PC Hit Points and Me.

Dungeons & Dragons MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
1

I DM for a small group–only 2-3 players. To compensate, I always allow
my players to start with max hitpoints at first level. That way, they can
handle a bit more, but at higher levels an extra 2-5 hps don’t really
matter.

I’d like to know what house rules others use for small Birthright
campaigns. As for me, I give my mages bonus spells for high intelligence,
based on the cleric’s wisdom bonuses. We contemplated using spell points
(1 point per spell per level), and actually used it for mages for a while.
We decided that it would make clerics simple healing machines, so the
players and I decided against it. We used it for mages in the last
campaign, but not this one. We are using the bonus spells instead.

Any other ideas?

Noah

On Fri, 13 Feb 1998 ANOLESEN@aol.com wrote:

> Date: Fri, 13 Feb 1998 20:24:50 EST
> From: ANOLESEN@aol.com
> Reply-To: birthright@MPGN.COM
> To: birthright@MPGN.COM
> Subject: [BIRTHRIGHT] - PC Hit Points and Me.
>
> What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create their
> characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is there
> another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
> enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an insane
> amount of potions of healing in.
>
> I am DMing for three others (mabye four soon) and this is our first time
> playing Birthright together. I have very little AD&D experience, seven
> months, and the whole time I have been playing regular AD&D with a DM who is
> also very inexperinced between 10 months and one and 1/2 years, I don’t know.
> He dosn’t know how to DM very well, as far as the rules go. One of the other
> people I play with is slightly weird but there are less than 12 people in my
> town who play AD&D. Oh, by the way I’m in seventh grade, 13, and I play with
> another seventh grade, an eigth grader (very immature for his age), a fourth
> grader ( very mature for his age). I like elves and despize dwarves. And
> don’t care for gnomes or halflings. My favorite class is the Ranger.
> Followed by fighter and thief and mage.
> ***************************************************************************
> > ‘unsubscribe birthright’ as the body of the message.
>

2

What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create their
characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is there
another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an insane
amount of potions of healing in.

I am DMing for three others (mabye four soon) and this is our first time
playing Birthright together. I have very little AD&D experience, seven
months, and the whole time I have been playing regular AD&D with a DM who is
also very inexperinced between 10 months and one and 1/2 years, I don’t know.
He dosn’t know how to DM very well, as far as the rules go. One of the other
people I play with is slightly weird but there are less than 12 people in my
town who play AD&D. Oh, by the way I’m in seventh grade, 13, and I play with
another seventh grade, an eigth grader (very immature for his age), a fourth
grader ( very mature for his age). I like elves and despize dwarves. And
don’t care for gnomes or halflings. My favorite class is the Ranger.
Followed by fighter and thief and mage.

3

At 08:24 PM 2/13/98 EST, (ANOLESEN@aol.com)wrote:
>
>What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create
their
>characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is there
>another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
>enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an insane
>amount of potions of healing in.
>

In BR a Regent PC is entitled to 10 additional bonus HPs when they are
created. When you talk non-Regents that is up to the DM. I have always
granted my PCs 3 additional HPs when they start. I consider these “body
points”, those (“body points”) represent the PCs true physical HPs. All
additional HPs are a reflection of their ability to avoid damage, and
general stamina in battle (this gets rid of the rather foolish image of a
Fighter carrying on in battle with half a dozen or more arrows and daggers
sticking out of him). In essence all hits up to those last 3 “body points”
just cause minor wounds (scratches, bruises, cracked ribs, etc.) and
exhaustion. But as the PC starts suffering those last 3 points of damage
they start taking real damage (dagger in the gut, arrow in the chest,
broken bones, etc.). Its not a perfect system but as I said it makes AD&D
style combat a little easier to visualize, and the 3 HPs give low-level PCs
a good break at the beginning of their careers.

