D&D 5E (2024) House Rule: Con mod HD Recovery instead of Full
- Thread starter SkidAce
- Start date
Stormonu
NeoGrognard
I suppose the question is - what are you trying to fix?
If I were to implement this, I'd be more inclined to go with Proficiency Bonus myself instead of Con Mod. It will slow recovery and still scale with level. It also keeps people from unduly seeking to puff up Constitution for accelerated healing (HP modification via Con I think is already enough of a benefit to keep folks from wanting to dump Con).
If I were to implement this, I'd be more inclined to go with Proficiency Bonus myself instead of Con Mod. It will slow recovery and still scale with level. It also keeps people from unduly seeking to puff up Constitution for accelerated healing (HP modification via Con I think is already enough of a benefit to keep folks from wanting to dump Con).
Slow HD recovery would only ever impact those tables for whom Short Rests were actually taken enough times to see the PCs come close to running out of HD. Because for those tables that take few Short Rests, they won't spend as many HD each day, and thus even 'slow' HD recovery will put them back to full after every Long Rest. So the rule doesn't actually accomplish anything for those tables. They still start every day at full HD.
So the question is... do you just not like Short Rests and the players being able to heal themselves that much every day (and then re-setting the table every night?) Because I'll be honest... I would much rather have my tables take more Short Rests more often, than house ruling away one of the main reasons why they would. Especially considering all that really ends up doing is the Cleric (or other healers) blowing the remainder of their spells on Cure Wounds et. al. because the players are going to want to start as many encounters as they can at full health-- and they will get there by whatever means necessary. So cutting down on HD expenditure as one of those avenues won't actually solve the problem.
So the question is... do you just not like Short Rests and the players being able to heal themselves that much every day (and then re-setting the table every night?) Because I'll be honest... I would much rather have my tables take more Short Rests more often, than house ruling away one of the main reasons why they would. Especially considering all that really ends up doing is the Cleric (or other healers) blowing the remainder of their spells on Cure Wounds et. al. because the players are going to want to start as many encounters as they can at full health-- and they will get there by whatever means necessary. So cutting down on HD expenditure as one of those avenues won't actually solve the problem.
I guess what I am trying to fix is being 100% tip top shape overnight.
We have no problem regaining abilities overnight (it's been that way for years, and it's like sleeping and being ready for work the next day).
Getting half back in 2014 was ... acceptable.
Now in 2024 you get all of them back.
I would like HD (and not other things) to slowly attrit over time.
Chose Con mod instead of prof, cause high con people would last longer.
Just brainstorming.
We have no problem regaining abilities overnight (it's been that way for years, and it's like sleeping and being ready for work the next day).
Getting half back in 2014 was ... acceptable.
Now in 2024 you get all of them back.
I would like HD (and not other things) to slowly attrit over time.
Chose Con mod instead of prof, cause high con people would last longer.
Just brainstorming.
mellored
Legend
To go a slightly different way, leave HD alone, but give them something else that doesn't recharge.
Such as Healing potions. You have a limited supply (enforce carrying capacity) when you leave town and use them up over time.
Or a magic item with 10 charges but only regains 1 charge a day, and restors a spell slot.
And then turn the difficulty up a notch so they need to spend that extra resource.
Or yet another way. Short rest are 8 hours, long rest requires going to town. HD aren't easily recovered.
Or both.
Such as Healing potions. You have a limited supply (enforce carrying capacity) when you leave town and use them up over time.
Or a magic item with 10 charges but only regains 1 charge a day, and restors a spell slot.
And then turn the difficulty up a notch so they need to spend that extra resource.
Or yet another way. Short rest are 8 hours, long rest requires going to town. HD aren't easily recovered.
Or both.
If getting half HD back in 5e 2014 was acceptable, that's probably the easiest option.
Going by Con mod makes it harder on players with lower Con, who already have lower HP (and are probably classes with smaller HD, so even lower HP). This is just layering the pain onto anyone who doesn't go out of their way to have a high Con.
Going by proficiency mod is too high at low levels, and too low at high levels.
The solution I'm currently using to make 5e more dangerous and have a little more resource management is to focus on low level play.
