D&D 4E Should hit points continue to be generated randomly in 4e?

[Cadfan]

You need to reread your DMG, then. One of those is a RAW creation option, and one other is only one digit off. I won't tell you which, though--you can do your own homework.

It sure as heck isn't a rules as written creation option when used without asking the DM and without making sure the rest of the players are doing it too. They didn't think it was one of many character creation options, they believed it was the actual default that everyone in the world was using.

As to the actual point of the thread, random (or at least semi-random) hp is the only system that makes sense to me. If you have two soldiers in the Army with the same amount of combat experience and both get hit with some sort of ammunition in roughly the same place on their bodies, there is no reason to believe they will be affected identically. None whatsoever.

This is covered completely by the fact that we roll damage. Two characters with 8 hit points each hit for 1d10 damage will be affected differently.

 

[Doug McCrae]

Actually, that brings up a good point: Random hp can help keep things from being too balanced. Balance is good, but--like anything--it can be carried too far.

I've never seen that in an rpg ever. Could you give an example of a game where balance has been taken too far?

 

[JDJblatherings]

hit points represent luck and divine favor not just endurance...part of the "abstract" nature of D&D. rolling for those HP factor in "luck" which no one generally labels as consistent or fixed.
I've played in D&D games and near D&D games where we rerolled all hitdice each level. i know moldly EPT had them rerolle deach level , one just didn't get less HP then bfore if they didn't roll higher.

I've also played in game where HP started = to CON plus a class bonus, fighters got 3 hp a level, MU's got 1 every other level and the rest fell somehwere in between. We had low HP at every level except for the first couple and folks tried their best not to get killed; stay out of fights where yuo are gonna get whomped. Standing there and getting whomped isn't much of a tactic. we didn't roll then of course but HP were low after level 1 or 2.

 

[JustinM]

It sure as heck isn't a rules as written creation option when used without asking the DM and without making sure the rest of the players are doing it too. They didn't think it was one of many character creation options, they believed it was the actual default that everyone in the world was using.

With all due respect, that's not what you said the first time. Your post was worded as if culled from a number of character creation sessions, in which case sometimes "5d6 drop lowest two, reroll if there are no 15s" would be perfectly valid.

This is covered completely by the fact that we roll damage. Two characters with 8 hit points each hit for 1d10 damage will be affected differently.

Except it's really not. The two separate blows may not have stricken the PCs equally. That doesn't mean that the PCs are different from each other. You're only allowing one half of the encounter (the monster attacker) to have luck alter the outcome. Presumably, unless the PCs are utterly identical in every way, they ought not have the same luck bestowed upon them.

 

[Cadfan]

Oh, it was culled from a number of sessions.

I thought I made this clear. People show up at the gaming group. They need to create a character. They declare that they're experienced players and can do this on their own. The DM says, "I'll need to watch you roll the dice." The players then proceed to roll the dice in some bizarre fashion that may or may not be an optional rule in the DMG, but certainly isn't the rules in the player's handbook, and certainly wasn't something they were told to do by the DM. When asked what the heck they think they're doing, they react with shock and surprise that their method of character creation isn't standard.

Which basically goes to support my original contention. People like randomized stats to the extent that they can use them to get better stats. People want controls on randomness that will save them from low stat characters, while giving them the potential for above average stat characters. Rather than leave this neurotic situation in place, why not just make point buy the standard issue means of character creation?

It won't happen. This is one sacred cow too sacred to touch. But it should happen.

 

[Darkness]

if you can't accept even that much randomness, then you are probably also going to be a sore loser when-slash-if your character fails their saving throw and is absorbed by a chaos beast. (Oh, but of course I forget that lots of people hate save-or-die saving throws too. You know, there's this game called "chess" that has absolutely NO random elements.)

Easy there, mate. Suggesting that people who disagree with you are going to be "sore losers" in play and implying they should play something else instead just because they don't like something you prefer is quite rude. Please don't do that on these forums. Thanks.

If you have any questions, e-mail me.

 

[Ciaran]

As to the actual point of the thread, random (or at least semi-random) hp is the only system that makes sense to me. If you have two soldiers in the Army with the same amount of combat experience and both get hit with some sort of ammunition in roughly the same place on their bodies, there is no reason to believe they will be affected identically.

This is covered completely by the fact that we roll damage. Two characters with 8 hit points each hit for 1d10 damage will be affected differently.

Not to mention that the soldiers could conceivably have different Constitution scores, given that HP are dependent on Con.

 

[RFisher]

I've never seen that in an rpg ever. Could you give an example of a game where balance has been taken too far?

I could...but I think I'd rather redraw my comment than wander into that potential minefield. (^_^)

 

[Psion]

I'm all for random stat gen, but I don't think random HP buys you anything.

 

[Obryn]

I'm all for random stat gen, but I don't think random HP buys you anything.

Arise, vile thread, from thy eternal slumber!

-O