How do you determine hitpoints?

[frankthedm]

Players and monsters may take High average on thier HD [d4=3 d8= 5 d12=7]. Those who roll, suffer whatever the roll is. The wizard gains quite a bit from this, but, since it slightly increases monster HP, it weakens thier blasting spells a little bit too.

I had a player with an elf ranger who got greedy, wound up rolling a '2' and gave me that idiodic "Aww, come on" line. I let him know that he willing chose to roll and was stuck with the bed he made.

 

[GeorgeFields]

I just have the players roll twice and take the best result.

I like a bit of randomness, but hit points are forever, and it sucks to blow that roll. With two rolls, there's almost always one of them that's average to good.

I do the same with maximum at first level. I've only had a few occasions the a player has rolled 2 1's.

 

[Bladesong]

I've been doing it the same way for twenty(muffle) years.

At frist level HPs equal CON score or max die + CON modifier, use highest of the two.
At second level max die + CON modifier
Every other level is based on the class die:
d4 becomes d2 + 2
d6 becomes d3 + 3
d8 becomes d4 + 4
d10 becomes d4 + 6
d12 becomes d6 + 6
(failed to mention before that they get to add their CON modifier of course)

Has randomness, the players still feel they have some control because they get to roll, there are no really bad rolls and everyone has always been happy with it.

Have fun.

 

[Nebulous]

For the longest time i've let players take max at first level, plus CON, and then no less than half their hit die when leveling. In other words, if a d10 fighter rolls a 1,2,3,4 or 5, it automatically becomes a 5.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I use the variant in the DMG -- you get 1/2 HD at even levels, and 1/2 HD +1 at odd levels. (I think; it may be the other way around.) Not only is this easy, immune to cheating, etc., it also allows me to play for how many hit points the PCs will have at any given level, which aids in balancing encounters.

 

[Kristivas]

I chose neither.

I like to run a tougher game, and I'd hate for my PCs to be scared of a few rats.

So, I've come up with a system. It doesn't give them full HP, but it's often worked out well.


The PC rolls the dice, and must get the upper half of the dice side. He rerolls til he does.

For example, a fighter rolling a d10 ignores any 1-5 rolls. If he rolls a 6, he gets 6.

This system has also edged a few players toward picking wizards/sorcerers, even for the lower-level games.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm surprised to hear all these solutions that prevent cheating--are cheating players really a common problem?

 

[francisca]

Roll for 'em. If they get less than half the die, they get half the die value instead.

Some may say that is too generous, but beleive me, the players need them.

 

[Jdvn1]

I'm surprised to hear all these solutions that prevent cheating--are cheating players really a common problem?

Maybe it's because I skimmed through everything, but I don't use my system to prevent cheating. I do it to try to maintain better balance. It helps keep my players the power they need to be.

 

[was]

Roll for 'em. If they get less than half the die, they get half the die value instead.
Some may say that is too generous, but beleive me, the players need them.

We do something similar. Max HP + Con for levels 1 and 2. Roll for the rest. 70% fallback .....example: fighter A rolls a 3 for HP at 3rd level, which then becomes 7 with the fallback houserule. Like you said, they definitely need them.