I want to know how other people go about this. In one campaign I let people take average or higher but I thought that it ended up with some party members quite literally unkillable at higher levels.
Do you let them roll? Do you take average? Any advice would help
After first level (max HP to start) I let it be the player's choice. They can take the average or embrace the fates with a single, unmodified, take it as it comes,s roll.
Some people thrive on that little hit of chaos and risk. I enjoy enabling them as that's their fun!
I had an old DM who had a system where I would roll, and he would roll in secret. After looking at my roll, I could choose to keep it or take his secret roll. It was pretty fun, and it’s what I use when a player wants to roll. Nowadays, I just use the average and don’t roll, but that’s party driven by dndbeyond making that option easier.
I let them roll, but treat the average as their guaranteed minimum. That way they have the chance to roll above average without the risk of rolling below average. I like my players to have nice healthy PCs so I can really throw it at them and I know they’ll have a decent chance of surviving.
I'm also for giving the players the option to roll or just take the average, and I also allow rerolls on 1's. Seems to be a pretty standard system. I don't treat the average as the floor... if a player chooses to roll and gets below average, that's just fate, I suppose. Although I have given a sort of "pity average" to one player who rolled low for 3 levels in a row, so for the third I just gave them the average and they've kinda just stuck to the average ever since.
This is what I do for players who want to roll. Presently, rolling dice is statistically worse than taking the default—D&D rounds the average up, so you come out slightly ahead. Removing 1s makes the two options balanced, so they come out approximately even.
I do not like setting the average as a minimum. Part of the fun of rolling is the fact you could do better, but have a risk of doing worse.
Level by level leave it to their choice to mix and match. They can roll, but they get stuck with that number. However, they always have the option to take the fixed HP amount.
I arrived at this option mainly because I found that many of my players enjoyed rolling their HP, but when I had that as a requirement there were players constantly disappointed. So, I allow them a 'safe bet' option to go with the fixed HP amount if they don't want to gamble.
So to give an example, my ranger decides for the first level up to 2nd to roll, they get a 9 on the dice. At Level 3, they decide to roll again getting a 2. Then at Level 4 they roll again and receive a 3. They decide they have had some poor rolls and don't want to risk another poor roll, so choose to take the fixed 6hp for Level 5 and 6. At Level 7, they're itching to roll again and so are allowed to.
It doesn't really break anything to offer this but they have to choose prior to rolling which style of HP they want to take either take the fixed amount (for a d10 hp roll that's 6) or they can roll a dice.
This is something that works at my tables though. I may not be a satisfactory solution for everyone.
I Let them roll, but allow them to burn inspiration for rerolls. Since we run with XP, it's fun to see players getting more antsy about hanging onto the inspiration as they close in on levelling up :)
I personally let my players add their rolls together then add their con modifiers. But I also have only two players at the moment. And for the most part, this is the first time for the three of us playing DnD.
Fixed hit points here. I also do point buy so that shouldn’t be a surprise. IMO, character creation shouldn’t be random, thus preventing a massive penalty or advantage to a character over their entire lifetime just due to a single day’s rolls.
I usually recommend taking the default fixed increase (half hit die +1). I find this useful for myself as DM, because their HP will progress coherently, which helps me with game design IMO. Especially at low levels the HP differences are already dramatic. I simply don't want to enforce this and have the adventure become unnecessarily unpredictable, difficult or draggy just because a player was unlucky and has 13HP at level 3 (8+1/1+1/1+1) while someone else with the same hit die and constitution has 27HP. That would make encounter planning ridiculously annoying OR I would have to immediately deal with a surprise player death and waste precious session time for absolutely no value. :P
But that's just my opinion, I know and understand other viewpoints. :)
That said, I do allow my players to roll for HP after level 1 if they want to. Usually I recommend them to have a relatively high constitution to balance out possible low scores and I do let them reroll 1s.
I let my players roll if they want to, or take the average if they want to. I allowed rerolls of 1's earlier in the campaign, but now it's a lower proportion of their HP (level 11, going on 12) if they roll a 1, that's really the risk they took! If anything, I might go for:
Tier 1: take the average Tier 2: roll or average, reroll 1s Tier 3+: Roll or average, take what you get.
If they choose to roll a die then they must roll it in front of all of us, so we can celebrate or comiserate as appropriate. The roll is binding - no rerolls.
I tell the story of a game I was in where a player of a bard chose to roll. This player had also chosen to have 8 CON. This player rolled 1 for three levels.
I use fixed hit points, mostly because it's easier that way, but I'm somewhat tempted by trying 5e with a universal max hp rule (i.e. both PCs and monsters have max hp for their HD).
I make all my players have the maximum possible hp at every level, for example if a druid is at level 4 their hp will be 32 (plus any bonuses from constitution etc...). I find that system to be the easiest to handle and the fairest.
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I know what you're thinking, did he use up all his Ki points or does he still have one, well, are you feeling lucky punk?
I use fixed hit points, mostly because it's easier that way, but I'm somewhat tempted by trying 5e with a universal max hp rule (i.e. both PCs and monsters have max hp for their HD).
I feel like I'd be tempted to use that for levels 1-8 and then go the opposite way and give everyone minimum HP, because fights already take so long. :P
I feel like I'd be tempted to use that for levels 1-8 and then go the opposite way and give everyone minimum HP, because fights already take so long. :P
High level fights don't really take that long in terms of rounds of action -- it's just that it takes longer to resolve a turn because of greater character complexity and choosing to increase damage by adding multiple attacks instead of bigger attacks.
