Durngrun Stonebreaker |
roll twice taking the better roll, re-roll doubles (min or max)
this thread has me curious though...
Has anybody gotten rid of any other random rolls?
If you don't like the wizard having more hit points then the fighter, what about a wizard hitting a target the fighter missed?
not trying to knock on anybody, just curious
Midnight_Angel |
Max on first level (note: this does not apply to your pet!).
From level 2 on (or whenever rolling for your pet), choose: (and tell me before tosing the die)
- roll, but you will get at least half the die max (i.e. a d8 will wield 4,4,4,4,5,6,7 or 8)
- roll, with an option of re-rolling. If you re-roll, the second result stands.
FallofCamelot |
1) Roll
2) If you don't like the result roll again and subtract 1 from the new result
3) If you don't like the new roll, roll again and subtract two from the result
4) Carry on rolling and subtracting an additional one from the result until you either get a result you like or a 1 is the only possible result.
Ictoo |
In my group its roll or take average, but then its based off your class.
Always re-roll one's, 1d4's only re-roll one's 1d6 one and two's 1d8 one, two and three's 1d10 one, two, three, four. I find this keeps the average hp higher than just going for average and also still gives you the excitement from rolling your hp and getting max without just rolling two as a fighter and having less health than say a wizard.
Alaryth |
In my group its roll or take average, but then its based off your class.
Always re-roll one's, 1d4's only re-roll one's 1d6 one and two's 1d8 one, two and three's 1d10 one, two, three, four. I find this keeps the average hp higher than just going for average and also still gives you the excitement from rolling your hp and getting max without just rolling two as a fighter and having less health than say a wizard.
My group use exactly the same method for same reasons.
Seems that there are more people house-rule HP dice than not.
TGMaxMaxer |
We were allowed to roll if we wanted, but our normal DM was in for high-powered games... to the toon of goblins and kobolds in his world having 8-10 hp regardless of not having real levels, and you don't even wanna know about the trolls.
Normally was max first 2 levels, which is what we always started at, and then 3/4 HD or roll whichever is higher.
Bill Dunn |
roll twice taking the better roll, re-roll doubles (min or max)
this thread has me curious though...
Has anybody gotten rid of any other random rolls?
If you don't like the wizard having more hit points then the fighter, what about a wizard hitting a target the fighter missed?not trying to knock on anybody, just curious
The DM for our 3.5 game allows us to roll twice-take better for curing wounds as well as for rolling hit points. But that's only when healing out of combat - in combat, it's the raw roll.
Otherwise, I can't think of any other situations in which we have taken out or substantially modified a set of rolls after initial character generation (in which we roll 4d6-drop low, roll 2 sets of 6 and pick the preferred set).
Kakitamike |
Usually some fixed number. I used to do averages, or let the players roll, but more and more, I find doing a point based system just ends up being fairer for everyone involved. It's the same reason I do point buy for attributes instead of dice rolling.
For example in the current game I'm running the hp and skill points per level, before modifiers are;
class hp skill points
Alchemist 6 6
Barbarian 12 4
Bard 7 7
Cavalier 10 4
Cleric 7 3
Druid 6 6
Fighter 9 3
Inquisitor 8 6
Magus 7 3
Monk 7 5
Oracle 5 7
Paladin 8 4
Ranger 7 9
Rogue 6 10
Sorcerer 6 2
Summoner 4 6
Witch 5 3
Wizard 5 3
Sir Jolt |
Usually a "high" average with max at 1st level. With all other random elements removed from character creation I saw no reason to keep hp random. In the groups I've played with, the more keen they are on optimizing the more likely they are to ditch any random elements. If they don't care about optimization at all, the more likely everything is going to be rolled randomly (stats, hp, money, etc.) Also, the older (age-wise) the group is, the more likely to use random; the younger, fixed. That's just my experience though. YMMV.
Anthony Adam |
Max HP at first level, you are supposed to be the top of your creed after all.
Then each level, you get to roll. But, should you roll a 1, you can re-roll it once. If you get another 1, the gods have decreed that 1 is all you get.
Jodokai |
A friend of mine taught me a cool trick I have adopted. You roll your hit die, if you don't like it, you roll the next lower hit die, and so on. Let's take a Barbarian, they roll a d12 and get a 2, player can take the 2 or roll a d10. They roll a d10 and get a 1, the d12 is now off the table, they take the 1 or roll a d8 on down to a d2.
The Oddity |
Sir Ophiuchus wrote:I'm curious how that plays out, aside from lengthening combat. Do you find it difficult to get healed up to full hit points? Do you take more risks? Does combat get boring after a certain point?My DM gives max hit points at all levels. But he gives NPCs and monsters max HP as well.
