D&D 5E Other Uses for Hit Dice

[DND_Reborn]

After some thoughts while posting in another thread, I was curious what other uses people might have for Hit Dice?

Here are the two that I had from another post:

1. You can spend a HD to stay conscious when your are reduced to 0 HP. If you take damage while at 0 HP, you must spend another HD or fall unconscious. You must still make death saves, even while conscious, and the damage will cause a failed death save as usual.
2. You can spend a HD to roll a d8 and add the result to an ability check you have made. You can spend the HD after the ability check is rolled, but before the results of the check have been determined. You can only spend one HD to aid in a check.

I like the idea of spending HD to help you do something cool or beyond the norm (for PCs, that is).

Do you have any special HD uses?

 

[Benjamin Olson]

You can spend a HD to roll a d8 and add the result to an ability check you have made. You can spend the HD after the ability check is rolled, but before the results of the check have been determined. You can only spend one HD to aid in a check.

I like this as, say, a special ability a warlock buys from their patron, but it seems a little awkward of a fit for your average persuasion check. It's interesting as a mechanic in the abstract, but I don't know what it is representing in game.

 

[CleverNickName]

Matt Mercer has a couple of custom magic items that make use of the Hit Dice mechanic. Like, a magic sword that lets you spend HD to deal extra necrotic damage. I've always thought that was interesting and creative.

 

[tetrasodium]

I've given magic items that burn hit dice to power them & also tried items/spells that allowed a player to expend hit dice for recovery as something like the ring of regeneration but less regenerative. In both sets of cases I didn't really like how it felt in play because the cost of losing a hit die ranges from not very big to "I probably wouldn't use them anyways so huzzah". A big part of the disconnect in how it felt was probably a result of too little things using hit dice & the recovery methods on top of spending them on a short rest being too easily used. I also suggested some racial traits burn hit dice when I suggested a way to rebalance a bunch of the loser races to be on par with the new A+ & S tier races post tashas here. I feel like the "I wasn't going to use them so now I get a cool new free thing" feeling I got with items & spells actually works to enhance the feel in those race trait cases.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I like this as, say, a special ability a warlock buys from their patron, but it seems a little awkward of a fit for your average persuasion check. It's interesting as a mechanic in the abstract, but I don't know what it is representing in game.

For me, since hit points are extremely abstract, and it also sort of represents your ability to put "effort" beyond the norm into something.

Spending HD in an effort to stay up when "down" (i.e. 0 HP) is in the same light.

Adding the roll to something like an Intelligence check might be "wracking your brain" or something, etc.

Given how important HD are for recovering HP after a short rest, using HD in these fashions should only be when in dire need.

 

[MarkB]

One thing I've been contemplating is using them as a variant recovery method for short-rest classes in parties that tend not to take (many) short rests - since, if they're not taking short rests, hit dice are a bit of a wasted resource. I'm thinking something like this, for warlocks:

"By spending ten minutes meditating and focusing upon your connection to your patron, you may attempt to replenish your magical abilities. This is a physically taxing process. At the end of the meditation you can expend a number of hit dice in order to regain an equal number of spell slots. You may do this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus."

And a similar ability for monks to regain Ki points, but at a higher ratio - maybe 3 or 4 points per hit die spent.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I've given magic items that burn hit dice to power them & also tried items/spells that allowed a player to expend hit dice for recovery as something like the ring of regeneration but less regenerative. In both sets of cases I didn't really like how it felt in play because the cost of losing a hit die ranges from not very big to "I probably wouldn't use them anyways so huzzah". A big part of the disconnect in how it felt was probably a result of too little things using hit dice & the recovery methods on top of spending them on a short rest being too easily used. I also suggested some racial traits burn hit dice when I suggested a way to rebalance a bunch of the loser races to be on par with the new A+ & S tier races post tashas here. I feel like the "I wasn't going to use them so now I get a cool new free thing" feeling I got with items & spells actually works to enhance the feel in those race trait cases.

I get the whole thing of hardy ever used or used too much, hardly worth it or a must use thing, and such.

 

[Rune]

I like the idea of giving PCs the ability to recover exhaustion levels after a short/long rest by expending hit dice.

Cost for each level equals 1 HD per rank of the exhaustion level (so, the first rank costs 1, the second costs 2, the third costs 3, the fourth costs 4, and the fifth costs 5).

This gets very costly if a lot of exhaustion is in play (especially given that long rests only replenish half), but can be really helpful with just a level or two of exhaustion. It also makes the Berserker Barbarian a little more appealing.

I assume. I haven’t actually played with this house rule.

 

[DND_Reborn]

"By spending ten minutes meditating and focusing upon your connection to your patron, you may attempt to replenish your magical abilities. This is a physically taxing process. At the end of the meditation you can expend a number of hit dice in order to regain an equal number of spell slots. You may do this a number of times per day equal to your proficiency bonus."

I considered something like this for casters:

Spell Slot Recovery
You can use your action to recover expended spell slots, up to 5th level. You spend a number of hit dice equal to the spell slot you want to recover.

But again, given how important HD can be to recovering HP, I decided against it...

 

[DND_Reborn]

I like the idea of giving PCs the ability to recover exhaustion levels after a short/long rest by expending hit dice.

I like this one and wasn't sure how to implement it. Using the level of exhaustion (5 HD for the 5th level recovered down to the 4th) might work. It would be very taxing, but I like that as I want them to be a real decision if to use it or not.

Is it too taxing, though?