Clarification on Hit Die / Dice

[Lockhe]

Hello All,

I'm new to Pathfinder and I just wanted some clarification on the subject of hit die/dice. I've gone over the beta handbook and I am still a little fuzzy on their meaning. The specific points about hit die/dice that I want to confirm are:

1. Hit die is the die you roll for determining hit points gained when leveling up.

2. Hit dice refer to character level.
ie. Thrognar the Petty is a Barbarian 3/Ranger 2.
- Therefore, his character level is 5 and so is his hit dice.

3. If 2. is correct then the following are true:
A) Skill Acquisition (Betatest Handbook, pg. 52)
- It says that you can only get a number of ranks in a skill equal to your total Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he could get any skill up to a maximum of rank 5 only at his current level.

B) Barbarian Rage Ability (Betatest Handbook, pg. 14)
- It says that during rage, a barbarian gains +2hp per Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he would get +10hp at his current level when in rage.

4. The toughness feat states that everytime you gain a level or gain Hit Dice, you gain +1hp. I'm not sure how this works if Hit Dice=level, is that sentence just redundant?

That's it for now. I apologize if this seems like a very simple question, but I will appreciate any help. Thanks.

--
Lockhe

[Thorzak]

Seems like you;ve got it. The Hit Die / Level thing is probably there for people who play non-core races that have racial hit dice. In those cases, the PC may be 5th level but have 8 HD or something, and he would have +8 hp from Toughness.

Or, actually, it's 3 +1 per hit die, so your 5th level PC would get 3+5 = 8 hp, and my example above would actually receive +11 hp.

[Iziak]

Lockhe wrote:

4. The toughness feat states that everytime you gain a level or gain Hit Dice, you gain +1hp. I'm not sure how this works if Hit Dice=level, is that sentence just redundant?

That sentence is, indeed, redundant. I think that it exists for clarification, since some monsters have the Toughness feat, so specifying that Hit Dice works as well as Levels may be helpful for new players, although it can also be kind of confusing.

And welcome to the 'boards!

[seekerofshadowlight]

I'll try to help here

Lockhe wrote:

Hello All,

I'm new to Pathfinder and I just wanted some clarification on the subject of hit die/dice. I've gone over the beta handbook and I am still a little fuzzy on their meaning. The specific points about hit die/dice that I want to confirm are:

1. Hit die is the die you roll for determining hit points gained when leveling up.

Yes each level you gain the HD of that class. Normally you roll that HD and add the number you got to your total[..1d10 you rolled 7 so you gain 7 hp that level]

Lockhe wrote:

2. Hit dice refer to character level.
ie. Thrognar the Petty is a Barbarian 3/Ranger 2.
- Therefore, his character level is 5 and so is his hit dice.

Yes 3d12 from barbarian and 2d10 from ranger

Lockhe wrote:

3. If 2. is correct then the following are true:
A) Skill Acquisition (Betatest Handbook, pg. 52)
- It says that you can only get a number of ranks in a skill equal to your total Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he could get any skill up to a maximum of rank 5 only at his current level.

B) Barbarian Rage Ability (Betatest Handbook, pg. 14)
- It says that during rage, a barbarian gains +2hp per Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he would get +10hp at his current level when in rage.

A: YES THE MAX IS THE total number of HD...in this case 5. However class skills do add a +3 the firstB: time you take it. {so at first level a class skills has +4. 1 for the point +3 for it being class skill. 2ND Level it could be +5...2 for the points you put in and +3 for it being a class skill

B:YES you are right here

Lockhe wrote:

4. The toughness feat states that everytime you gain a level or gain Hit Dice, you gain +1hp. I'm not sure how this works if Hit Dice=level, is that sentence just redundant?

yes you gain 3+ hd first time and 1 extra hp per level

[Tarren Dei]

Lockhe wrote:

Hello All,

I'm new to Pathfinder and I just wanted some clarification on the subject of hit die/dice. I've gone over the beta handbook and I am still a little fuzzy on their meaning. The specific points about hit die/dice that I want to confirm are:

Welcome to our world! I'm not an expert but I'll try to help.

Lockhe wrote:

1. Hit die is the die you roll for determining hit points gained when leveling up.

Yes. PCs get the maximum at first level (plus constitution bonus). Most DMs have you roll for future levels. Sometimes when you start with a high level character the DM might say 'take the average'. Ask your DM if there are any houserules.

Lockhe wrote:

2. Hit dice refer to character level.

ie. Thrognar the Petty is a Barbarian 3/Ranger 2.
- Therefore, his character level is 5 and so is his hit dice.

That is correct. The distinction becomes more important when people use non-standard races like ogres as characters. They could have more hit dice plus class levels.

Lockhe wrote:

3. If 2. is correct then the following are true:

A) Skill Acquisition (Betatest Handbook, pg. 52)
- It says that you can only get a number of ranks in a skill equal to your total Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he could get any skill up to a maximum of rank 5 only at his current level.

Sort of. This gets confusing, I think, especially for new players.

Thrognar could purchase 5 ranks in any skill but he will get a +3 bonus if it is a class skill. He also adds his ability modifier. He may even get more ranks from a feat of some sort.

So, if Thrognar has 18 strength and puts 5 ranks in climb which is a class skill, he would get +4 from strength, +5 from ranks he put into it, +3 because climb is a class skill. That makes it +12 total.

Lockhe wrote:

B) Barbarian Rage Ability (Betatest Handbook, pg. 14)

- It says that during rage, a barbarian gains +2hp per Hit Dice.
- Therefore, using Thrognar, he would get +10hp at his current level when in rage.

Yes.

Lockhe wrote:

4. The toughness feat states that everytime you gain a level or gain Hit Dice, you gain +1hp. I'm not sure how this works if Hit Dice=level, is that sentence just redundant?

There are a number of unusual ways a character could gain a hit die. For Thrognar's purpose, it probably does not matter.

Lockhe wrote:

That's it for now. I apologize if this seems like a very simple question, but I will appreciate any help. Thanks.--

Lockhe

I hope I helped (and hope I'm clear and correct).

I'll bet I was ninjaed by a faster typist though.

EDIT: Three faster typists!!

[Lockhe]

Hey,

Thanks for the quick responses and the warm welcomes. This helps to clarify a lot for me and I look forward to contributing to the Pathfinder community.

--
Lockhe