|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 8:08PM
#21
|
Date Joined:
Dec 26, 2009
|
Qmark: That's insane - but I sorta like it.
Fighter: Damn... I only have 85 hit points today.
DM: You're clearly suffering from some self-doubt. Why don't we talk that through - maybe there's some RP there?
Fighter: Well... this one time... in band camp.. .
============
Actually though - a decrease in Hit Points based on "Mental States" might be a fascinating addition to D&D.
D&D has always failed at Man vs. Self... but I think you (Qmark) came upon an excellent way of adding minuses or bonuses do to character's Mental State.
"Terror: - 20 to Hit Points until a character wins three consecutive battles."
"True Love: +20 to Hit Points. Character has an NPC liability."
Something like that.
This actually sounds like a fun set of optional rules.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 8:15PM
#22
|
Date Joined:
May 18, 2002
|
Qmark: That's insane - but I sorta like it.
Fighter: Damn... I only have 85 hit points today.
DM: You're clearly suffering from some self-doubt. Why don't we talk that through - maybe there's some RP there?
Fighter: Well... this one time... in band camp.. .
If you heal to full and get your 'surges' back overnight, why not redfine "full" while you're doing it?
If you guys want a "narrative", sometimes you get out of bed and feel awesome! Sometimes, you've slept on your own arm for eight hours and have a backache some reason.
"Terror: - 20 to Hit Points until a character wins three consecutive battles."
"True Love: +20 to Hit Points. Character has an NPC liability."
Neat!
The idea is, a crappy roll at level two shouldn't haunt the PC forever, assuming he even survives level two. The CON-floor is a good concept, but really it's always existed.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 8:22PM
#23
|
Date Joined:
Dec 21, 2011
|
Random roll is exciting and the con bonus minimum keeps the fighter from rolling too badly. Over a handful of levels, the randomized rolls average out anyway.
Easy fixes. In the first 1e campaign I played in way back when, we rolled for hit points. If we thought we rolled poorly, the DM let us roll again, but we had to take the value of the 2nd roll. That prevented us from gambling too much. If we rolled a 1 or 2, we would usually re-roll, but anything higher, we would be too scared that we'd get a lower roll on the 2nd die. It was fun. We had a blast.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:15PM
#24
|
Date Joined:
Nov 25, 2006
|
I would like to point out that the pregens have fixed HP gain...just saying.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:30PM
#25
|
Date Joined:
Jul 11, 2011
|
the problem with random hp in the core rules is that that is what people makeing powers, feats, creatures will asume is the norm. for example let us say that they assume a level 10 PC has 50 hp, so a 10hp hit hurts him but not too bad. if my figher rolled his hp and only has 25, that 10hp is a much larger amount of my hp. same as if I rolled well and have 70.
in order for the game math to work out well you MUST have a better idea of what peoples hp is then "between 20 and 70"
These are big extremes you're throwing out there.
Also, with this system, they won't assume that a level 10 PC has 50 hp, because there will be no standard. Why would they assume that everyone would have the same HP, when they designed the system differently?
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:33PM
#26
|
|
|
Where does it say that you roll for HP? Based on the stat cards it looks like you get a fixed amount when you level up.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:36PM
#27
|
Date Joined:
Jul 16, 2010
|
It's in the "How to Play" PDF.
As for taking the CON mod instead, for a lot of characters that's going to be 1. Or even 0.
The fact that the pregen characters are based on fixed HP game (taking the average of the hit die) goes to show that even Wizards apparently lacks confidence in the idea of rolled HP.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:44PM
#28
|
|
|
What is this I don't even...who actually enjoyed rolling hit points in past editions?!? Even when I played 2e we just hourseruled that we got a fixed amount. The worst experience is gaining a level and then rolling a 1 on your HP.
Also, what if you happen to roll low for several levels and now you're stuck with terrible HP relative to the rest of the party?
Basic stuff like HP should NOT be random!!!
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 9:44PM
#29
|
Date Joined:
Nov 23, 2003
|
I agree with the OP. Additional variability here only hurts the players, which is why most people with house rules for rolling still "cheat" by rerolling die rolls they do not like.
just because we have at some times rolled for up and ability scores for thatmatter does not mean that we should continue doing the same thing.
|
|
|
|
13 months ago ::
May 24, 2012 - 10:02PM
#30
|
Date Joined:
Jul 31, 2007
|
I'm with the OP on this one. I've never cared for rolling hit dice.
I'm fine with my actions being up to luck of the roll; I have a chance to recover from my screwups later on. I'm not okay with something so basic to my character being random and then set in stone for all eternity.
I'll be perfectly honest here: I cheated on my hit point rolls when I played 3E. Why? Because getting one hit point (especially as a sorcerer, which was my preferred class) absolutely sucked. So, I just gave myself 3 or 4 hit points every level. I was extremely happy with 4E's switch to static hit point amounts per level.
If rolling remains the standard for Next, this will be my first houserule. It's actually not a huge deal. I'd prefer it to be fixed, but this is a houserule that's really easy to implement.
|
|
|
