I have seen nothing but fantastically stupid justifications for how the Hit Dice system works, and, frankly, doesn't work. Here is a quick and dirty alternative, that should work without a lot of adjustments to other parts of the game. I would be interested in comments.
Semi-Static Hit Points
(If you use this you want to give Hit Dice creatures maximum HP values)
Base HP
Constitution + Size Bonus + Misc. Adds
Size Bonus:
Small +4
Medium. +8
Large +16
MIsc. Adds
Training, up to Constitution Bonus
Favored class: HP (+1 HP per level)
Toughness Feat (+1 HP per level)
D10/D12 HP classes (+1 HP per level)
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If you are looking for comments, you might want to provide a little more information:
- What is the specific problem you see with HP (no, the system doesn't make a lot of sense, but it's designed for gameplay purposes, not physical modeling accuracy).
- How your new system works (I see a lot of 'parts' in your post, but I have no idea how it supposed to come together).
Present your system in a coherent fashion (examples of how it supposed to work at various levels are always helpful) and you are much more likely to get constructive feedback.
What she said. This is gibberish.
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I think it involves getting your constitution score + adjustments each level, which seems more than a little 'over the top' (Medium sized Fighter 20 with 20 Con, toughness, and FCB would have 20 * 31 (20+8+1+1+1) = 620 HP?). Make it a Barbarian instead of a Fighter, and you're looking at another 160 HP while raging.
If my guess is correct, you're going to end up with
- longer fights,
- more need for healing (after the fight or at the end of the day),
- probably more need for condition removal, and
- probably less direct damage spellcasting (Color spray and similar spells are just going to be faster at taking opponents down, even if they make a save or two).
Using half your Con Score and no size adjustment would keep the totals pretty close to current totals, but I'm still failing to see what issue this would solve.
But that is all a bit of a guess on my part...
Taja,
Constitution, Size Bonus, and Training Bonus only apply once.
Assuming every option taken:
Your level 20 fighter would have 20 (Con) +8 (Size) +5 (Trained) +20 (Fav. Class) +20 (Tough) +20 (d10 class) = 93 Hit Points
He probably would have started at level 1 at 16 (Con) +8 (Size) +3 (Trained) +3 (all level based bonuses) = 30 Hit Points
Note that this is a character going to fairly great lengths to maximize hit points, an upper edge case.
The same fighter using the standard system would likely go from 15 to 300+ Hit Points,
This lessens the unrealistically large Hit Point Growth, and makes lower level characters less fragile. Bleed effects and the like make more sense.
Cool so rocket tag is even easier now.
That was the goal right?
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Taja,
Constitution, Size Bonus, and Training Bonus only apply once.
Assuming every option taken:
Your level 20 fighter would have 20 (Con) +8 (Size) +5 (Trained) +20 (Fav. Class) +20 (Tough) +20 (d10 class) = 93 Hit PointsHe probably would have started at level 1 at 16 (Con) +8 (Size) +3 (Trained) +3 (all level based bonuses) = 30 Hit Points
Note that this is a character going to fairly great lengths to maximize hit points, an upper edge case.
The same fighter using the standard system would likely go from 15 to 300+ Hit Points,
This lessens the unrealistically large Hit Point Growth, and makes lower level characters less fragile. Bleed effects and the like make more sense.
Back in 3.0 days, my Scythe wielding Death Cleric did a coup-de-grace against an opponent, and I was a little pissed that I didn't quite get into triple digits (would have been triple digits if some of my buffs hadn't gotten dispeled, and I should note I was about level 12). Basically, your maxed out fighter 20 (okay, Con could be higher, so not fully maxed out) is going to be one-shot by the first critical power attack combo that hits them. Hell, the Pistilaro 9 in my WotR group does 4d6+64 on a crit, which will one shot nearly anything in your system.
Nope, if you plan on using this system, you are going to have to make a lot of changes by level 6 or so to avoid a really high character mortality rate.
EDIT: I just looked up a Balor demon as a sample CR20 monster and it has Fire Storm as a spell-like ability, which should do 20d6 fire damage, or 70 dmg on average. Basically, this is a huge AoE 'save or die' for the vast majority of level 20 characters under your proposed system, and if they didn't put any resources into HP, the save might not even help them (remember, 60 of the 93 hp in the example are from big hit dice, FCB, and the Toughness feat).
Nope, I think this change would basically require a massive rewriting of existing material to have a chance at working...