Sepsis, richt@metrolink.net (ICQ:3777956)

“War is a matter of vital importance to the State;
the province of life or death;
the road to survival or ruin.
It is mandatory that it be thoroughly studied.”
-Sun Tzu,(The Art of War)-

BR Netbook: http://webpages.metrolink.net/~veleda/birth.html

4

In a message dated 98-02-13 20:58:16 EST, you write:

>

I’ve run campaigns for small parties for a long time. We do a couple of
things to make sure everybody has a chance of surviving the first few
adventures: first, we start every new character off with 10,000 XPs. They can
“spend” those XPs however they want. This puts everyone at around 3rd or 4th
level to start. Second, since they have to roll 3 or 4 hit dice, we assume
that the first hit die is an automatic maximum. in other words, a brand new
4th level fighter would get 10 hp + 3d10 hp to start with, plus any CON bonus
he is entitled to. This seems to work well for us.

Kevin M.

5

> What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create
> their
> characters?
>
I think permanent “bonus” Hit Dice get into trouble. Like Kevin M., in
campaigns I’ve been in it was a usual practice to give people their “max”
at 1st level. still, a mage or thief can be axed with one lucky blow even
so. This is Birthright, though; if the characters are Regents, they all
automatically get a bonus +10 HP. Fudging is good early on. Don’t let the
rolls of the dice determine the fate of the characters (however, if they’re
rash and stupid, well shrug. . .have them roll up a new one, like Dave &
Bob from KoDT). Giving them a Starting level like Kevin M. suggests can be
fine. I always think the early, low-level adventures are a big aid in
determining the direction of the group & the personality of the characters,
though.
>
> I’ve run campaigns for small parties for a long time. We do a couple of
> things to make sure everybody has a chance of surviving the first few
> adventures: first, we start every new character off with 10,000 XPs.
They can
> “spend” those XPs however they want. This puts everyone at around 3rd or
4th
> level to start. Second, since they have to roll 3 or 4 hit dice, we
assume
> that the first hit die is an automatic maximum. in other words, a brand
new
> 4th level fighter would get 10 hp + 3d10 hp to start with, plus any CON
bonus
> he is entitled to. This seems to work well for us.
>
> Kevin M.
>> To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@mpgn.com with the
line
> ‘unsubscribe birthright’ as the body of the message.

6

On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Noah Zerbe wrote:

> I DM for a small group–only 2-3 players. To compensate, I always allow
> my players to start with max hitpoints at first level. That way, they can
> handle a bit more, but at higher levels an extra 2-5 hps don’t really
> matter.
>
> I’d like to know what house rules others use for small Birthright
> campaigns.

Use a different game system :wink:

"If day cycle was a musical style, mine
would be jazz"

Rasmus Juul Wagner
Technical University of Denmark
c958650@student.dtu.dk
7

Hiya everyone.

What I do is start PC's with max HP at level one.  Then I also have

minimums for level 2 and 3 (8 hp min at lvl 2 and 10 hp min at level 3).
This seems to work just fine.

Denakhan the Arch-Mage.

8

On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Noah Zerbe wrote:

> I’d like to know what house rules others use for small Birthright
> campaigns. As for me, I give my mages bonus spells for high intelligence,
> based on the cleric’s wisdom bonuses. We contemplated using spell points
> (1 point per spell per level), and actually used it for mages for a while.
> We decided that it would make clerics simple healing machines, so the
> players and I decided against it. We used it for mages in the last
> campaign, but not this one. We are using the bonus spells instead.

One of the cheif strengths of wizards is the number of proficiencies they
are allowed, particularly if you allow them to spend their initial
“language” slots earned from INT on proficiencies, which many DMs do.
After all, they have spent much of their lives studying, and so should
know some mundane things along with all their arcane knowledge. They might
have only one spell (or two if they’re specialists), but first level
wizards should be able to use their knowledge of things like ancient
history, astrology, herbalism, and spellcraft, as well as things like
Architecture (“Hm, if this temple is constructed the way most early
temples of Anduiras were, there should be a small Vigil Room hidden off to
the side here.”), Fantastic Beast Lore (“Look here. See the barbs on the
tips of these feathers? We shall have to be careful of stirges in these
woods at night.”), Anatomy (“My lord, his body may be frozen, but it was
not the cold that killed him. Here at the back of his head, covered by
hair, hides the wound that killed him. A short jab with a thin knife, but
enough to sever his spinal chord and enter the brain, virtually
undetectible.”), Cartography (“Interesting. This map shows the north road,
but not the south one, and yet Greyspire Tower is plainly laid out. That
must mean that the Waystation to the north is the elder, for all that it
is still being used, and the ruins to the south the younger. Our opponents
are searching the wrong Waystation!”), and Alchemy (“Wait, a Potion of
Healing should not be green, the presence of aqua regia should give it a
blueish or golden tint. It may be tainted, or mislabelled.”).

