I came up with this house-rule where players would roll their HP after each extended rest, as opposed to rolling their HP once per level.
I don't think my write-up will format very well here, so I've made it into a PDF, which you can view here:
http://is.gd/zhESfT
I'm still going to post here what I wrote, but I really doubt it's going to look very good.
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House Rule: Roll PCs HP after every extended rest.
Reason:
Nobody wakes up feeling exactly how they felt the day before. Maybe you were playing soccer with your friends, and although you slept very well, you’re still sore and might have a minor ankle twist. Having a standard amount of HP for a character’s entire level does not allow these variations to exist.
Rules for Rolling for HP Depending on Different Circumstances
1) After an extremely restful sleep following a day with very little physical and/or mental exertion
Roll 2 dice per HD, dropping the lowest, and adding 20% to the final number (rounding up). Then add your [Con Mod * Level].
2) After an extremely restful sleep following a day with light physical and/or mental exertion
Roll 2 dice per HD, dropping the lowest number of each. Then add your [Con Mod * Level].
3) After a relatively good restful sleep, following a very demanding day, physically and/or mentally
Roll 1 dice per HD, and adding 20% to the final total (rounding up). Then add your [Con Mod * Level].
4) After an adequate restful sleep following a very demanding day, physically and/or mentally
Roll 1 dice per HD and add up the totals. Then add your [Con] modifier.
5) After a bad night’s sleep following a very demanding day, physically and/or mentally
Roll 1 dice per HD, and subtract 20% from the total (rounding up). Then add your [Con Mod * Level].
6) After a horrible night’s sleep (or a time when your sleep was interrupted due to various circumstances like random encounters, etc)
Roll 2 dice per HD, dropping the highest. Then add your [Con] modifier.
7) After a night where you got little to no sleep, following a very demanding day
Roll 2 dice per HD, dropping the highest. Then subtract 20% from the total. Then add your [Con Mod * Level].
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Examples
1 Fred the Fighter is Level 4 and has a 16 Con. He his party have just defeated a group of Gnoll slavers and freed all of the slaves who were still alive. It was exhausting both physically and mentally, but now that he’s back in town he’s able to get a good night’s sleep at the inn. This would qualify for #3 above.
He wakes up the following day feeling quite rested, although there’s still a few sore muscles. He rolls 4d10 and ends up with [ 6 + 10 + 2 + 2 = 20 ]. Now he adds an additional 20% to that total, for a grand total of 24 [ ( 20 + ( 1 ÷ 5 ) * 20 ) = 24 ] or to write it another way [ 20 * 1.2 = 24 ].
Finally, he adds his [Con Mod * Level] to that final number, resulting in a grand total of 48 HP!
He had a tough day, rested well, and ended up feeling better than average.
2 Clint the Cleric is also Level 4 and has a 12 Con. In order to find where the Gnolls were holding their slaves, Clint went undercover and was abducted by the slavers. He spent the entire day getting beaten, whipped, degraded, and pushed beyond his limits. Needless to say, he had a horrible day. Now it’s time for him to sleep, but because he’s trapped in a Gnoll slave-camp, he is not going to sleep well (if he sleeps at all).
The next morning he opens his eyes after only sleeping off-and-on for 2 hours, tops. He’s going to be using method #7 above.
He rolls 4d8 and gets [ 7 + 7 + 4 + 5 + 8 + 6 + 3 + 4 = 16 ]. Now he subtracts 20% from that number and gets [ ( 16 - ( 1 ÷ 5 ) * 16 ) = 12.8, which we round up to 13 ]. Now he adds his [Con Mod * Level] to that final number, resulting in a grand total
of 17 HP!
Clint had a horrible day, and a horrible night’s rest. And now he’s paying for it in the morning.
3 Stacy the Sorceress is also Level 4 and has a 14 Con.
Once She, Clint and Fred have had time to recuperate, she decides she’s going to spend a few days working on magic items for the group while they try to find their next mission. She can take a leisurely pace while crafting and not very tiring mentally.
She spend all day crafting until she heads back to the inn that night. Obviously, she will be using method #1 above.