When I DM, I normally just declare no rolling, everyone take their average (fractional, rounded down but recalculated each level) HP.
In my experience it doesn't affect in combat healing much because damage that needs to be healed is still coming in at the same rate. You are taking damage over a longer period of time, but really it's no more a strain on healing then having 2 combats with average HP opponents. What it does give you is more time to react with heals if huge damage spikes are happening so there's less chance of someone suddenly dropping and things escalating into a TPK.
Maxing HP for everyone essentially turns a 3 round combat into a 5 round combat, assuming you are using the first round for buffing, battlefield set-up and maneuvering into position. I don't think a 5 round fight is so long it becomes boring, and the extra rounds of engagement tends to make players that like to get into the thick of things more willing to perform non-direct damage actions. For example, a sorcerer that likes to blow stuff up may be more willing to throw out a haste on round one if he knows he get's to do what he likes most (blow stuff up) for 4 more rounds rather than 2 and so enjoys the game more.
From a DM perspective your effectively cutting the number of encounters you have to prep in half, since each combat will last nearly twice as long (game and real time) and eat roughly twice the party resources. This let's you focus your creative time and juices on a smaller number of encounters if you want so you can either save yourself a lot of prep time if you have a busy life, or spend more time making each encounter interesting. Or you could run with the same number of encounters with a smaller number of opponents per fight, since the enemy damage dealers won't drop as fast. I think this helps add variety to the game too, since not every fight has to be against 4-5 opponents to be a challenge. The downside is that with less encounters or less enemies your going to be slowing down XP. Even if you don't adjust encounters/adventure or opponents/combat, your still gonna level slower simply because each fight will take longer to resolve so you get less progress through an adventure on any given night.
I'd be interested to see how much correlation there is between the responses in this thread and the responses in the thread on 3 round combats.
this thread has me curious though...
Has anybody gotten rid of any other random rolls?
If you don't like the wizard having more hit points then the fighter, what about a wizard hitting a target the fighter missed?not trying to knock on anybody, just curious
Just removed random HP for me, nothing else. the reason being that a lucky/unlucky streak in combat is a temporary thing, but bad rolls on Hit Dice stick with your character forever.
Plus aberrant dice streaks in combat or skill checks can make for funny stories, but if someone wants to play a tough barbarian or fighter or whatever, a bad HP roll or two is messing with your whole character concept which is no fun.
MoonTech |
1st - 5th level = Hit die max
6th - 10th level = Roll hit die twice and take the better roll
10th and up = Roll the hit die and take what you get
We feel this creates a similarity to aging. Younger (lower level) characters are generally healthier and heal faster but as they age they heal slower and gain less and less health.
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Corren28 |
My games always roll for hit points, throw out any 1's, and then they have the option to buy the hit points they didn't get at a price of 1% of the suggest character wealth for that level.
Say level 4 PCs gain enough experience to level to 5. The barbarian rolls a d12 and it comes up an 8. He has the option to purchase any or all the remaining hit points up to 12 at a price of 105g per hit point (Suggested character wealth of 105000 x .01 = 105). So for 420g he could get max hit points.
Brian Darnell |
I give the option to roll or take the average. I also allow Hero points to be used for re-rolls and plot twist cards for creative solutions. In a recent home game I had two players level up and roll rather than take the average and both rolled 1s and 2s; between the two of them they were able to get averages by burning hero points and a plot twist card.
WampaX |
I've been using a greedy system for forever.
Max HP at 1st,
Every level after works as follows:
Roll your hit die.
If you want to keep the roll, you're done, modify your hit points.
If not, roll again.
You may continue to reroll the die IF it is greater than the last roll made. Should the die come up with an equal or lesser number, those are your hit points for the level.
Kitsune Knight |
I prefer to not use HP at all. I usually run with the wounds and vitality rules. What I do is say everyone has con score wounds and vitality equal to their hit dice+con modifier at first level and every level thereafter. In this case monsters simply receive max hp for their level.
If the party would rather just use HP, then they just get max hit dice+con modifier every level to PCs, and leave monsters at the same HP.
James Jacobs Creative Director |
DeathQuaker RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8 |
I give the option of one or the other (but whatever you pick, you stick with it).
I think both of my GMs prefer us to roll but allow us to reroll 1s (something I often do too if everyone is rolling HP).
I prefer the average myself but that's because my die roll luck sucks. Most of my fellow players prefer rolling.
