What does HD mean in context of Sleep spell affecting 4HD creatures?

[Malkyn the Chary]

Hi again,

So the Sleep spell affects 4HD creatures; what does that mean? A sorcerer casting Sleep has a hit die of d6, so does that mean up to 24 creatures would fall asleep??? Doesn't seem right? Or does it mean that creatures up to a certain level (eg, 4th) would fall asleep?

Thanks!

[Necroluth]

Malkyn the Chary wrote:

Hi again,

So the Sleep spell affects 4HD creatures; what does that mean? A sorcerer casting Sleep has a hit die of d6, so does that mean up to 24 creatures would fall asleep??? Doesn't seem right? Or does it mean that creatures up to a certain level (eg, 4th) would fall asleep?

Thanks!

It only affects creatures of up to 4 HD or levels. It doesn't matter what kind of hit die they use, only that they are valid targets (i.e. not immune to sleep effects). This is the main reason this is a relatively well-balanced 1st-level spell. It shines when you are only facing 1 to 4 HD monsters, but is increasingly useless as you face more dangerous creatures.

[Malkyn the Chary]

Thank you, Necroluth. I just saw the Area notation for it, so I feel extra-stupid, but the explanation was great, thanks!

[Grick]

Malkyn the Chary wrote:

So the Sleep spell affects 4HD creatures; what does that mean?

Hit Dice (HD): "Hit Dice represent a creature's general level of power and skill. As a creature gains levels, it gains additional Hit Dice. Monsters, on the other hand, gain racial Hit Dice, which represent the monster's general prowess and ability. Hit Dice are represented by the number the creature possesses followed by a type of die, such as “3d8.” This value is used to determine a creature's total hit points. In this example, the creature has 3 Hit Dice. When rolling for this creature's hit points, you would roll a d8 three times and add the results together, along with other modifiers."

Sleep cares about the number of hit dice, not the type.

A normal level 5 human fighter has 5 hit dice. It doesn't matter what type of die those are (d6 or d8 or d10), just that there are 5 of them. That level 5 fighter can't be affected by sleep.

When you cast sleep you could affect 4 creatures with 1 HD each, or two creatures with 2 HD each, or one 1-HD creature and one 3-HD creature. Etc.

[Oladon]

Malkyn the Chary wrote:

Hi again,

So the Sleep spell affects 4HD creatures; what does that mean? A sorcerer casting Sleep has a hit die of d6, so does that mean up to 24 creatures would fall asleep??? Doesn't seem right? Or does it mean that creatures up to a certain level (eg, 4th) would fall asleep?

Thanks!

Hit Dice are a way of measuring the level of advancement of a creature... "levels" are something which generally go along with HD increases for PCs, but may not for other creatures.

For example, a pixie has 4HD (it has four dice in its hitpoint calculation), whereas a level 1 PC (of whatever class) has 1HD. So a sleep* spell could affect a single pixie, or four level 1 PCs.

Does that help?

*Spell names are italicized, not capitalized.

[Malkyn the Chary]

Ah, I see, Grick, thanks!

[Marthian]

Hit Dice wrote:

Hit Dice represent a creature's general level of power and skill. As a creature gains levels, it gains additional Hit Dice. Monsters, on the other hand, gain racial Hit Dice, which represent the monster's general prowess and ability. Hit Dice are represented by the number the creature possesses followed by a type of die, such as “3d8.” This value is used to determine a creature's total hit points. In this example, the creature has 3 Hit Dice. When rolling for this creature's hit points, you would roll a d8 three times and add the results together, along with other modifiers.