New DM here. I've played three sessions with my players now, and they're all at Level 3, but all but one of them still have HP under 20 -- most of them have between 10 and 15 HP, which feels extraordinarily low for Level 3 players. I've been modifying the damage rolls on them mostly because if I rolled a d8 or a d10 like some of the attacks call for, they'd almost certainly need to make at least one death saving throw per encounter.
All of my players are new, and I'm not sure if I just gave them poor guidance on rolling their max HP, or if it was misunderstood, or if some of them just rolled really shit rolls for all of them to end up with such terrible HP. Is it fair/acceptable for me to have them re-roll, or should I just keep having all of the monsters they face roll d4 damage until they level up again? I don't want them to think that I'm "going easy" on them by having them re-roll, but at the same time -- I've already been 'going easy' on them behind the scenes so that they don't all die within the first minute of a fight.
Any suggestions for how I might help my players out so next time they fight a monster, I can use the monster's actual stats instead of watering it down?
Did you tell players they have to roll HP or did you leave the option open for them to take the average? Are you sure they're adding their Constitution modifier?
Given everyone is new I'd recommend offering them to retroactively take the fixed number for their class for each level up - it's better than the average roll of the the die by half a point - that's 10 hp by level 20. Also new players often forget to add their CON modifier to HP at each level (including 1st). And did they take max HP at level 1?
It's best to help players do their HP at level up the first few times. Here's monk for example, just check their math with them:
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per monk level after 1st
But don't be too afraid to drop a character either, unconsciousness should rarely result in death - there's usually plenty of time for stabilizing or healing first.
I strongly dislike rolling for HP exactly because of what you've described. I'm similarly not a fan of rolling for stats. I just don't see it as fun for a character's power level over months or years to be determined by a single die roll at the beginning of that period. Rolling a 1 to attack is exciting because how did you flub it? What happens? Do you get countered now? And no matter how bad you roll to attack, the next time you attack anything could happen. Rolling a 1 on hp or one of your stat rolls is just annoying because there's no story associated with it and now you're weaker than everyone else if you happened to roll badly.
So I would advise you to have them take the average hp per level (and, as stormknight said, the max for first level) as this keeps the characters at the expected strength point for the level. Another alternative one of my GMs has used in the past is "high-average". You roll for HP and if you get above the averages, great, use that roll. If you roll below, you get the average value. This produces PCs who are on average a bit stronger than the expected level, but that's much better than weaker because you can always make harder encounters and the players will feel epic ("holy moly can you believe we beat a beholder at 5th level?!?") whereas if you make encounters easier they're just going to feel lame ("yay, we beat a goblin. One goblin. With three of us. Yippee....").
Thank you all for your help! I very much appreciate it. I will probably give them the option to switch to the average instead of their current stats, if they so choose. I like the idea of "high-average", too -- something to keep in mind for next time, if they don't want to switch it up this time!
Thank you all for your help! I very much appreciate it. I will probably give them the option to switch to the average instead of their current stats, if they so choose. I like the idea of "high-average", too -- something to keep in mind for next time, if they don't want to switch it up this time!
I do what's called "The Devil's Deal" which is when my players roll to see how much HP they gain after advancing in level, I also roll a die of the same kind and cover it with a cup or a dice bag (making sure I don't see the result either). Then the player rolls and decides if they want to keep their roll or my roll. It adds a risk factor that my players seem to enjoy, as well as helps make sure they don't get stuck with a terrible roll, and watching them roll a 4 or 5 on a d8 and then struggling to decide is fun too lol because you could roll a 3 and take the deal and get stuck with a 1, but I would say in my experience, for the most part, my players end up with better than average rolls.
A big homebrew rule I use is that I allow players to reroll 1s and 2s during level ups. This solves a very disappointing problem which happens when you FINALLY level up and you roll a nat 1 on your Barbarian hp and and just die inside. Spellcasters become a little less squishy, and tanks stay tanky. I have banned the fixed hp in my games except for in one shots when the characters are only temporary. This system works great for me but your mileage may vary.
I'd also check if any of them dumped CON to get better at other things. They may have not understood the flow on effect of their CON being low.Also if they are new and you think they now have a better grasp of the game you could offer to let them redesign their characters to make other choices.
I'd also check if any of them dumped CON to get better at other things. They may have not understood the flow on effect of their CON being low.Also if they are new and you think they now have a better grasp of the game you could offer to let them redesign their characters to make other choices.
