It's well known that the early levels are, by far, the deadliest. Mainly because the HP pool is so small that even a maxed out CON Barb is not out of the danger range for a critical and can go down in one or two solid hits. There's no wonder why a bunch of people prefer starting at level 3; it's where you not only have customization chances but where your HP pool is actually big enough to survive a hit or two reliably. At my own, IRL, tables I've been experimenting with a homebrew rule to try and reduce this pain and, considering that they're working on a new version, I figured I may as well float it.
The rule is pretty simple. When you make a new character of level 1 they get temp HP equal to their normal HP. If depleted this HP does not recover from healing but it does return after a rest (I've suggested short but everyone does a long anyways so...) So if a character has 10 HP, they'd instead have 10 HP and 10 temp HP for a total of 20. The best part of this rule is it's highly customizable to your table. You can have the temp HP return on a short or long rest or even just not at all once depleted. You can have it persist to level 2, have it persist to level 2 but just be the starting HP amount (so 20 normal HP and 10 HP instead of 20 normal and 20 temp). You can give it to new characters to help them 'catch up' and deal with being weaker than the rest of the party for a bit. There are options.
I'm curious. What do you think? Would you like to see this pop up in 1DD as an optional rule or maybe a future edition/expansion?
I'd rather see level 1 just use a completely different formula. In 5E it is Constitution Modifier + a maximized dice roll of the class hit die, so like 10 for Paladin or 6 for Wizard.
I would instead prefer it if level 1 used Constitution Score (updated retroactively) + class hit die (maximized). Scores aren't used enough in most cases but I think using it at level 1 for HP with regards to constitution would fix most of the level 1 issues. Given that constitution scores below 8 are rare and the lowest class hit die is d6, that'd make anything below a 14 rare while Barbarians could easily be pushing 16+12, for 28 HP at level 1.
I'd rather see level 1 just use a completely different formula. In 5E it is Constitution Modifier + a maximized dice roll of the class hit die, so like 10 for Paladin or 6 for Wizard.
I would instead prefer it if level 1 used Constitution Score (updated retroactively) + class hit die (maximized). Scores aren't used enough in most cases but I think using it at level 1 for HP with regards to constitution would fix most of the level 1 issues. Given that constitution scores below 8 are rare and the lowest class hit die is d6, that'd make anything below a 14 rare while Barbarians could easily be pushing 16+12, for 28 HP at level 1.
My idea is similar, you get 2* max hit dice + con. So a wizard with 10 Con has 12HP and a barb with 16 Con has 27.
I like all of these ideas. Snowtworf's is the most flexible for different tables, but it does come with more complexity as a result. R3sistance's HP version flattens the curve the most but just barely. Mostly because my table uses Point Buy, so Con scores will range from 8 to 17. That makes a range of 14 to 29 HP at level 1 depending on class and Con. Jegpeg is pretty close though, with a range of 11 to 27. What I like about that one is that it's just using the normal rules for hit dice, but only doubling them at level 1. So everything else in the game works well too. Having two HD at level 1 to heal is also nice.
I think there is another issue with survivability at low levels that is more part of the monster design and our common ideas of what a low level creature should be. We tend to think of Goblins as the standard for level 1. But they're just too strong in 5e. They are designed using the rules a player would use. They have too much HP and do too much damage because of it. Fighting one goblin is like fighting another PC. It's almost 50/50 who will win.
In reality, we should be using more Kobolds and weaker monsters at level 1, if we are just using the Monster Manual and not homebrewing. But Goblins are kind of the first thing people think of. And lower CR monsters like big rats don't feel very heroic a lot of the time.
I played a game once where I realized my choice of cantrips was the reason we were going to TPK. That was a crappy feeling. We were first level fighting nothing but a lot of goblins. They have 7 HP. My cantrip did 1d6 damage. I had no chance of taking out a goblin in one round. But the goblins could take half the characters in the party out with one good hit. It was a war of attrition that we were going to lose. If I had just taken Firebolt instead we could have won.
So I think they also need to design more interesting low CR monsters. They don't need to have proficiency in their weapons or good stats for damage. If goblins had 5 HP and did 1d4 damage, at least you could have the edge in combat and they could be used the way people want to use them, as level 1 fodder. As they are now, they're very deadly. And there just aren't many alternatives that are very exciting. We need more really weak, but still intelligent, monsters to fight.
In general monster damage in 5e is proportional to CR+1 -- i.e. the assumption is that damage increases by 50% per level past 1.
