Suggestion: Full hitpoints for players, NPCs, and monsters alike.

[Gort]

I'm about to start a new campaign, straight by-the-book D&D.

The players are going to be built with the standard points buy, standard equipment, starting at 3rd level.

Now, after a bit of thought, I decided to give the players all maximum hitpoints per hit dice, on the proviso that all monsters would get the same.

My thoughts on this are these:

D&D is supposed to be balanced. A fifth level fighter designed one way should more or less give another fifth level fighter designed another way a good run for his money.

But for some reason the standard rules want to introduce a whole bunch of randomness into the character creation and levelling process. Why?

If you stick to the rules, you can end up with a party with two fighters, one with giant stats, the other with puny stats. Neither was designed better in any way, he just got lucky on six dice rolls.

Same thing for hitpoint rolls, characters who got lucky on ten or so dice rolls are many times better than ones that did not.

So people start to find ways to eliminate the "dross" characters. Even if you were to make players play the stats they rolled, you'll find them begging not to be resurrected when they die and other ways to let them roll up a new character with hopefully better stats.

And these methods always lead to player-characters becoming better. The below average characters die and players roll up new ones, while the above average characters are kept.

And then we find DMs complaining that CRs are too low for their party of circus strongmen acrobats who also do palm readings in their spare time.

So, can anyone give me a reason why I shouldn't use points-buy for stats, and max hitpoints for players and monsters alike?

 

[CRGreathouse]

There's anotyher thread on this same subject.

So, can anyone give me a reason why I shouldn't use points-buy for stats, and max hitpoints for players and monsters alike?

Yes. It changes different hit dice more than others. d4s see only a small percentage increase, while d12s see a large percentage increase. Con drops in importance.

 

[Cloudgatherer]

You can do as you like...

In a game I just got in, we did 35 point buy (yeah, high powered) and took average hit points with halves rounding up. So d4 = 3, d6 = 4, d8 = 5 and so on.

That way, the hitpoints should be just above average, slightly better than what monsters normally get (straight average).

Later!

 

[Gort]

I like that Con drops in importance.

Otherwise it's the second-best stat of everyone on the entire planet.

 

[Andion Isurand]

just give the average HP

(hit points after 20 levels)

4 + ( 2.5 x 19 ) = 51.5
6 + ( 3.5 x 19 ) = 72.5
8 + ( 4.5 x 19 ) = 93.5
10 + ( 5.5 x 19 ) = 114.5
12 + ( 6.5 x 19 ) = 135.5

round Down the average HP with each HD you give the player at each Even character level

round Up the average HP with each HD you give the player at each Odd character level after 1st

this system still works for multiclassing

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Maximising the hit points gained with each hit dice will emphasize the need for "Save or Die" spells/effects, spells/effects that do Constitution Damage & spells/effects that render someone helpless, and Vorpal weapons. ( not that this is good or bad )

Basically, it lowers the value of anything that does direct damage.

 

[Alchemist]

So, can anyone give me a reason why I shouldn't use points-buy for stats, and max hitpoints for players and monsters alike?

I know from experience that some of my players are wusses and most certainly do not have max HP for their die type.

I'm sure they would love to have their characters gain max HP per level though.

 

[Gort]

You're funny.

No, really.

 

[Alchemist]

I'm not trying to be funny.

It's a simple error I was pointing out to you, since you used it repeatedly. The players are not the ones in the game taking hits and casting spells, the characters are. Surely you agree? And I'm pretty sure you can't buff your players with spells, unless you're playing Dark Dungeons...

...And if that's the case, I want in. I hear Blackleaf is going to buy it soon and I have the personality for real power!

Now I'm throwing out the humor. Take it as you will.

Edit, so I stay on topic:

I think that average die is substantially better than maximum die, for reasons already covered by the other posters. And you could give your players the choice of taking the save average value or gambling on rolling high for that edge. Unless they're not big on gambling.

 

[Deset Gled]

When I DM I like to use this method of hitpoints. That's mainly because I like to see long, strategy based battles that can force the characters to react and change tactics throughout the course of a single fight. I strongy discourage save-or-die techniques (and don't use them on PCs). To help balance things, I give out a lot of cure potions as rewards for battles (as it takes more to get people back to full health), and make spell storing items readily available to spellcasters.

This method of hitpoints can make big changes in the game. It can work out quite well when planned correctly. Most importantly, though, the DM will need cooperation from the players with the changes.

 

[Belbarrus]

In my circle of players, maximum hit points is preferred, BECAUSE of the big gap between hit points.

A 20th level Wizard with average hitpoints has 51.5 compared to the Barbarian with 135.5

A 20th level Wizard with maximum hit points has 80 hitpoints compared to the Barbarian with 240.

First of all, the difference is going from a ratio of 1 / 2.6 to 1 / 3. Not that big of a difference. Second, my players also believe that the 'tank - types' SHOULD have much more hit points because they are there to soak up the damage, while the weaker mages stay away from the danger. Third, low Hit Dice classes shouldnt have hit points comparable to high Hit Dice classes, or else they wouldnt have low Hit Dice to being with! IF all classes were supposed to have comparable hit points, then the system would just use 1 die, like everyone uses d8's (because they are Humanoid Type), for example. But the system is setup so that Wizards *dont* have hit points comparable to a Barbarian because they are supposed to be weaker in this sense. Taking this into account, I prefer maximum hit points to avoid the 're-roll hit points' rules and its just simpler to add a single number every level.