To MAX HP or not to MAX HP

[HorusZA]

We use the "Reroll HPs every level and take the new total if it’s higher than the previous one" method.
Has the fun of rolling for hit points while still tending towards average.

An alternate method we’ve used in the past is "roll 3 hit dice and pick the middle one".

 

[Jacob Lewis]

Recent stuies indicate a high percentage of player dissatisfaction stems from encountering monsters with identical hit point totals and the use of hit points as an abstract game mechanic in general. ("This ogre also had 54 hit points like the last one? Are we fighting clones, or what?!")

 

[TheSword]

I definitely vary HP amongst similar creatures usually by 1 or 2. I also tell players when foes are on their last legs, without specifying what that means... that’s usually when a series of low attack rolls starts.

 

[AtomicPope]

In an alternate game (when folks are sick, can't make it, et al), I tried out MAX HP and Monty Hall. The DPR was pretty insane but it allowed for some great content. I never gave the monster's MAX HP though. I don't want the monsters to stick around forever. If I'm worried about the players wiping out the baddies I'll use a 4e strategy with "minions" to interfere with their attacks, soak up hits, and distract the PCs. It's far more heroic to slay fifty Orcs and then face a Chieftain with several Orogs then it is to hit an Orc Chieftain 50 times.

 

[MerricB]

I definitely vary HP amongst similar creatures usually by 1 or 2. I also tell players when foes are on their last legs, without specifying what that means... that’s usually when a series of low attack rolls starts.

I should really do that. Actually, having a dice-rolling app to roll hit points for monsters might be a very good idea to bring more variance into how monsters work. (Although, with the variance of player damage rolls, does it actually have any effect?)

I often announce when a player reduces a monster to 1 hit point, which some might see as cruel. Though, if I don't, the paladin might critically smite said monster...

I'm not a big fan of giving maximum hit points to everything, but if it's something you've done and you have no problem with it, then keep doing it. There are a lot of dials you can twiddle with to change the feeling of how D&D plays; that's one of them.

Cheers!

 

[Cyrinishad]

I'll drop in my random 2cp here...

I always give the PCs maximum HP... I've observed that players seem to appreciate this.

However, my approach to NPCs & Monsters, etc. is a bit of a hybrid approach between the different editions... I always give major NPCs maximum HP because I am presenting them as being roughly in the same league as the PCs (Heroic or Villainous significance)... As far as Monsters & Humanoids go, I tend to split them into two broad categories "Elites" & "Minions" (one of the very few things from 4e I liked)... "Elite" monsters will have an arbitrary HP value somewhere near their maximum HP (I try to give these monsters a memorable or unique description), and the "Minion" monsters all have 1 HP.

I have found that this doesn't make combats take longer in real-time, but it does tend to lead to more "cinematic" style encounters.

 

[Hjorimir]

Using maximum hit points shifts power from resource-limited (e.g. spellcasters, monks, etc.) to the fighter and rogue. With maximum hit points in use, fireball doesn't go as far, those ki points for flurry of attacks mean less and less, and so forth. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but something to be cognizant of. I personally wouldn't do it and am unsure if I'd enjoy it as a player, but that's just my personal opinion; there's now "right" way to play.