How many hits should a 1st level Fighter be able to take?

[Dannyalcatraz]

I think a 1st level Fighter should be able to take 3 hits from an average weapon and keep fighting, but be dropped by the 4th hit, assuming he has average Con mods to HP.

Or to put it differently,:

Assuming an average weapon does 1d8 damage x2 crit, the Fighter L1 has X HP, where 3(4.5)HP < X < 4(4.5)HP.

BTW, this leaves him vulnerable to a crit from an average weapon, but even that will not be guaranteed to kill him.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

This question depends on what the average fighter is fighting. I voted for 3 hits, which seems to be in the early lead, but I'm comfortable somewhere between 2-4 depending on what the fighter is fighting.

 

[Lanefan]

Cannot answer, too many variables.

A low h.p. Fighter might not last through one good hit from anything. It also depends on whether you use death-at-0 h.p. or whether you use some sort of consciousness check at/below 0 with full death coming at a lower number (often -10, with 4e it's minus a bigger number than that) or something else.

That said, I want the number to on average be very low - if an average Orc needs to bash an average 1st-level Fighter more than three times to put her down then said Fighter has too much starch.

That said, a 1st-level Fighter vs. an Orc one-on-one should be pretty much a coin flip as to who wins, in my view.

Lanefan

 

[Oni]

A low h.p. Fighter might not last through one good hit from anything.

Assume an average fighter (not any outlier that exceptionally good or poor) at full health.

It also depends on whether you use death-at-0 h.p. or whether you use some sort of consciousness check at/below 0 with full death coming at a lower number (often -10, with 4e it's minus a bigger number than that) or something else.

It is intentionally vague, keeping in mind that the game is going to be modular and that there will likely be different variations on the death and dying rules that are likely to range from forgiving to not at all.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

An average fighter should have 1d10 hp, so 6 rounded up. A long sword does 1d8 damage, so 5. Two average hits should drop him. That's two hits, not attacks.

 

[Khaalis]

I went with that fact I'd like to see static HP+Con Mod and I'd like to see fighters at 12+Con. Using the poll's assumed 14 Con that's 14h at level 1. Assuming a Level 1 monster doing an average of 4 damage, that's 3 hits before going down on the 4th.

 

[Oni]

An average fighter should have 1d10 hp, so 6 rounded up. A long sword does 1d8 damage, so 5. Two average hits should drop him. That's two hits, not attacks.

I went with that fact I'd like to see static HP+Con Mod and I'd like to see fighters at 12+Con. Using the poll's assumed 14 Con that's 14h at level 1. Assuming a Level 1 monster doing an average of 4 damage, that's 3 hits before going down on the 4th.

I'm curious to know if you arrived at your desired number of hits received or your desired HP scheme first. I.E. did you say HP should be calculated this way and then derive the number of hits the fighter would be able to take or did you say a fighter should be able to take X number of hits and use that to arrive at your HP scheme?

 

[Hassassin]

Being able to take X hits implies he's still up after that many, right? With that assumption I answered 3. The fourth from an orc (or other 1-is-a-challenge monster) should on average take him down, but he might go down from two crits if he's unlucky.

The wizard should be able to take 1, 2 if he's lucky, and still be standing. Second or third should take him down, or even one crit.

 

[delericho]

A Fighter of any level should, on average, be dropped by 4 normal hits (or 2 critical hits) from the standard attack of a level-appropriate foe. So, if the 1st level Goblin does 1d6 damage on a hit, the Fighter should probably have about 11-13 hit points.

(Potentially, this number should be higher in the Beginner tier, to allow for new players having difficulty grasping the system. This could easily be done by using a "hit point advance" rule - give them the hit points of a 3rd level character, but don't give them any more hit points until they then reach 4th level.)

One other thing - I would like to be able to track hit points throughout the campaign using a decent-sized pile of poker chips (or other tokens). That suggests keeping the numbers manageable throughout. I don't want to see high level Fighters with hundreds of hit points.

 

[Minigiant]

1st level fighter with 14 constitution.

vs 1 HD Goblin (simple weapon, no STR mod): 4
vs 1 HD Elf (martial weapon, no STR mod): 3
vs 1 HD Bugbear (simple weapon, STR mod) : 3
vs 1 HD Orc (martial weapon, STR mod): 2

1st level wizard with 14 constitution.

vs 1 HD Goblin (simple weapon, no STR mod): 3
vs 1 HD Elf (martial weapon, no STR mod): 2
vs 1 HD Bugbear (simple weapon, STR mod) : 2
vs 1 HD Orc (martial weapon, STR mod): 1


I'd make HP Con score*0.5 + Starting Class Bonus*Level

So the fighter would be (14*.5) + (8*1) or 15 HP.
So the wizard would be (14*.5) + (2*1) or 9 HP