What's the best way to handle PC hit points/hit dice?

[radferth]

I also use something like Psions, mainly rolling, but rounding up or allowing a reroll or something if they are below average. I have run campaigns where players get the (round down) average hp each level. For some reason I like this method for gritty, low magic campaigns; I guess because the lack of magic leaves less to offset the result of high or low hp rolls.
I once read in an old Dragon issue of an interesting hp system. Every level, you reroll all your hit points. If you end up with less than you had before, then you get 1 + con mod hit points added. This pushed PC hit points to a bit above average over the long haul, and has the advantage of giving even realy low hp charaters hope in the long run. Of course the down side is once in a while someone would get a realy good roll and have their hp balloon up to giant proportions.

 

[burnrate]

I really like fixed hit points (as well as point-buy) because the game is filled with so much randomness generated by rolling constantly that I like the foundation to be a constant. I couple of poor rolls and you can wind up with a front line fighter with very poor hit points on average and become ineffective quickly. It isn't a big deal for the lower HD classes really, but the d8-d12s can vary widely. Sure they average over time, but not always within a single character.

However, my group generally disagrees with me under the manta "it's a game of rolling" so we usually end up doing so.

 

[KB9JMQ]

We use max at 1st Level.
Reroll ones after that.
Seems to work.
The group I play in lets you roll or take half - whichever is better.

 

[Felon]

None of the above. I wanted to just go with average, but my players like rolling dice. I really don't like the way that a few bad rolls can leave you a straggler. So, I decided that I'd let the players roll the dice at each level, but not let their total fall below the average for their level.

Well, I don't think that's a "none of the above". I think it's pretty handily a "roll hit dice, modify for tougher characters" because you won't have anyone below average, and some characters will actually stay ahead.

Edit: I picked "fix per level" since I think it's the "best way", even if it's not what my players ant.

That's the spirit