How does your group handle a character's Hit Points?

[Liquidsabre]

The poll on stat rolling methods reminded me of the different ways folk go about handling the two most important generated numbers for characters: Stats and Hit Points.

I wanted to share one of the recent changes I introduced to my group, long unsatisfied with HP rolling methods (even re-rolling 1's). The player rolls their character's new hit die as normal but in addition, behind the DM screen I roll the character's hit die as well. Now the player chooses: take their own roll or my concealed one. We've had loads of fun with this method already, from both sides of the DM screen. I get to watch my players squirm a bit with the tantalizing morsel of a hidden roll that "could" be revealed (for some reason they enjoy this ), at the same when very poor rolls are made they always go for the Dm-roll, which usually is better. This has nearly (though not entirely) elminated neat character builds gimped by low HP rolls and when low rolls are made on *both* dice, all consider it simply "meant to be" and so ordained by the dice gods.

So I just wanted to hear what methods other groups are currently using at their game table.

Happy Gaming!

 

[Thanee]

We also do it like this, tho we just let the DM roll, if we don't want to keep the roll, otherwise no roll is done.

Nice enough, the DM rolled a 4 for my d4 when I rolled a 1 once.
All my other rolls (9th level now, so that makes 7 other rolls) have been a 4 D), so I really can't complain about my hit points!

I'm thinking to do it in a different fashion, tho.

Roll as normal, if the result is lower than HD/2 (i.e. 4 for a d8), you get that instead.

Bye
Thanee

 

[LeapingShark]

Roll, take 1/2 max if lower

 

[jaults]

The game in which I play uses a method where choose to either take 1/2 max (including the .5, which then gets "rounded up" every other level) or to roll, but we keep what we get if we roll badly. I like this method, and have instituted it in games I run.

Jason

 

[hong]

3/4 HD, rounded down: d4 -> 3, d6 -> 4, d8 -> 6, d10 -> 7, d12 -> 9. This gives the PCs more hp than average, which for me is not a bad thing. NPCs just get the average.

 

[Chronosome]

In the group I'm currently a player in we're doing 75% maximum each level.
When I DM, I give players the choice of 50% max or a straight roll.

 

[The LMS]

Yeah..my group has used that method for years..it's a fun method. Makes rolling hp Fun.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I voted "May reroll but at next die down," but that's not exactly what I do. My players roll multiple dice at once, with a minimum. A barbarian rolls d12, d10 and d8, with a minimum of 6; a fighter rolls d10, d8 and d6, with a minimum of 5; a cleric rolls d8 and d6, with a minimum of 4; a rogue rolls d6 and d4 with a minimum of 3; a wizard rolls a d4 and d3 with a minimum of 2.

My players prefer power games, so I just give the monsters more hit points too.

Dave

 

[Avalin]

Bloody Paste

I voted "May reroll but at next die down," but that's not exactly what I do. My players roll multiple dice at once, with a minimum. A barbarian rolls d12, d10 and d8, with a minimum of 6; a fighter rolls d10, d8 and d6, with a minimum of 5; a cleric rolls d8 and d6, with a minimum of 4; a rogue rolls d6 and d4 with a minimum of 3; a wizard rolls a d4 and d3 with a minimum of 2.

My players prefer power games, so I just give the monsters more hit points too.

Dave

For power gaming under editions up to 2.0 I used to just give everyone and every creature max HP. After a year or so my mage (a player who has played a mage in virtually every game for over a decade) figured out that creatures that I was putting in to challenge the fighter could turn the mage into a bloody paste because of the HP disparity over time and the longevity of monsters with max HP so we switched to the method of they roll and I roll hidden that started this post and everyone likes it.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

Every class rolls 1d4-1. This is subtracted from the maximum for their class. The idea is that the hit die becomes more of a reliable class feature so the barbarian doesn't get stuck with less hit points than the rogue by random accident.

As an example to illustrate, let's say the character is a fighter. He rolls the d4, and gets a 3. -1 is 2. 10-2=8, so he gets 8 hit points that level. It's 1d4-1 so that you can roll a 0, and get max hit points.