Hit points: High side, average, straight roll, what?

[milotha]

Our group has always done the roll against GM. This means the both the player and the GM roll the appropriate HD and then you take the higher of the two numbers. I like this because it's simple and it help prevent one bad roll from ruining your character, while at the same time still providing that random chance at every level or rolling really well or rolling poorly.

Another system that I have seen is this: At every level reroll all of your HP and take the higher or the roll vs your current HP. Feor example a 5th level fighter would roll 5d10 and then take that result or his previous HP total 4d10 whichever is greater.

 

[Abraxas]

Other - Roll or 1/2 whichever is higher works for us.

 

[LeapingShark]

Roll em; if the result is less than half, bring it up to half (i.e. 2/4, 3/6, 4/8, 5/10, 6/12). Sometimes I use max hp for 1st-3rd level. I've found more hp to be more fun, and so have the players. Even with generous hp, the party still spends most of their time running around half dead or dying anyway.

 

[Celtavian]

re

Roll twice, take the better of the two numbers. While I like the rolling, rather than just taking an average, hit points are something that stays with you for a long time, so I don't like it to rest on the chance of a single roll.

This is how we do it for the same reason.

 

[Eldragon]

I like the idea of eliminating randomness in character generation. This way its fair to everyone. It always sucks to be the guy who rolled the worst stats in the party, and then rolling a 1 for hitpoints at level up. Thus, I always do Avg rounded up.

Has there been a lot of success with people taking max HP for all levels? I have been toying with the idea for a while.

 

[Capellan]

Has there been a lot of success with people taking max HP for all levels? I have been toying with the idea for a while.

I'm doing this in my X-Path game, in order to help engender the necessary 'gung ho' attitude from my PCs. It makes for some brutal HP totals, though (especially when combined with that campaign's generous ability roll method): the Pal2/Ftr1 has 42 hp.

Edit: and it's worth noting that people tend to 're-set' their expectations, regardless of what you do with hit points. They still think in terms of "I'm below half, I'm in trouble!" even when 'below half' means they have AC 19 and HP 20, and are fighting ordinary goblins ...

In my more standard D&D game, Company of the Random Encounter, HP are rolled as normal, but if your total ever drops below half what you could have had, I give the character max HP at the next level.

eg Stormstrider is a Drd4 with Con12 and max HP 16. His HP total could be as high as 8*4+1*4=36, so when he goes to 5th level, I'll assume he rolled max on the hit die (probably another d8, in his case).

 

[Old Gumphrey]

I'm playing in a PBP that uses max HP, and I've played in a live game that used max HP. NOBODY EVER DIES, EVER. Barbarians are just ridiculous. My 8th level bard has 72 HP.

I like to do HP by just having everyone take the average with the standard max HP on the first HD. I find that most groups are very liberal with the HP rolling and from what I've seen and heard about 85% of all characters have average-max HP.

 

[Elephant]

Reroll ones and twos.

 

[artent]

re:

Player rolls, if they don't like what they get then they can have the DM roll, they must take what the DM rolls even if it's lower. Many hex's and spells have developed from this method to try and divine what to do, makes rolling hp a game of it's own.

oh and 1st lvl is max hp.

 

[schnee]

Not to be a crank, but this 'high HP at all costs' really, really weakens Evocation casters.

Fighters can swing a few more rounds and hit, but if everyone has HP that are skewed high, the limited number - and power - of Evocation direct damage spells effectively dilutes that kind of magic.

I hear a lot of complaints about how 'weak' evokers are.... this may be part of it. Just sayin'.