Mark VanderMeulen
vander+@pitt.edu

9
  • -----Original Message-----
    From: Denakhan
    To: birthright@MPGN.COM
    Date: Saturday, February 14, 1998 6:14 AM
    Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - PC Hit Points and Me.

>Hiya everyone.
>
> What I do is start PC’s with max HP at level one. Then I also have
>minimums for level 2 and 3 (8 hp min at lvl 2 and 10 hp min at level 3).
>This seems to work just fine.

What I do is give everyone their Con in HP for first level, plus the
die roll, but no bonuses. Then as normal.

10

> are searching the wrong Waystation!"), and Alchemy (“Wait, a Potion of
> Healing should not be green, the presence of aqua regia should give it a
> blueish or golden tint. It may be tainted, or mislabelled.”).
Hehe..this is completely irrelevant, but I thought it was kinda funny..for
those who didn’t know, aqua regia (mentioned above) would be pretty brutal
in a healing potion..it is an EXTREMELY corrosive acid..a combination of
sulphuric and hydrochloric acids :slight_smile:

Sean

11
  • -----Original Message-----
    From: David Sean Brown
    To: birthright@MPGN.COM
    Date: Saturday, February 14, 1998 7:01 AM
    Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - PC Hit Points and Me.

>Hehe..this is completely irrelevant, but I thought it was kinda funny..for
>those who didn’t know, aqua regia (mentioned above) would be pretty brutal
>in a healing potion..it is an EXTREMELY corrosive acid..a combination of
>sulphuric and hydrochloric acids :slight_smile:

Well, actually it’s 3/4 Hydrochloric Acid, and 1/4 Nitric Acid, not
Sulfuric,
which has been known as Oil of Vitriol.. Not that you’d want any of them
to drink…

12

> What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create
>their
> characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is
there
> another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
> enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an
insane
> amount of potions of healing in.

What we do is this.
At first level, everyone gets maximum hit points. Up until level three, each
player rolls his dice 5 times instead of 1 to see how many hit points he
gets. This means that they have a much greater chance to actually reach
their maximum for that level (especially say, mages who roll 1d4). Thus, PCs
have sufficient HP to get them through most of the stuff aimed at their
level after, say lvl2 or 3.

13

On Fri, 13 Feb 1998 ANOLESEN@aol.com wrote:
> What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create their
> characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is there
> another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still get
> enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an insane
> amount of potions of healing in.

Sure. It’s not too difficult. The major things to worry about especially
at first level are - a) tailor the level of threat to their abilities -
no Orogs or Cerilian Dragons or Wild Boars, stick with small goblins and
human men at arms until you get an idea of how competant they are, and
how well they work together; b) Don’t cut off their lines of retreat -
always allow them a way to get out of their current situation, so they
don’t have to fight; c) encourage them to seek non-violent solutions to
their problems.

Small groups aren’t usually a problem - they allow for more roleplaying
and give each player more DM time. I’m not convinced by the dogma that
says that every AD&D party needs a Fighter, a Mage, a Thief and a
Priest. Just make sure that you don’t overwhelm them with too many
opponants.

> I am DMing for three others (mabye four soon) and this is our first time
> playing Birthright together. I have very little AD&D experience, seven
> months, and the whole time I have been playing regular AD&D with a DM who is
> also very inexperinced between 10 months and one and 1/2 years, I don’t know.
> He dosn’t know how to DM very well, as far as the rules go.

Knowing the rules is less important than an ability to portray good NPCs
and to keep the game interesting (although it certainly doesn’t hurt).