There's two different things here that you would need to figure out for yourself with regards to the success or failure of instituting your house rule-- the "in-world reality" you are trying to mimic, and the "characters having less mechanics strength" at the start of each "day".
If you are trying to mimic some in-world reality where you feel like a person should really take more than single day to naturally recover from their "injuries"... I can understand why you would want to try and put in a "slow healing" variant into your game. Players have been doing that since the beginning of 5E. Their belief that there should be some semblance (or at least a little nod) to verisimilitude when it comes to natural healing in D&D, so they find various rules and house rules to not allow for "overnight" or Long Rest full recovery. So in that regard, your spitballing of this rule is just as valid as any other house rule that has been invented. Now personally... I don't think any of that actually accomplishes anything because all of the various "slow recovery" rule options that have been invented-- NONE of them even come close to mimicking any sort of reality in how long it actually takes to recover from injury. So it's all just putting lipstick on a pig in my opinion. So I have given up caring about "mimicking reality" in-game a long time ago because none of these rules are trying to do that. These are rules that exist merely to play a game. That's it. Not to truly simulate anything, but just to give us rules to play our little dice game upon which we flavor that dice game with what these rules represent in some sort of fictional story.
But that's just me. I merely handwave all of the disparities and accept it all merely as the tenuous connection between game and story.
Now if you hoping for the latter part of my original statement-- that you are just wanting the PCs to start each day not at full-strength because of game concerns... that is also understandable. If you are having a hard time challenging your players because when they are at full strength and capability they have too much "stuff" they can do to run roughshod over your built encounters... forcing them to start more encounters with less "stuff" is one of the easier ways to make encounter-building easier on you. For a lot of people they just stop allowing characters to take Rests as often... rather they force their players onto the next part of the adventure via time pressure or the lack of safe spaces to Rest. Thus the PCs start many of their encounters at less than full strength. Cutting down on the number of hit dice they have is certainly one way to do that... but I will be honest, I myself do not expect that this particular house rule will properly accomplish this hope, for two reasons. One, players are notoriously risk-averse. As @Horwath said above... if they can't get back to full-strength overnight... they'll just sit around taking as long as they need until they are at full. At which point you as the DM have to institute time pressures and lack of safe space to Rest anyway just to force them to get back to the adventure rather than wait until they are healed. And two... hit dice are actually some of the least important mechanics to curtail if one hopes to reduce PC power during a gameday. Because they only affect things after the encounter is done. If you don't inhibit any PCs active abilities, then they will still be fighting in every encounter with their entire suite of features, and thus making your encounter design still difficult for you. You'd actually be better off not slowing down HD recovery, but HIT POINT recovery instead. Have the PCs lose a point of their "Hit Point Maximum" (like what happens when fighting a Wraith for example) from every single hit they take. That would actually reduce the PCs strength in subsequent encounters and allow you to challenge them more.
So the long and the short of it is that your reasons for doing it are valid for whatever you think you want... but I just don't know if this particular house rule you've come up with is the best way to do it. My instinctive impression is just that it isn't going to accomplish what you want it to. But hey! This is why we playtest! Try it out at your table and see if it does indeed give you what you want. And if it doesn't? Go back to the normal rules. I do that all the time myself... try out house rules to see if I feel better about the game when using them. And if I do, I'll keep them (like the Variant Ability Score for Skills house rule) and if they don't really improve anything in the game I drop them (like rolling 2d10 instead of 1d20 for skill checks.)
Good luck!
TaranTheWanderer
Legend
Do you find they are burning all their HD between long rests? Were they doing that before or were they saving some?
In 2024, there’s more uses for HD in combat so they get used up quicker (that healer feat, for example)
Out of the options posted, I’d go with proficiency bonus. They need HD more at low levels and it scales slowly at higher levels. Con modifier will mostly be fixed, will force people to boost con and will be more beneficial to front line fighter types who sink resources into Con.
In 2024, there’s more uses for HD in combat so they get used up quicker (that healer feat, for example)
Out of the options posted, I’d go with proficiency bonus. They need HD more at low levels and it scales slowly at higher levels. Con modifier will mostly be fixed, will force people to boost con and will be more beneficial to front line fighter types who sink resources into Con.