I want to know how other people go about this. In one campaign I let people take average or higher but I thought that it ended up with some party members quite literally unkillable at higher levels.
Do you let them roll? Do you take average? Any advice would help
I let them roll their die, 1s can be rerolled.
After first level (max HP to start) I let it be the player's choice. They can take the average or embrace the fates with a single, unmodified, take it as it comes,s roll.
Some people thrive on that little hit of chaos and risk. I enjoy enabling them as that's their fun!
I just have them take the average. It's easier and less prone to accounting issues and questionable rolls.
I had an old DM who had a system where I would roll, and he would roll in secret. After looking at my roll, I could choose to keep it or take his secret roll. It was pretty fun, and it’s what I use when a player wants to roll.
Nowadays, I just use the average and don’t roll, but that’s party driven by dndbeyond making that option easier.
I let them roll, but treat the average as their guaranteed minimum. That way they have the chance to roll above average without the risk of rolling below average. I like my players to have nice healthy PCs so I can really throw it at them and I know they’ll have a decent chance of surviving.
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I'm also for giving the players the option to roll or just take the average, and I also allow rerolls on 1's. Seems to be a pretty standard system. I don't treat the average as the floor... if a player chooses to roll and gets below average, that's just fate, I suppose. Although I have given a sort of "pity average" to one player who rolled low for 3 levels in a row, so for the third I just gave them the average and they've kinda just stuck to the average ever since.
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This is what I do for players who want to roll. Presently, rolling dice is statistically worse than taking the default—D&D rounds the average up, so you come out slightly ahead. Removing 1s makes the two options balanced, so they come out approximately even.
I do not like setting the average as a minimum. Part of the fun of rolling is the fact you could do better, but have a risk of doing worse.
Level by level leave it to their choice to mix and match. They can roll, but they get stuck with that number. However, they always have the option to take the fixed HP amount.
I arrived at this option mainly because I found that many of my players enjoyed rolling their HP, but when I had that as a requirement there were players constantly disappointed. So, I allow them a 'safe bet' option to go with the fixed HP amount if they don't want to gamble.
So to give an example, my ranger decides for the first level up to 2nd to roll, they get a 9 on the dice. At Level 3, they decide to roll again getting a 2. Then at Level 4 they roll again and receive a 3. They decide they have had some poor rolls and don't want to risk another poor roll, so choose to take the fixed 6hp for Level 5 and 6. At Level 7, they're itching to roll again and so are allowed to.
It doesn't really break anything to offer this but they have to choose prior to rolling which style of HP they want to take either take the fixed amount (for a d10 hp roll that's 6) or they can roll a dice.
This is something that works at my tables though. I may not be a satisfactory solution for everyone.
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I Let them roll, but allow them to burn inspiration for rerolls. Since we run with XP, it's fun to see players getting more antsy about hanging onto the inspiration as they close in on levelling up :)
I personally let my players add their rolls together then add their con modifiers. But I also have only two players at the moment. And for the most part, this is the first time for the three of us playing DnD.
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Fixed hit points here. I also do point buy so that shouldn’t be a surprise. IMO, character creation shouldn’t be random, thus preventing a massive penalty or advantage to a character over their entire lifetime just due to a single day’s rolls.
I usually recommend taking the default fixed increase (half hit die +1). I find this useful for myself as DM, because their HP will progress coherently, which helps me with game design IMO. Especially at low levels the HP differences are already dramatic. I simply don't want to enforce this and have the adventure become unnecessarily unpredictable, difficult or draggy just because a player was unlucky and has 13HP at level 3 (8+1/1+1/1+1) while someone else with the same hit die and constitution has 27HP. That would make encounter planning ridiculously annoying OR I would have to immediately deal with a surprise player death and waste precious session time for absolutely no value. :P
But that's just my opinion, I know and understand other viewpoints. :)
That said, I do allow my players to roll for HP after level 1 if they want to. Usually I recommend them to have a relatively high constitution to balance out possible low scores and I do let them reroll 1s.
Finland GMT/UTC +2
I let my players roll if they want to, or take the average if they want to. I allowed rerolls of 1's earlier in the campaign, but now it's a lower proportion of their HP (level 11, going on 12) if they roll a 1, that's really the risk they took!
If anything, I might go for:
Tier 1: take the average
Tier 2: roll or average, reroll 1s
Tier 3+: Roll or average, take what you get.
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I let players choose but I do recommend average.
If they choose to roll a die then they must roll it in front of all of us, so we can celebrate or comiserate as appropriate. The roll is binding - no rerolls.
I tell the story of a game I was in where a player of a bard chose to roll. This player had also chosen to have 8 CON. This player rolled 1 for three levels.
I use fixed hit points, mostly because it's easier that way, but I'm somewhat tempted by trying 5e with a universal max hp rule (i.e. both PCs and monsters have max hp for their HD).
I make all my players have the maximum possible hp at every level, for example if a druid is at level 4 their hp will be 32 (plus any bonuses from constitution etc...). I find that system to be the easiest to handle and the fairest.
I know what you're thinking, did he use up all his Ki points or does he still have one, well, are you feeling lucky punk?
I feel like I'd be tempted to use that for levels 1-8 and then go the opposite way and give everyone minimum HP, because fights already take so long. :P
Finland GMT/UTC +2
High level fights don't really take that long in terms of rounds of action -- it's just that it takes longer to resolve a turn because of greater character complexity and choosing to increase damage by adding multiple attacks instead of bigger attacks.
And because HP and survivability scale faster than damage. Bigger heals and protection buffs and lots of HP, while dmg doesn't increase as much.
Finland GMT/UTC +2