Community

So my Bard died and I am making a new character! But my group and I are pretty new to DnD and kind of learning as we go. It has been a lot of fun so far.

One thing I have noticed in a lot of the guides for various characters in the CharOP thread use a different stat other than CON to calculate their HP - such as this one http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/25766477/Stormbringer?pg=1 . He uses his str to determine his hp. I have looked for an explanation and went through as many pages of as many books I could thumb through and I have not seen any actual evidence that this is possible. I am assuming it is because I have seen several builds on there that do this.

If anyone could point me to an explanation of this and where in what book it says I can do this... because that would be freaking sweet. Our DM likes to make the fights challenging (which I love) and every advantage our group can get is a good one

Oh sweet thanks. We are only on our third session and we started with the simplified 2 page character sheet which does not include Background as well as other things. I think tomorrow might be a good day to talk to the DM about stepping it up a notch to the full character sheets. Thanks again!

Feb 11, 2013 -- 9:14PM, Novacat wrote:

Be aware, however, that Born Under a Bad Sign and Auspicious Birth are two backgrounds that commonly outlawed by DMs, since they are far and away more powerful than nearly any other background. I once saw a game where every single PC had one of those backgrounds, because there's no reason not to take it if it's allowed, and that makes it a boring option.

That is not true. Any of it.

Feb 12, 2013 -- 8:11AM, Plaguescarred wrote:

How is having CON mod equivalency HP bonus at level 1 overpowered ? I hardly see having an adidtional 1-5 HP overpowered at level 1 and this mattter even less as levels and HPs increase. 

When we speak of "overpowered" backgrounds, remember that we are comparing them to a character option that most commonly provides a +2 bonus to one skill, or adds a skill to your class skill list. That is a very minor benefit, roughly half to two-thirds as useful as a feat. The two backgrounds in question do something more appropriate in power for a feat, rather than a background.