> One of the other
> people I play with is slightly weird

In my experience most roleplayers are at least slightly wierd.

neil

14

On Fri, 13 Feb 1998, Sepsis wrote:
> In BR a Regent PC is entitled to 10 additional bonus HPs when they are
> created. When you talk non-Regents that is up to the DM. I have always
> granted my PCs 3 additional HPs when they start.
> Its not a perfect system but as I said it makes AD&D
> style combat a little easier to visualize, and the 3 HPs give low-level PCs
> a good break at the beginning of their careers.

By 'eck! Young people today. No sense of danger. Why when I
was nobbut a lad we used to count ourselves lucky if we had even a
single hitpoint at first level. My first character had a con of six
and rolled a one on his first hitdice. And then t’pit owner would send
us down the mine with nowt but our 'ands to dig coal out t’ground, and
we’d count ourselves lucky if he gave us a stale crust and water for our
tea…

:slight_smile:

neil

15

On Sat, 14 Feb 1998, Noah Zerbe wrote:
> I DM for a small group–only 2-3 players. To compensate, I always allow
> my players to start with max hitpoints at first level. That way, they can
> handle a bit more, but at higher levels an extra 2-5 hps don’t really
> matter.

I think at low level, as long as you use the Death’s Door rules, and the
players actually cover each other, the fear is good for the players. It
makes them concerned for their characters, and actually consider each
fight before they get into it.

> I’d like to know what house rules others use for small Birthright
> campaigns. As for me, I give my mages bonus spells for high intelligence,
> based on the cleric’s wisdom bonuses. We contemplated using spell points
> (1 point per spell per level), and actually used it for mages for a while.
> We decided that it would make clerics simple healing machines, so the
> players and I decided against it. We used it for mages in the last
> campaign, but not this one. We are using the bonus spells instead.

I like the system in Spells and Magic. Worth a look if you can get hold
of it.

neil

16

> What do you think of giving PCs an extra Hit die or two when they create
their
> characters? The group has only three PCs, two theives and a mage. Is
there
> another way to keep them alive durring their first adventure and still
get
> enough XP to be considered worthwile? That is, apart for putting an
insane
> amount of potions of healing in.

Any PC is worthwhile, even the ones with low stats. I read an article in
Dragon Magazine (an excellent resource if you and your friends don’t
allready use it) by one editor (Roger Moore?) who spoke of a PC whose
highest stat was a 9. He commented that it was the funnest character in a
long time, and she lasted till something like 13th level.

As far as keeping them alive… I’m playing 1st edition AD&D right now on
the “Temple of Elemental Evil” (The BEST module I’ve EVER played!!!
Can’t pump this one enough!!!) and we have hit the outer stronghold a total
of seven times now, each time having to head back to town to recover from
injuries. You just have to play it smart and remember that running is
allways an option… unless you are a cavalier!

My favorite class is also the ranger (a kindred spirit :slight_smile: though they tend
to be tougher in 1st edition.

The extra hit dice is not really a good idea as you will find that it
unbalances the game over time. If you are playing birthright, remember
that regents have 10 extra hit points as long as they rule. Secondly, in
EVERY game I’ve played, we allow the PCs to start with maximum hit points.
A warrior 10hp, priest 8hp, rogue 6hp, and wizard 4hp. Add in CON Hit
Point Adjustment and go to it.

Good gaming!

Tim Nutting.

17

My players get max hit points at first level and no less then half the
max possbile die role thereafter. The range for fighters becomes 5-10,
with an average hp/level of 6.5 instead of the 5.5 with conventional
rolling and the strange result of occasionally rolling “1”, which is
disapponting anytime, and can realy hurt low level characters.

Kenneth Gauck
c558382@showme.missouri.edu

18

You should not give extra Hit Dice to starting players, for one thing it takes
away from the risk factor, and roleplaying possibilities. What I do is that
ALL NEWLY ROLLED Player Characters begin play with maximum hit points, this
cuts down on premature death without unbalancing your game. Also, with the
type of characters your players are playing you and they would probably enjoy
sessions with less action & combat, and more mentally challenging as well as
Morals challenging adventures. How about after a night of drunken revelry
one of the players wakes up next to the corpse of a servant of the opposite
sex. Did the PC do it, or was he set up? Could a rival regent/scion have
done it.

Have fun and if they don’t like the new style of GMing then go back to killing
them.