How do you determine hitpoints?

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Cheating is "bad", but it's one of those things.

An otherwise cool human being may be tempted to nudge the dice when he's rolling at home to whip up his Barbarian and gets 1 on the die for both 2nd and 3rd level. It could happen.

If you may be in a situation where people you don't know that well will be joining the game, as well. I'd rather not my first impression of somebody be a lingering doubt as to why his PC has only 3hp less than maximum possible, and be eyeballing him all evening because of it. With standardized systems like point-buy and static HP, along with the gold value chart from the DMG and some rules about equipment purchases, I can comfortably let somebody into a game knowing they're going to be on average with the other characters in the game. Bob The New Dude doesn't show up with max HP and a Holy Longsword +1 because he "rolled" them at home (regardless of if he DID or not). There's no need to watch a player roll up a character, so all of that gets done on their time and we don't have to waste that time at the begining of the session.

--fje

 

[Goddess FallenAngel]

In one of the games I'm in, we roll, but if you don't roll at least average (determined by 1/2+1) then you get said average. For example:

d4 = if you roll less than a 3, you get 3 (yay for wizards!).
d6 = if you roll less than a 4, you get 4.
d8 = if you roll less than a 5, you get 5.
d10 = if you roll less than a 6, you get 6.

If you roll average or over, you keep your roll.

We've used it for years and it's worked fine for us.


In the other game I play, you roll as per normal, but have the option of asking for a shadow roll from the DM. If you choose the shadow roll (a roll that you don't see), then you take it even if it's lower. It's great if you roll, say, a 1 or 2, because chances are, you're only going to get a better roll.

 

[just__al]

players must roll at least 30% of their die. You don't roll at first level you get max.

So...
d4s and d6s ones count as twos
d8s and d10s ones and two's count as threes
d12 ones, twos and threes count as fours

 

[Raylis]

Our group has an option when rolling hit points. We either roll 1 die and take half or better or we roll 2 dice and take the best. The DM does the actual rolling and I've fudged a few times behind the screen on a bad roll

 

[Eye Tyrant]

Other

Though I voted median because...

I allow max HP at first level and players re-roll any that don't meet 1/2 their HD at each addtional level. So if youplay a Wizard you start with 4hp + Con bonus, and at each additional level you will get 3 or 4hp + Con bonus...

 

[UniversalMonster]

I didn't vote because my option isn't on there.

1st level is max hit points. Subsequent levels is random roll, but 1's and 2's are re-rolled until you get at least a 3.

Yes, that means Wizards have at least a 3 hp per level. So do Commoners.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

For my new campaign, we are doing things by the 3.5 book which means roll randomly for hit points above the maximised 1st level. (I'm even getting them to do six times 4d6 for the stats - talk about retro)

However, I had a neat system that kept the players happy that some people may like.

Herremann's Hit Point System

1. You roll your classes HD.
2. If you are happy with the result, you keep it.
3. If you are unhappy with the result, then you can roll the next die down.
Rinse and repeat 2. and 3. until you get down to a d4. Whatever you roll on a d4, you have to take the result.

For example, let's say we have the beefy barbarian. He rolls a 1 on the d12 so he rolls a d10 getting a 4. Unhappy with this, the player goes down to a d8 and rolls a 7, keeping it.
As you can see, you get a couple of chances if you have a bigger hit die to get above average hit points.
Alternatively, the weaker hit die classes get what they roll and are thankful for it.

The funniest thing is that the players all cheered when one of them rolling for their fighter rolled a 2, 1, 1 and then on the d4, a 1. Damn it, he earned that 1 and he was proud of it - in a strange kind of way.

***

The other idea that I have seen used is based on the characters constitution modifier. You roll and get what you get. However, if the roll is lower than your con modifier, then you get your con modifier instead.

For example, a tough wizard with 15 con rolls a 1 on their d4. Because their con mod. is +2, this is changed to a 2.
This system seems fair and reasonable without deviating too excessively from the rules.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I've implemented the following in my games based on what I saw in Iron Heroes:

8+D4/level: Barbarian
6+D4/level: Fighter, Paladin
4+D4/level: Cleric, Druid, Monk & Ranger
2+D4/level: Bard, Rogue, Sorcerer & Wizard

 

[Woas]

I picked roll.

But I don't do a straight roll.

Player rolls a die for HP and the DM rolls a die (hidden so the player does not know what the result is) for HP. The player can choose either his/her die, or the DMs die. Whatever they pick, it's final, even if the DMs die was lower.. which has only happend once all the times I've been doing this.

 

[Glyfair]

None of the above choices.

I allow players to choose either average hit points (rounded down) on the die or whatever they roll. Once they make a choice at a level, they are stuck with it.