[ASSUMING THE PLAYERS DID THEIR ROLLS CORRECTLY]
Yes, do this for sure. If they intentionally lowered their CON for other stuff, then that's the players fault. Maybe invest in the tough feat or something.
However, like he said, since they are new, they may not have understood how CON works or what it's for. Giving them the opportunity to decide if they want to reroll or swap two ability scores would be a good idea.
I have players roll, but make the fixed hit point value the floor for each level. This may over-correct somewhat, but the players squish less easily at low levels.
I actually do something a little different in my game. I rather enjoy slightly beefier PCs. This does a few things:
It helps players feel more happy about their characters.
It allows me to throw heftier enemies at them. Bigger damage rolls can up the intensity of combats and prevents me from needing to fudge damage rolls as often.
Below are the tables I use for Hit Die. Find the table for the respective class, roll the die required, and then look at the HPs. Ultimately what occurs is a more even distribution of HPs where the player character will get at least half their hit die's results each level. Keep in mind the HPs rolled results does not include the player character's CON Modifier. The below tables are a lot like SquigsTheTruth's results.
Great ideas everyone. My little brother dumped CON (-3) on his barbarian as a joke, but he is almost always unconscious. He is a textbook munchkin, so I'm not in a hurry, but I think I'll offer him a way to be dead a bit less.
A big homebrew rule I use is that I allow players to reroll 1s and 2s during level ups.
I let them choose between this (rolling with 1s and 2s rerolled) or they can take the fixed average. Of course, one guy asked, "Can we roll and then if we don't like it take the fixed?" No... you decide to roll, you take your chances.
Statistically, banning 1s and 2s, means that the fixed value should, over 20 levels, under perform compared to the buffed roll. For instance, on 1d8, you're getting 3 to 8, which is a mean of 6.5 per level, rather than the normal 5. Knowing this, I'd be tempted to roll it every time and take my chances. But I also know that my luck is crap, and I'd probably end up with ten or twelve 3s out of 20... LOL.
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Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The whole point of dnd is leaving everything to chance, what fun is there if you don't let the dice decide your fate? Gonna play a dice based game but then get mad when the dice don't max out on every roll?
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Hey folks,
New DM here. I've played three sessions with my players now, and they're all at Level 3, but all but one of them still have HP under 20 -- most of them have between 10 and 15 HP, which feels extraordinarily low for Level 3 players. I've been modifying the damage rolls on them mostly because if I rolled a d8 or a d10 like some of the attacks call for, they'd almost certainly need to make at least one death saving throw per encounter.
All of my players are new, and I'm not sure if I just gave them poor guidance on rolling their max HP, or if it was misunderstood, or if some of them just rolled really shit rolls for all of them to end up with such terrible HP. Is it fair/acceptable for me to have them re-roll, or should I just keep having all of the monsters they face roll d4 damage until they level up again? I don't want them to think that I'm "going easy" on them by having them re-roll, but at the same time -- I've already been 'going easy' on them behind the scenes so that they don't all die within the first minute of a fight.
Any suggestions for how I might help my players out so next time they fight a monster, I can use the monster's actual stats instead of watering it down?
Thanks!
Did you tell players they have to roll HP or did you leave the option open for them to take the average? Are you sure they're adding their Constitution modifier?
The Forum Infestation (TM)
Given everyone is new I'd recommend offering them to retroactively take the fixed number for their class for each level up - it's better than the average roll of the the die by half a point - that's 10 hp by level 20. Also new players often forget to add their CON modifier to HP at each level (including 1st). And did they take max HP at level 1?
It's best to help players do their HP at level up the first few times. Here's monk for example, just check their math with them:
Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per monk level after 1st
But don't be too afraid to drop a character either, unconsciousness should rarely result in death - there's usually plenty of time for stabilizing or healing first.
Make sure that they have max hp for 1st level as well - this is something that I have seen people miss a number of times.
Even if you're using the rule to roll for hit points, you don't do so at first level - you always take the maximum for the dice.
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I strongly dislike rolling for HP exactly because of what you've described. I'm similarly not a fan of rolling for stats. I just don't see it as fun for a character's power level over months or years to be determined by a single die roll at the beginning of that period. Rolling a 1 to attack is exciting because how did you flub it? What happens? Do you get countered now? And no matter how bad you roll to attack, the next time you attack anything could happen. Rolling a 1 on hp or one of your stat rolls is just annoying because there's no story associated with it and now you're weaker than everyone else if you happened to roll badly.
