Rolling, for me, is part of why I play an RPG.
Personally, I like rolling after I start playing, not before.
My favored variant for hit points is max at level 1, and (max-2) at levels 2+.
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It can lead to a lot of complications (especially with favored class bonus and con modifiers) but I do this anyway. At each level, let the player roll ALL of his hit dice (all old + the new one) and add all of the appropriate modifiers.
If the new total is less than or equal to the old total, then the HP increase for that level is calculated as if they had rolled a 1 on the new HD.
If the new total is higher then congrats!
This lets players who roll poorly always have a chance to get really lucky, and has led to some really awesome levels for players. One monk in particular rolled terribly for levels 2 through 4, but then got really luck at 5th level and now rocks a relatively high HP total.
A way to make it a lot simpler is to allow the PCs to roll 2 HD at each level: one for the new level, and one is a reroll of any previous HD (keeping the new roll only if it is higher). This requires you to track what they rolled at each level, but helps the players out a lot.
Some interesting ideas I'd never considered - thanks all. I'd like to second the idea of using reserve points, as mentioned above, over "loading" all the HD. It will start to skew HP based spells, such as fireball and cure, as just about everyone said above me.
We're kinda boring with regard to HD, rolling once or taking the average (rnd down). However, as an incentive, certain magical places/sites/artifacts allow the players to roll more or affect their HD rolls. E.g. When adventuring on the positive energy plane, the PCs rest up in a magical church there, allowing them to gain a permanent boost to HP - roll and extra HD worth of HP. Or, when leveling up on the Forge (Oathbound, 3PP, 3E, Bastion Press), players get to roll twice and keep the best roll. These are nice unexpected boosts that can be used to reward the players. You can even use it to "trick" them into forming bonds with a place they'd otherwise ride through and forget about.
Also, I just want to add that my players roll each others HD when they level up (their choice). It promotes a team atmosphere, and 99% of them time, their trust seems to rewarded by Lady Lucky - my guys have HPs coming out their ears!
Peace,
tfad
After many many years of rolling, this campaign brought that to an end. I grant full HP every level now. I also give all BBEGs and important NPCs full HP.
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My friends and I, in the various games we have played, find it a good compromise to require rolling, but you get to take the best of three rolls.
A wizard gains a level.
roll 1: Egad, it's a 1. That bites.
roll 2: Ah, a 4, much better, but let's see if we can top that.
roll 3: Double crap, a two.
Resolved: Oh well, at least I have the same hit points
(a 4 from the second roll) as my old 3.5 wizard.
It also helps out low HD classes much more than higher HD classes statistically.
I am starting a new game and the players have decided that they would like me to make it a house rule that all characters receive maximum hit points every time they level.
Players often want a lot of things that they would never consider giving their players if they were DM'ing. For example, I was the first person in my group who decided to go with the point buy system. All of my players fought for a 28 point buy because they thought a 25 point buy was too low. I ultimately acquiesced, and we have used point buy ever since. However, guess what every single DM in my group has done with point buy since then. :)
Personally, I think if your players want uniform hit points, they should use the system that Shuriken Nekogami recommended. This is the system the RPGA used, it eliminates the problem of the mage with more hit points than the fighter, and it is very well balanced.
Personally, when I DM, I tend to purposely de-randomize certain aspects of the game. We don't roll dice for starting ability scores, we use a point buy system, and we don't roll dice for HP upon leveling up. In my opinion, things like sword and spell damage, which are dice rolls you make many times per day, every day and which generally only affect the one opponent or combat you are fighting at the time, are GOOD places for more randomness, as it adds fun and tension to the combat situation at hand (e.g. "If I manage a crit on this guy, I could end this fight right here, but if I miss....). In addition, I think that each individual attempt at a hit of any kind should tend to do a little more/less damage each time due to accuracy, circumstances, and other realism-based arguments.
On the other hand, being locking into something for the entire life of your character because you muffed one or two die rolls early on, or several levels ago, just makes people feel randomly hamstrung and frustrates them. Thus, in order to ensure that the fighters and barbs of the world get more hp AT EVERY LEVEL than the wizards and sorcerers, which is only right as they are by far bigger and stronger and hardier people to begin with, I use the old optional rule of giving them exactly average HP at each level, so if you would roll a d10 for hp, you get 5 hp from that, plus your Con mod, plus anything else from feats, etc. Technically, it should be 5.5 hp per level for the exact average on a d10, but I round the half points down, in order to encourage more build-points spent on Constitution, just to preserve it's tremendous value as a stat for everyone who has hit points.
For HP I really do prefer the pathfinder soceity method where you get full HP at lvl one and then you get half + one on further levels.
It seems fair to everyone... no one gets super poor rolls for hp and on the flip side no one gets redicoulous hp (which makes it a tad harder for the dm) I tend to play low hp classes and I find that this method is very good as I know how much HP I get the following level.
For instance in one game that I am playing; I am a fighter (melee/THF) and I have 43 health at lvl 4 which is great cause I rolled high consistantly and there is a lvl 4 ranger whom has 25 health cause he rolled poor even though we have the same stats in con and have the same dice for hp. I'm just happy he is a ranged character otherwise his character would have a hard time frontlining.
I've always done 1/2 +1 with max hp at 1st level.
d4=3
d6=4
d8=5
d10=6
d12=7
Half +1 is kind of unfair.
1D4=3 75% of max
1D6=4 66% of max
1D8=5 62% of max
1D10=6 60% of max
1D12=7 58% of max
See the problem is the higher your hit dice the more you penalized by system like this. Better to just go 75% rounding up.
1D4=3
1D6=5
1D8=6
1D10=8
1D12=9
I found you have to do something to the healing spells to keep up with maximum hit points.
Whatever formula you decide for hit points make sure it is reflected in healing spells as well.
For example if you give characters at least half their hit dice each level, then make healing follow suit.