D&D 5E Minimum hit points and damage?

[Boarstorm]

My memory is not doing me any favors today. I could have sworn there were creatures in the MM's appendix that did 0 damage. But I was wrong. They either do a straight 1 point, or are listed as "having no effective attacks" like the frog.

I would say that, yes, a minimum of 1 was intended.

 

[was]

I never let a hit do less than 1 damage.

 

[rjfTrebor]

i'd let hits do 0 damage. haven't you guys seen DBZ?

 

[was]

i'd let hits do 0 damage. haven't you guys seen DBZ?

No...I know it's a cartoon, but that's about it

 

[Prism]

We have a PC in our party who has 8 strength and when he rolls a 1 for damage he has being doing 0. Well that's what roll20 tells us at least. It adds a bit of comedy value when he eventually hits something to do 0 damage. Not that he really cares about strength anyway since he is a druid.

I would probably go with the chance of negative hit points for anyone with 7 constitution or less too. Although I haven't seen it yet in 5e we had a 3e ranger in our party with 6 constitution who survived longer than expected. Eventually died to mummy rot - epic ending for a very poorly character

 

[JiffyPopTart]

As a house rule I always rule roll hit points but take AVG if your roll is lower.

I do the same, you can roll for HP whenver you level up (or at creation) but the minimum you can roll is "high-average". 3 on D4 through 7 on D12. I have always hated the extreme and ongoing character crippling a few bad HP die rolls can do.

 

[Joe Liker]

Everyone is aware that rolling for hit points is a fool's bet, right?

Because the average is rounded up, your chance of rolling higher than that is less than 50 percent, while your chance of rolling worse is exactly 50 percent, no matter what your class is.

So unless you are house-ruling that "average is minimum" (as many have already professed), I would never, ever roll for hit points.

 

[Henrix]

I think this is just a case of the writers and editors being so used to the rule that they forgot to write it down.

In previous edition you have always gotten a minimum of 1 hp per hit die.

And so it is in the playtest rules. Under Damage and Dying in the How to Play pdf it says:

A creature has a minimum of 1 hit point per Hit Die.

 

[aramis erak]

Everyone is aware that rolling for hit points is a fool's bet, right?

Because the average is rounded up, your chance of rolling higher than that is less than 50 percent, while your chance of rolling worse is exactly 50 percent, no matter what your class is.

So unless you are house-ruling that "average is minimum" (as many have already professed), I would never, ever roll for hit points.

That presumes your DM lets you take the flat rate. It's the DM's call, not the player's.

 

[Joe Liker]

That presumes your DM lets you take the flat rate. It's the DM's call, not the player's.

RAW, it's the player's call. Both options are presented to the player simultaneously in the Player's Handbook (p. 15). The phrase "you can use the fixed value" is used, with "you" being the player. It does not say anything about needing the DM's approval.

If the DM wants to take that choice away from the player, that would be a house rule.