Actual hit points increase by around 70% per level past 1 (exact percentage depends on class and constitution).
The simplest way of making things consistent would be changing 'max HP at level 1' to '2 HD at level 1' -- say, everyone has a base of 1 HD as a commoner, and then adds HD for their class as normal.
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It's well known that the early levels are, by far, the deadliest. Mainly because the HP pool is so small that even a maxed out CON Barb is not out of the danger range for a critical and can go down in one or two solid hits. There's no wonder why a bunch of people prefer starting at level 3; it's where you not only have customization chances but where your HP pool is actually big enough to survive a hit or two reliably. At my own, IRL, tables I've been experimenting with a homebrew rule to try and reduce this pain and, considering that they're working on a new version, I figured I may as well float it.
The rule is pretty simple. When you make a new character of level 1 they get temp HP equal to their normal HP. If depleted this HP does not recover from healing but it does return after a rest (I've suggested short but everyone does a long anyways so...) So if a character has 10 HP, they'd instead have 10 HP and 10 temp HP for a total of 20. The best part of this rule is it's highly customizable to your table. You can have the temp HP return on a short or long rest or even just not at all once depleted. You can have it persist to level 2, have it persist to level 2 but just be the starting HP amount (so 20 normal HP and 10 HP instead of 20 normal and 20 temp). You can give it to new characters to help them 'catch up' and deal with being weaker than the rest of the party for a bit. There are options.
I'm curious. What do you think? Would you like to see this pop up in 1DD as an optional rule or maybe a future edition/expansion?
I'd rather see level 1 just use a completely different formula. In 5E it is Constitution Modifier + a maximized dice roll of the class hit die, so like 10 for Paladin or 6 for Wizard.
I would instead prefer it if level 1 used Constitution Score (updated retroactively) + class hit die (maximized). Scores aren't used enough in most cases but I think using it at level 1 for HP with regards to constitution would fix most of the level 1 issues. Given that constitution scores below 8 are rare and the lowest class hit die is d6, that'd make anything below a 14 rare while Barbarians could easily be pushing 16+12, for 28 HP at level 1.
My idea is similar, you get 2* max hit dice + con. So a wizard with 10 Con has 12HP and a barb with 16 Con has 27.
I like all of these ideas. Snowtworf's is the most flexible for different tables, but it does come with more complexity as a result. R3sistance's HP version flattens the curve the most but just barely. Mostly because my table uses Point Buy, so Con scores will range from 8 to 17. That makes a range of 14 to 29 HP at level 1 depending on class and Con. Jegpeg is pretty close though, with a range of 11 to 27. What I like about that one is that it's just using the normal rules for hit dice, but only doubling them at level 1. So everything else in the game works well too. Having two HD at level 1 to heal is also nice.
I think there is another issue with survivability at low levels that is more part of the monster design and our common ideas of what a low level creature should be. We tend to think of Goblins as the standard for level 1. But they're just too strong in 5e. They are designed using the rules a player would use. They have too much HP and do too much damage because of it. Fighting one goblin is like fighting another PC. It's almost 50/50 who will win.
In reality, we should be using more Kobolds and weaker monsters at level 1, if we are just using the Monster Manual and not homebrewing. But Goblins are kind of the first thing people think of. And lower CR monsters like big rats don't feel very heroic a lot of the time.
I played a game once where I realized my choice of cantrips was the reason we were going to TPK. That was a crappy feeling. We were first level fighting nothing but a lot of goblins. They have 7 HP. My cantrip did 1d6 damage. I had no chance of taking out a goblin in one round. But the goblins could take half the characters in the party out with one good hit. It was a war of attrition that we were going to lose. If I had just taken Firebolt instead we could have won.
So I think they also need to design more interesting low CR monsters. They don't need to have proficiency in their weapons or good stats for damage. If goblins had 5 HP and did 1d4 damage, at least you could have the edge in combat and they could be used the way people want to use them, as level 1 fodder. As they are now, they're very deadly. And there just aren't many alternatives that are very exciting. We need more really weak, but still intelligent, monsters to fight.
In general monster damage in 5e is proportional to CR+1 -- i.e. the assumption is that damage increases by 50% per level past 1.
Actual hit points increase by around 70% per level past 1 (exact percentage depends on class and constitution).
The simplest way of making things consistent would be changing 'max HP at level 1' to '2 HD at level 1' -- say, everyone has a base of 1 HD as a commoner, and then adds HD for their class as normal.