games I'm familiar with, Call of Cthulhu, Hero, GURPS, etc..., don't build in automatic hit point adjustment as you gain levels. What am I missing out?

 

[Terath Ninir]

Hmm. Earthdawn, though it's D&D influences are very strong.

MERP doesn't really count, since it's Rolemaster Lite.

Car Wars, though the RPG elements were a little-used add-on.

The Paladium games -- thought the HPs per level were minor compared to what you started out with, usually.

Some other TSR games, like Gamma World.

None of these are very strong counterexamples to your basic point, though.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Ah, I had forgotten Palladium, the 'original' Heartbreak fantasy. It was one of the first games that I enjoyed the armor absorbing damage if you didn't bear it's A.R.

Good stuff.

 

[WayneLigon]

Tunnels and Trolls. You keep getting adds and other things that make you harder to kill.

Most of the others I can think of are essencially D&D variants, like the Haven system.

 

[Seeten]

Just trying to think of games where it's assumed that the characters will continue to become more and more difficult to kill once they're hit.

Rolemaster: Level based and while you don't have to buy 'concussion' hits every level, it's probably a good idea.

...

That's it. Most other games I'm familiar with, Call of Cthulhu, Hero, GURPS, etc..., don't build in automatic hit point adjustment as you gain levels. What am I missing out?

Rolemaster had insta kills regardless of Hits, though, so that is sort of flawed.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Rolemaster had insta kills regardless of Hits, though, so that is sort of flawed.

Beware the E 66 critical.

 

[Frostmarrow]

In Warhammer FRP you get more wounds as part of your profile. You need to buy those wounds to advance to a new carreer. (Strange that you get wounds as you grow tougher )

 

[JoeGKushner]

In Warhammer FRP you get more wounds as part of your profile. You need to buy those wounds to advance to a new carreer. (Strange that you get wounds as you grow tougher )

But it's not quite an automatic progression.

And you don't actually have to 'buy' your wounds up.

And there is a finite limit to the number of wounds you can buy as if you get into two careers with +2 wounds, you'll only be able to buy 2 wounds, not 4.

 

[Huw]

Most Fantasy system's I'm aware of have HP advancement to some degree

Dragon Warriors: Gain 1 hit point every few levels, depending on class
Palladium: 1d6 hp per level regardless of class, IIRC
Rolemaster: 1d10 hp per pick (0, 1 or 2 per level depending on class and player choices)
Runequest: Can increase CON (which affects HP), but not by much. Various magical means can raise your HP as well, but that's not normal advancement
Tunnels & Trolls: Increase HP every level.
Warhammer: Can gain a few extra wound points

 

[I'm A Banana]

FFZ does, though it's essentially a d20 variant.

(babbling about design theory below)

CRPGs (arguably ALL D&D variants) have escalating hp/health/life bars as part of the game. Adventure games like Zelda and Metroid use those as rewards for exploration and cleverness, but have some measure of automatic scaling, too. Zelda, for instance, automatically grants you magic equipment, better gear, and more life by progressing through the game, but you can gain MORE by exploring, too.

Games that don't increase your life automatically generally remain more deadly, especially at the higher levels. Really, increased hp matters mostly when you've got a lot and you go back to face weak threats: threats you can face much, much more of now that you've got more health.

So, for D&D, increasing hp matters mostly for mooks: if every goblin might be able to kill you, you don't have a gradient of not a threat-minor threat-threat-major threat-walking death, and you don't have the ability to go from running away from an ogre to slaying the ogre to facing an army of ogres. Games who aren't as interested in modeling that continuum don't really care about upping your hit points that much.