Option Four: Revising Hit Points
Inspiration: Games with a lot less hit points
Reason: Simplification
Rule Description:
Having a lot of hit points causes a lot of unnecessary number crunching in my humble opinion. It prolongs combat, often in high levels turning fights into slog fest. Also have a large amount of hit points puts things out of scale in my opinion. There should be a vast difference between a well seasoned night and an untrained peasant in how well they do in a fight. But having a level 20 knight be equivalent hit point wise to 50 zero level peasants I think might be over kill. By reducing the range of hit points in the game things speed up, combat is quicker, and the fear of death increased a bit for players. It also changes the game to be a little bit more low fantasy instead of high fantasy due to real threats of death (which I like, high fantasy in my opinion is just supers with magic).
Most zero level characters start have 8-12 hit points (7 + D4), or just use 9 hit points as a base.
Characters start out with their Constitution in hit points plus-
Monsters start off with 8 Hit Points Plus
Weapon and Monster attacks remain the same. Characters will have to adjust their behavior because combat now is a lot more dangerous.
Example: Mark, A level 10 Ranger (declared to be a fighter type by DM, in some games a Ranger could fall under the "Everyone Else" case, DM's discretion) has a Constitution of 14. Thus at 10th level he has 24 hit points. At 20th level Mark would have 44 hit points, or be able to take the same amount of damage as four normal men.
Example: Landrilla, a 7th level Priestess, falls into the "Everyone Else" category. She has 12 Constitution. Thus she would have 15 hit points.
Example: Sunspinner, a 12th level Mage with a Constitution of 8 would have 11 hit points. He stays in the back.
Example: A dragon with 20 Hit Dice would have 68 hit points.
Example: An Orc Captain with 3 Hit Dice would have 14 hit points.
Inspiration: Games with a lot less hit points
Reason: Simplification
Rule Description:
Having a lot of hit points causes a lot of unnecessary number crunching in my humble opinion. It prolongs combat, often in high levels turning fights into slog fest. Also have a large amount of hit points puts things out of scale in my opinion. There should be a vast difference between a well seasoned night and an untrained peasant in how well they do in a fight. But having a level 20 knight be equivalent hit point wise to 50 zero level peasants I think might be over kill. By reducing the range of hit points in the game things speed up, combat is quicker, and the fear of death increased a bit for players. It also changes the game to be a little bit more low fantasy instead of high fantasy due to real threats of death (which I like, high fantasy in my opinion is just supers with magic).
Most zero level characters start have 8-12 hit points (7 + D4), or just use 9 hit points as a base.
Characters start out with their Constitution in hit points plus-
- Fighters gain 1 hit point per level (including level 1)
- Spell casters gain 1 hit point per every 3 levels (starting with 1 at level 3)
- Everyone Else gains 1 hit point per two levels (starting with 1 at level 2)
Monsters start off with 8 Hit Points Plus
- 1 Hit Point per Hit Dice for small / humanoid creatures creatures
- 2 Hit Points per Hit Dice for medium / human sized / Large to Giant sized creatures
- 3 Hit Points per Hit Dice for Epic sized creatures
Weapon and Monster attacks remain the same. Characters will have to adjust their behavior because combat now is a lot more dangerous.
Example: Mark, A level 10 Ranger (declared to be a fighter type by DM, in some games a Ranger could fall under the "Everyone Else" case, DM's discretion) has a Constitution of 14. Thus at 10th level he has 24 hit points. At 20th level Mark would have 44 hit points, or be able to take the same amount of damage as four normal men.
Example: Landrilla, a 7th level Priestess, falls into the "Everyone Else" category. She has 12 Constitution. Thus she would have 15 hit points.
Example: Sunspinner, a 12th level Mage with a Constitution of 8 would have 11 hit points. He stays in the back.
Example: A dragon with 20 Hit Dice would have 68 hit points.
Example: An Orc Captain with 3 Hit Dice would have 14 hit points.
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