So I would advise you to have them take the average hp per level (and, as stormknight said, the max for first level) as this keeps the characters at the expected strength point for the level. Another alternative one of my GMs has used in the past is "high-average". You roll for HP and if you get above the averages, great, use that roll. If you roll below, you get the average value. This produces PCs who are on average a bit stronger than the expected level, but that's much better than weaker because you can always make harder encounters and the players will feel epic ("holy moly can you believe we beat a beholder at 5th level?!?") whereas if you make encounters easier they're just going to feel lame ("yay, we beat a goblin. One goblin. With three of us. Yippee....").
Thank you all for your help! I very much appreciate it. I will probably give them the option to switch to the average instead of their current stats, if they so choose. I like the idea of "high-average", too -- something to keep in mind for next time, if they don't want to switch it up this time!
Published Subclasses
A big homebrew rule I use is that I allow players to reroll 1s and 2s during level ups. This solves a very disappointing problem which happens when you FINALLY level up and you roll a nat 1 on your Barbarian hp and and just die inside. Spellcasters become a little less squishy, and tanks stay tanky. I have banned the fixed hp in my games except for in one shots when the characters are only temporary. This system works great for me but your mileage may vary.
Dungeon Master for Heroes of Agarra
I have a growing library of Homebrew: Subclasses | Races | Feats | Items
You check out my newest Homebrew: Doctor - The Survey Corps - Order of the Shadow Master
I'd also check if any of them dumped CON to get better at other things. They may have not understood the flow on effect of their CON being low.Also if they are new and you think they now have a better grasp of the game you could offer to let them redesign their characters to make other choices.
Published Subclasses
If you wanted to make your characters roll their hp you could break their rolls into smaller die.
For instance:
If they'd normally roll 1d12 have them roll 3d4
If they'd normally roll 1d10 have them roll 1d4+1d6
If they'd normally roll 1d8 have them roll 2d4
If they'd normally roll 1d6 have them roll 1d2 (a coin, tails is 1 heads is 2) + 1d4
Dungeon Master for Heroes of Agarra
I have a growing library of Homebrew: Subclasses | Races | Feats | Items
You check out my newest Homebrew: Doctor - The Survey Corps - Order of the Shadow Master
Published Subclasses
I have players roll, but make the fixed hit point value the floor for each level. This may over-correct somewhat, but the players squish less easily at low levels.
Below are the tables I use for Hit Die. Find the table for the respective class, roll the die required, and then look at the HPs. Ultimately what occurs is a more even distribution of HPs where the player character will get at least half their hit die's results each level. Keep in mind the HPs rolled results does not include the player character's CON Modifier. The below tables are a lot like SquigsTheTruth's results.
Sorcerer and Wizard
1d4
1
2
3
4
HPs Rolled
3
4
5
6
(Not including CON Modifier)
Bard, Cleric, Druid, Monk, Rogue and Warlock
1d10
1-2
3-4
5-6
7-8
9-10
HPs Rolled
4
5
6
7
8
(Not including CON Modifier)
Fighter, Paladin, and Ranger
1d6
1
2
3
4
5
6
HPs Rolled
5
6
7
8
9
10
(Not including CON Modifier)
Barbarian
1d8
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
HPs Rolled
Reroll
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
(Not including CON Modifier)
Great ideas everyone. My little brother dumped CON (-3) on his barbarian as a joke, but he is almost always unconscious. He is a textbook munchkin, so I'm not in a hurry, but I think I'll offer him a way to be dead a bit less.
I let them choose between this (rolling with 1s and 2s rerolled) or they can take the fixed average. Of course, one guy asked, "Can we roll and then if we don't like it take the fixed?" No... you decide to roll, you take your chances.
Statistically, banning 1s and 2s, means that the fixed value should, over 20 levels, under perform compared to the buffed roll. For instance, on 1d8, you're getting 3 to 8, which is a mean of 6.5 per level, rather than the normal 5. Knowing this, I'd be tempted to roll it every time and take my chances. But I also know that my luck is crap, and I'd probably end up with ten or twelve 3s out of 20... LOL.
WOTC lies. We know that WOTC lies. WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. We know that WOTC knows that we know that WOTC lies. And still they lie.
Because of the above (a paraphrase from Orwell) I no longer post to the forums -- PM me if you need help or anything.
The whole point of dnd is leaving everything to chance, what fun is there if you don't let the dice decide your fate? Gonna play a dice based game but then get mad when the dice don't max out on every roll?