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Message: <blockquote data-quote="NotAYakk" data-source="post: 7854334" data-attributes="member: 72555">Yes, HD was how hard a monster was in 1e.  It was a rating that determined how challenging it was.  Monsters with HD and a star where extra hard for their HD.The first monsters a party would meet as new adventurers should be HD 1 or lower monsters in 1e.  In 5e, they should be CR 1 or lower monsters.There is a strong association between 1e HD and 5e CR.  There is next to no association between 5e HD and 1e HD.  Nobody should ever use 5e HD to determine how tough a monster is, if it should be on the "first level of a dungeon" or not.There is correlation between HD and HP, and correlation between HP and CR, and correlation between CR and ATK bonus and Damage.  Comparing 5e HD to 1e HD is an absolutely horrible comparison method, as someone who has played both 5e and 1e.The monster building guidelines of 5e have you derive HD from how many HP you want it to have, its size, and its constitution bonus.  Larger monsters use larger HD and hence have fewer of them, smaller monsters have smaller HD and hence have more of them.This is why an Orc has 2 HD and so does a Kobold; the Orc has a high con (+3) and is medium sized, so has 2d8+6 = 15 HP.  The Kobold has -1 Con and is small, so rolls d6 HD -- 2d6-2 is 5 HP.  If the Kobold had -2 Con, it would have 3 HD and 5 HP.  If it had -3 Con, it would have 5 HD ... and 5 HP.  Nothing else about the monster would change, because HD is a derived stat in 5e, not the start of building a monster.On the other hand, comparing 5e CR to 1e HD is a decent comparison method.  They both are a way of measuring how tough a monster is.Go and do your comparison of 1e monsters by HD vs 5e monsters by CR.  The Orc is a half level threat in 5e, and yes it has more HP than a level 1 PC and does more damage.  That is why people are saying monsters in 5e ... have more HP and deal more damage than 1e ones did.The Kobold has 2 HD, but is a 1/8 CR threat.  It is 4 times weaker than an Orc.HD, on a monster in 5e, means next to nothing.  It exists pretty much only to make people who are used to HD-centric editions of D&D feel surface fuzzies.</blockquote>

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