Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 basilbur Jul 22, 2014 19:06:39	Sorry if this topic is a repeat.  I am a relatively newly returned to the game.  I do remember though, the terror of rolling hit points in first edition.  I know that 5th edition has a standard feature of full hit points at first level then dN/2+1 hitpoints for each level gained.  Or you can roll the die when you gain a level.   I wonder though.... . As a house rule.... Is there a way to allow players to earn and/or pay for additional hit points (upto their maximum natch)?  Giving full hp at each level feels wrong....   Ideas:   1) allow players to pay for additional hit points with XP each time they level up.  The exact amount of the premium could be debated, but you could roll at the start of each level for the next level's hit points. If it was less than maximum, then you would have to earn XP equal to the normal amount plus the premium from the delta from your roll.  It would be extra book keeping for the DM and player, of course.  But you could at least *Earn* the extra hit points.  Might be a significant amount at higher levels as well.  Of course that means that advancing levels would not be the same for each character.   2) Open the door for expensive spells, quests, favors from powerful beings to allow players to advance to their full hit points.  The higher the level, the more expensive.
#2 Gnarl Jul 23, 2014 7:12:50	Basilbur, what are you trying to accomplish with this?   1) If what you want is your players to overall have more HPs (all of them), then the easiest way to do that is to give these extra HPs as some kind of reward. If a "power play" option is available to all players, it does not favor one character more than the others and everybody will have fun. Giving bonus HPs as rewards is similar to handing out magic items. If you give too many of them, you just have to put stronger monsters against the PCs and a little less rewards until you reach your sweet spot in terms of character power.   2) If you're experiencing problems at levels 1 & 2 because the monsters do too much damage, a quick house rule for that one is to let the PCs roll their level 2 HPs at level 1 and their level 3 HPs at level 2. By level 3, the math should have stabalized into something a bit less swingy.   3) If you want more HPs to be a character option, you don't need to house rule anything. The option is already there in the form of Constitution increases and you'll probably have a feat to increase your HPs (my guess: Durable). I think your XP penalty is a bit clunky and redudant with the existing character options so you don't really need to house rule it.
#3 Qmark Jul 23, 2014 7:23:46	Reroll HP every "long rest". Sometimes you wake up feeling awesome, while sometimes you wonder why you got out of bed today at all.   Gnarl wrote:
#4 EMR Jul 23, 2014 8:13:04	Easiest houserule is to use the 4e solution.   Rather than adding Class hp + Con mod at 1st level, add Class hp + Con SCORE.  Bam, 1st level doesn't suck anymore.
#5 Rastapopoulos Jul 23, 2014 8:29:59	basilbur wrote:
#6 The_Jester Jul 23, 2014 9:21:24	If they spent a few weeks per level "training" they might be able to gain an extra hp. This would likely cost gold in addition to time.  A few extra hp shouldn't break the game and it's a good example of a potential downtime activity.
#7 basilbur Jul 23, 2014 10:23:56	Thanks, I appreciate all the responses!!   The_Jester wrote:
#8 DM_HEEGZ Jul 23, 2014 10:33:18	You could always give all PCs and creatures max HP as well. Or to make it really easy, all PCs get max HP (not just level 1) and use the listed HP for creatures.  I have played a lot using max HP for PCs/creatures in 3.5 and it works pretty well. Haven't tried it with the 5ed playtest or basic yet, but have toyed with the idea of trying it in a one off adventure with fast progression. I am really liking rolling for HP though.