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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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<blockquote data-quote="rosing-bull" data-source="post: 6569809" data-attributes="member: 6791705"><p>I do this with some frequency, for better or worse. Since I never roll for HP for monsters, instead using the average in their stat block, I justify it to myself as, "well, that orc had a few more hit points than normal," or, "that evil elf was kind of a wuss, relatively speaking." All possible if I had rolled the HP.</p><p></p><p>Actually, HP aren't something I pay a whole lot of attention to, and tend to use them more of a suggestion. If the battle is dragging and that enemy has done his part, I let him go down even if he's got a few hit points left. If the monster has a bad ass ability and the party will have killed him before he can use it, maybe I'll give him just one extra round to use it, just to make things more interesting.</p><p></p><p>I suppose I prefer narrative license over "let the dice fall where they may." </p><p></p><p>But in general I would never pull punches just to keep characters alive. I'm much more interested in ignoring rules so I can better test the characters. Which doesn't mean make the game hard, per se, but instead is more of a, "let's see how the characters respond to and handle having their backs against the wall." I want to test them as characters, not just as sacks of numbers and die rolls.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="rosing-bull, post: 6569809, member: 6791705"] I do this with some frequency, for better or worse. Since I never roll for HP for monsters, instead using the average in their stat block, I justify it to myself as, "well, that orc had a few more hit points than normal," or, "that evil elf was kind of a wuss, relatively speaking." All possible if I had rolled the HP. Actually, HP aren't something I pay a whole lot of attention to, and tend to use them more of a suggestion. If the battle is dragging and that enemy has done his part, I let him go down even if he's got a few hit points left. If the monster has a bad ass ability and the party will have killed him before he can use it, maybe I'll give him just one extra round to use it, just to make things more interesting. I suppose I prefer narrative license over "let the dice fall where they may." But in general I would never pull punches just to keep characters alive. I'm much more interested in ignoring rules so I can better test the characters. Which doesn't mean make the game hard, per se, but instead is more of a, "let's see how the characters respond to and handle having their backs against the wall." I want to test them as characters, not just as sacks of numbers and die rolls. [/QUOTE]
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Would you change a monster's hit points mid-fight?
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