She wakes up the next morning having rested extremely well. She gets to roll 2 dice per HD, dropping the lowest, and add 20% to that grand total.
She rolls [ 5 + 4 + 5 + 1 + 6 + 5 + 4 + 1 = 20 ]. She now gets to add an additional 20% to that number, which she does and gets [ ( 20 + ( 1 ÷ 5 ) * 20 ) = 24 ].
Now, she gets to add her [Con Mod * Level] to that final number, and gets a grand total of 28 HP!
Stacy had a very good day, and a very good night’s sleep, which resulted in her feeling very well and having some extra HP!
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So that’s my HP per Day House-Rule I’m thinking of using with my group. Does anyone have any input for me? Should I give it a go and see how my players like it?
Thanks a lot!
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futzy, good word!
how about simplify:
good rest, normal rest, bad rest
good rest? maximize 1st level HD and re-roll 1's
normal rest? maximize 1st level HD only
bad rest? no max, roll all dice
also if they rest for a week, i wouldn't roll 7 times - maybe only until it's relevant?
I would consider this rule an improvement over rolling hit points when you gain a level, but inferior to the more obvious fixed hit points per level.
Of course, I would probably have gone into far less detail in regard to evaluating the quality of a night's sleep.
A variant like this slows the game down only if you do not have any sort of time pressure on the party. It could actually speed the game up if they got really good hit point rolls today and don't want to put off a battle until the next day when (most likely) they will have closer to average hit points.
This is not worth the extra game time IMHO, not to mention that how I feel is not going to determine my ability to go into fight mode given sufficient motivation.
I have to unfortunately agree with everyone on this one. If given a choice, I likely wouldn't choose to use this rule... just because it seems to take up a fair amount of game-time.
And, if for any reason, someone rolls all 1s after a bad night of rest, they'd likely have no motivation for even leaving the bed, lest they run into anything that wants them dead.
It's not a bad concept in and of itself, really, but it seems ... I guess futzy is the word to go with here. I do agree with Rainzax though that if it was to be done that way, maybe simplify. People don't want to spend time before their characters' rest debating how good a rest they should get because of how taxing the day may or may not have been.
I don't mean to sound like a jerk, honest. It just seems like it may take more game time than need be is all, and could affect player participation in ways you may not like.
Quick fix try: add or subtract level/2 or full level hp based on sleep. Like: remove points 1 and 7, then
Extremely restful=+level
Relatively restful=+level/2
Normal rest= no change
Relatively bad rest=-level/2
Extremely bad rest=-level.
Quick and easy, a lot less bookkeeping, not a big increase in rest periods. If the players are a bit smart, they'll try to rest at worst with a relatively bad rest (5/10 hp less at most aren't so bad), and you get the feel of the "rest isn't the same every day" you search for.
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I only have one thing to add that hasn't been mentioned, since I agree with the other comments made so far.
I have always heard, as a general rule, an increase in randomness hurts the PCs, whereas an increase in fixed results favors the PCs. I feel this is largely true with this houserule, as the chances that a good night's sleep helps the PCs is lower than the chances that a bad night's sleep hurts the PCs. As others have mentioned, they can circumvent this issue with the equivalent of a "take 20" rule, simply stating that they continue to rest until they have to most favorable result. If that's not an option, they either go in with average or higher than average HP and perform as expected, or go in with lower than average and increase the chances of a PC death, or even a TPK.
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The problem with houserules like this (reroll/recalculate stuff you wouldn't normally have to reroll/recalculate) is that they often consume a lot of time that could have been used just playing the game. That might be a serious problem or a non-issue, depending on how often and for how long you play.
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Sounds needlessly complicated.
I ended up rethinking this after your advice. I'm going to scrap the idea for now.
Its something that makes sense in the real world, but its not worth it in a fantasy world, you know?
Well, it's not that it doesn't make sense in a fantasy world. It just seemed more complicated than need be is all. Didn't mean to crush your spirit or anything.
However, it does lead into thoughts on possible bonuses or penalties for good or bad rest though. Would be really cool if instigated properly :)