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I'm actually posting for my son who's just stated his 1st campaign as a GM. All of his players are 1st time players as well. Anyhow, here's the system:
Max value of hit dice + CON Modifier + random roll of Hit Dice.
This resulted in HP's ranging from 14 for an Elf Sorceress with the Toughness feat -to- 18 for a Dwarf Cleric.
It seems reasonable (especially for 1st time players), but for any of the games I've played in the standard system of Max value of Hit Dice + CON Modifier was used. My son asked me if I think it's a bit too generous, but I'm honestly not sure if it is or might cause problems later. Any feedback on this would be much appreciated.
I like what I call the "Normalized" approach.
You start off with your base hitpoints as your Con total plus the max possible roll for your first hit die +CONmod, And from there...
Every odd level they gain the odd number closest the average result of their hit die +CONmod. Even even level they gain the even number closest to the average result to their hit die +CONmod.
For instance someone with a d10 hit die would gain:
10+CONmod at lv.1
6+CONmod at lv.2
5+CONmod at lv.3
6+CONmod at lv.4
This takes the randomness out of it, reducing the possiblity that a character is going to be utterly more and more useless as they level... And preventing the possiblitity that your 8 CON squishy wizard is going to end up with more health than your Paladin.
It also gives you a small handful of hitpoints at lvl 1 to help out the first-time players get used to the danger and lethality of the game. The bonus is no longer apparent at level 4, by the time you truly realize just how quickly you can die in this game.
A Dwarven paladin with 16Con would end up with 29 hitpoints at level 1, as opposed to a normal 20ish. So you're giving them about A levels worth of extra hit points over all.
Giving the MAX value always is too generous in the long run, Paizo balanced the game to approximately where hit die are rolled to be the average result... So making it automatically the average result is what I like to prevent any kind of of issues.
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It'll make the characters extra tough. It's a matter of what you like - if you feel that characters should be extra-heroic from the beginning, it's fine. If he's new at it, he might be worried about the frailty of 1st level characters...especially if some players are new, too. This does give a little extra buffer. I don't think it's a terrible thing...the first time you catch a crit by an orc with a greataxe, you'll know what I mean. ;)
It'll make the characters extra tough. It's a matter of what you like - if you feel that characters should be extra-heroic from the beginning, it's fine. If he's new at it, he might be worried about the frailty of 1st level characters...especially if some players are new, too. This does give a little extra buffer. I don't think it's a terrible thing...the first time you catch a crit by an orc with a greataxe, you'll know what I mean. ;)
In clearer terms, This is 3d12+6ish damage, which can easily outright kill a level 1 adventurer in one swing. You want a small health buffer for your level 1 characters incase any unwanted crits happen to roll up.
I'm fond of star war saga edition's approach. Each class, at first level only, received the equivalent of 3 x max hit die + Con modifier and from level 2 up was done in the standard method.
Examples using HD:
d10 as HD would give 30 + Con at 1st level.
d8 as HD would give 24 + Con at 1st level.
d6 as HD would give 18 + Con at 1st level.
We only use it on the occasion we start at 1st level; we usually start at 3rd.
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It'll make the characters extra tough. It's a matter of what you like - if you feel that characters should be extra-heroic from the beginning, it's fine. If he's new at it, he might be worried about the frailty of 1st level characters...especially if some players are new, too. This does give a little extra buffer. I don't think it's a terrible thing...the first time you catch a crit by an orc with a greataxe, you'll know what I mean. ;)In clearer terms, This is 3d12+6ish damage, which can easily outright kill a level 1 adventurer in one swing. You want a small health buffer for your level 1 characters incase any unwanted crits happen to roll up.
I ran a solo game for a cleric, starting at 3rd. One crit...she had 1 hp left. ;)