I like these ideas. I suppose some would cry about fairness and rules, but I think a lot of people who play would rather have their characters die at the hands of the BBED than by some lucky goblin, if those were the only storyboards available. So especially at low levels, I skew everything to above average, for all classes. At high levels it's you get what you roll. Is that realistic? I don't care. I just appreciate the players' desires to have their well created characters survive. I guess I'm a "player's DM". I've still killed a few, and in spectacular fashion. Spectacular deaths tend to mitigate the complete and utter finality of it, and the player is then less mad when he/she rolls up a new one. That said, I'm not big on resurrections, though I'm told I should be.
Opinion of Minimum Hit Point Increase House Rule?
- Thread starter AdamBank
- Start date
KnowTheToe
First Post
I say if you roll lower than half the die value, then you get half the die value. Simple and works for me. Since I usually use 32 pt buy, which is over powered to CR, I award all bad guys max HP. I do not give max HP to baddies at first level.
We're currently using the "d4 Rule".
Every character class rolls a d4 and then adds a modifier.
d4 -- d4 (duh!)
d6 -- d4 + 2
d8 -- d4 + 4
d10 -- d4 + 6
d12 -- d4 + 8
It definitely skews HP higher than normal, but it makes people really value the bigger Hitdice. And it applies to monsters as well, of course.
Every character class rolls a d4 and then adds a modifier.
d4 -- d4 (duh!)
d6 -- d4 + 2
d8 -- d4 + 4
d10 -- d4 + 6
d12 -- d4 + 8
It definitely skews HP higher than normal, but it makes people really value the bigger Hitdice. And it applies to monsters as well, of course.
Gronkzilla
First Post
wolff96 said:
We are?
Andion Isurand
First Post
<SARCASM> A MAN SHOULD NOT BE JUDGED BY THE SIZE OF HIS HIT DICE...... </SARCASM>
Gruns
Explorer
My way
Hello.
Just another "Here's my way!" reply...
Levels 1 through 3 get max hit points.
From there on out, the PC rolls and the DM rolls every level. Take the higher result.
A bit on the high end, but my group tends to favor combat, only consists of 3 PCs, and no one likes being the cleric. So its all good!
Later
Gruns
Hello.
Just another "Here's my way!" reply...
Levels 1 through 3 get max hit points.
From there on out, the PC rolls and the DM rolls every level. Take the higher result.
A bit on the high end, but my group tends to favor combat, only consists of 3 PCs, and no one likes being the cleric. So its all good!
Later
Gruns
Sir Draconion
First Post
Heres mine
75% of the HD round up
set scores so no one gets shafted
18 16 15 14 13 9
monsters max hps
POWERGAME BABY!!
75% of the HD round up
set scores so no one gets shafted
18 16 15 14 13 9
monsters max hps
POWERGAME BABY!!
FreeTheSlaves
Adventurer
We use a reducing hit dice system, yoinked from these boards.
You can reroll but use a one lower HD, e.g. d12 becomes d10. However d4 goes to d3 and then d2 to d1.
The d3 is there primarily for wizards to fall back on, to give a bit more room rather than going straight to a d2.
The purpose of this system is to:
You can reroll but use a one lower HD, e.g. d12 becomes d10. However d4 goes to d3 and then d2 to d1.
The d3 is there primarily for wizards to fall back on, to give a bit more room rather than going straight to a d2.
The purpose of this system is to:
- Allow a reroll that does not raise the average hit points too much above the existing average.
- Pretty much ensures better than minimum hit points without totally eliminating the possibility.
- Forces real thought before rerolling.
- Tries not to favour one hit dice over another in regard to the reroll.
Last edited:
haiiro
First Post
"Me too, me too!" 
In terms of AdamBank's original suggestion: I agree with ichabod that the CON bonus should be kept completely separate from any sort of minimum/house ruled HP calculations. As you have it set up now, characters with a low CON bonus have a slight advantage over those with a higher CON bonus; this seems problematic.
I've DMed with this house rule for awhile: take 1/2 of the die type (d4 = 2, d6 = 3, etc.) or roll and take what you get. This seems to work out fairly well. As a player in games with this house rule (seems to be pretty common), I generally choose not to roll.
One of the games in playing in at the moment started at 6th level with this house rule: max at 1st (as normal), roll or take 1/2 die type from 2nd to 6th, roll all HD after that; in all cases, reroll ones until you get a different result.
I've also played with this one: roll or take 1/2 die type +1 (so d4 gets a 3, d6 gets a 4). I don't like this rule quite as much because it lowers the incentive to roll for the classes with low die types.
In terms of AdamBank's original suggestion: I agree with ichabod that the CON bonus should be kept completely separate from any sort of minimum/house ruled HP calculations. As you have it set up now, characters with a low CON bonus have a slight advantage over those with a higher CON bonus; this seems problematic.
I've DMed with this house rule for awhile: take 1/2 of the die type (d4 = 2, d6 = 3, etc.) or roll and take what you get. This seems to work out fairly well. As a player in games with this house rule (seems to be pretty common), I generally choose not to roll.
One of the games in playing in at the moment started at 6th level with this house rule: max at 1st (as normal), roll or take 1/2 die type from 2nd to 6th, roll all HD after that; in all cases, reroll ones until you get a different result.
I've also played with this one: roll or take 1/2 die type +1 (so d4 gets a 3, d6 gets a 4). I don't like this rule quite as much because it lowers the incentive to roll for the classes with low die types.
FreeTheSlaves
Adventurer
Are people aware that taking a half hit die rounded down +/- con bonus instead of rolling, is an optional rule given in the dmg?
