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Post by geoffrey on Oct 14, 2011 20:35:31 GMT -6
Moldvay's Basic D&D rulebook from 1981 gives 0-level humans 1-4 hit points.
Does anyone know if this amount of hp for normal men has roots that extend earlier than 1981? Or did Moldvay invent this entirely on his own?
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Post by talysman on Oct 14, 2011 21:18:59 GMT -6
I have no documentation and haven't even read Moldvay, but I would guess it's because normal men get the lowest hit die being used. In OD&D, hirelings and first level clerics and magic-users get 1d6, versus the fighter with the extra +1 at first level; so, fighters have more hit points than normal men. When you switch to the d4/d6/d8 scheme, thieves and magic-users have a d4; if normal men had more than 1d4, that means that a character could potentially start with 5 or 6 hit points, then drop to 4 because they started studying magic or thievery.
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Post by snorri on Dec 11, 2011 5:57:18 GMT -6
I read Moldvay extensively - and I guess Talysman statement is correct. It's also a simplier version than AD&D Dmg, where you have to find a table somewhere in the book and search which category is your normal man. So, I guess it's "Moldvay's sense of efficient rule".
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Post by Zenopus on Dec 11, 2011 9:45:56 GMT -6
It's not from Holmes. Holmes mentions "Normal Men" in the Saving Throw and Combat Tables (these may have been added by TSR since they differ from OD&D) but doesn't otherwise describe them in the main body of the rules. Bandits have 1 HD (d8), so they would be considered either 1st level fighters or 1 HD monsters. However, in the Sample Dungeon the pirates are described as "normal men (1 6-sided hit die)", so Holmes stuck with the d6 HD from OD&D.
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