Xexyz |
In my experience it doesn't affect in combat healing much because damage that needs to be healed is still coming in at the same rate. You are taking damage over a longer period of time, but really it's no more a strain on healing then having 2 combats with average HP opponents. What it does give you is more time to react with heals if huge damage spikes are happening so there's less chance of someone suddenly dropping and things escalating into a TPK.
Maxing HP for everyone essentially turns a 3 round combat into a 5 round combat, assuming you are using the first round for buffing, battlefield set-up and maneuvering into position. I don't think a 5 round fight is so long it becomes boring, and the extra rounds of engagement tends to make players that like to get into the thick of things more willing to perform non-direct damage actions. For example, a sorcerer that likes to blow stuff up may be more willing to throw out a haste on round one if he knows he get's to do what he likes most (blow stuff up) for 4 more rounds rather than 2 and so enjoys the game more.
From a DM perspective your effectively cutting the number of encounters you have to prep in half, since each combat will last nearly twice as long (game and real time) and eat roughly twice the party resources. This let's you focus your creative time and juices on a smaller number of encounters if you want so you can either save yourself a lot of prep time if you have a busy life, or spend more time making each encounter interesting. Or you could run with the same...
My experience is similar. Since my players use a modified point buy system that's fairly generous and most of them are optimizers, damage output is higher so it mostly evens out in the end; I'd say that the extra hit points makes combat last one, maybe two rounds longer than normal.
Sir Jolt |
Prior to 3.0 we rolled at every level and took what we got; even if it was a one and even at first level. I remember a scene from the first Gamers movie whre the massive fighter has a 95% chance to rip open the gate but ends up throwing his back out when he tries. The weak archer who only has a 35% chance rips it off easily and tosses it aside. To me, that's just part of a game being a game. I understand why people may not care forit but I don't think randomness is "The Great Evil" that some make it out to be.
idilippy |
When I DM the players roll with my adapted from somewhere re-roll rules. d6 hit dice re-roll 1's, d8 and d10 hit dice re-roll 1's and 2's, and d12 hit dice re-roll 1's, 2's, and 3's. I find it gives PCs the chance of high or low rolls while not completely screwing up high hit dice classes who have bad luck.
DeathQuaker RPG Superstar 2015 Top 8 |
lordzack |
lordzack wrote:I understand that it's just I can see a wizard with 1 hp and a 2 CON Mod getting his butt handed to him by a Kobold with a dagger...Azaelas Fayth wrote:Aren't PC's supposed to receive full HP from their first HD?They are, but this is a thread about house rules, so...
Why wouldn't a inhumanly frail (since humans have at least a 3 Con, it has to be an elf or something) person not be highly vulnerable? For that matter, even if I used the standard rules that wizard would still only have 2 hp.
Rycaut |
Thanks all this is a great thread.
One observation that so far at least noone has a house rule that could result in more HP for a given level.
An idea I just had - but not sure if this would out in practice would be the following alternative to either taking the averages or pure rolls:
Roll your HP die (d6, d8, d10 or d12):
If you get a 1 or a 2 on d6, reroll & ADD to your previous total, repeat if you get another 1
If you get a 1 or 2 on a d8, reroll & ADD to your previous total, repeat if you get another 1
If you get a 1, 2 or 3 on a d10, reroll & ADD to your previous total, repeat if you get another 1, 2
If you get a 1, 2, 3 or 4 on a d12, reroll and ADD to your previous total, repeat if you get another 1,2,3
Cap the rerolls at a maximum of 2 per level (or consider dropping the rerolls on later dies by one until you run out - i.e. cap of 2 rerolls on a d6 or d8, 3 on a d10 and 4 on a d12? - have to do some math to see the impact of this)
This would result in HP in the following ranges:
d6 - min 3, max 9
d8 - min 3, max 11
d10 - min 4, max 15 (or 16 with 3 reroll cap & dropping #s)
d12 - min 5, max 19 (or 22 with 4 reroll cap & dropping #s )
This system would be a bit complicated - but I think it might give some interesting results in a home game - it likely would over multiple levels result in evening out HP towards the average but with the potential for boosts (and with a bigger boost potential for higher HP die classes). In most cases it would result in HP within the regular HP range (to get the max HP you would need to roll the highest # possible to trigger a reroll, then repeat that, then roll the max # on that die - a fairly unlikely but not impossible result. If you instead rolled all low #s 3+ times in a row you would end up right around the average for that die - and if you roll one low # followed by an average # you will end up with slightly above average HP.
Not sure if I'll try this in a future home game but I'm tempted to - probably still would use max HP for 1st level, then implement this starting at level 2.