Poisons and con loss.

[Macbrea]

Ah, we were playing in an oriental adventure when my shugenja 2 was stuck by a poison gas. He failed and took 7 con damage. Bringing his con to a 3. His hps before the con loss was 9.


After to con loss are his hps 2 or 1? Even with con loss are you still able to get the minimum of 1 hp per level?

This may seem like a strange question but it might effect wizards and sorcerors out there.

 

[mikebr99]

I should hope so...
Otherwise... a couple of bad level-ups might get you killed.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Shugenja have d6 HD. You got the max of 6 at first level and 3 at second level. If your Con goes from 10 (+0) to 3 (-4), you would have 3 hp. Six - 4 is 2, and 3 - 4 is 1 because you always get a minimum of 1.

 

[Macbrea]

The problem with that is that it would take a huge amount of paperwork to keep track of what a person got for hps along the way. Example:


Wizard 10 with 10 con

Hps gained:
4,2,3,1,4,2,3,1,2,4 = 26 hps

Loses 4 con to a poison
He should either be at:

1) 10 hps - which is minimum 1 hps per level
2) 6 hps - because he lost 20 hps temporarily
3) 13 hps - because he lost 2 hps per level minimum 1


As you can see it would be a slight night mare to keep track of at higher levels.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Huge? I always keep track of my hp's per level. I just write them down on the back of my character sheet. It is simple and easy. And it comes in handy when these kinds of situations arise. I have my players do this when I DM, too. Takes 5 seconds each time you level.

So the best option is #3. But if you do not keep track of hp's per level, #2 should be preferred over #3 because of the minimum of 1 rule.

 

[dcollins]

Ah, we were playing in an oriental adventure when my shugenja 2 was stuck by a poison gas. He failed and took 7 con damage. Bringing his con to a 3. His hps before the con loss was 9.

After to con loss are his hps 2 or 1? Even with con loss are you still able to get the minimum of 1 hp per level?

You want to read "Ability Score Loss" on DMG p. 72 (specifically, the last three paragraphs).

"A full hit point score, however, can't drop to less than 1 hit point per Hit Die." But, on the other hand, any prior damage is still taken away in full from this "full hit point score" (see example in book).

So, in your case the character would have 2 hp (assuming s/he had no damage prior to the poison gas).

 

[Gromm]

A characters min hp is his level, its really that simple.
Your a level 10 character? You can go as low as 10 hit points.

 

[hong]

A characters min hp is his level, its really that simple.
Your a level 10 character? You can go as low as 10 hit points.

To be precise, a lower bound on a character's min hp is his level.

Suggestion: instead of rolling hp, assign 1/2 HD or 3/4 HD per level. Makes all these issues go away.