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Post by leicamaster on Dec 31, 2011 17:04:35 GMT -6
I just finished reading Men & Magic and I am still confused on what HD really is. Is it HP? What do they mean by "hit dice of up to 2+1" when they are talking about spells?'  Please help a new OD&D DM. |
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Post by Deleted on Dec 31, 2011 17:41:08 GMT -6
It is a bit confusing, sort of like level and how it stands for degree of challenge, power of a spell, or experience of a player-character.
Hit dice generally refers to level of power of a creature, but is also use to reference how many hit points a monster or PC should have.
A hint regarding the last point of your question can be found on page 18 of M&M, in which a troll is referred to as a seventh level monster "as it has over 6 hit dice" (note: 6+3 to be specific).
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Post by leicamaster on Dec 31, 2011 17:51:23 GMT -6
Kind of like SDC in Palladium? What I don't understand is just the whole thing of "6+3". Why cant they just say 9?
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Post by aldarron on Dec 31, 2011 17:59:30 GMT -6
Heh. The trouble is Hit Dice meant different things at different times during OD&D's development. It confuses everybody, especially the less than clear manner in which Gygax often wrote.
But, most of the time, HD means the number of six sided dice rolled to get a creatures hit points. A HD of 2+1 creature has (1-6) + (1-6) +1 Hit Points. Now to confuse things more, any creature with a "+" is considered to be 1 "level" higher. So, a 2 HD monster is a second level monster, but a 2HD +1 is actually considered a third level monster. This "level" business only really matters when calculating experience points so is not something to get too confused over. The core thing to remember is HD are the dice to determine HP and thus give a measure of the toughness of the creature.
However, every once in a great while in OD&D an old meaning of HD creeps in where it actually means the number of dice to roll for damage when a hit is scored (that's why the term was originally called "hit" dice in Dave Arneson's games). You won't see that much, but it doesn't hurt to keep it in the back of your mind.
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Post by aldarron on Dec 31, 2011 18:13:34 GMT -6
Kind of like SDC in Palladium? What I don't understand is just the whole thing of "6+3". Why cant they just say 9? no, no; the + is added pips, not added dice. So lets say 6 rolls of a d6 gives a score of 21 (on average), plus 3 = 24. 9d6 on the other hand might give a roll of about 32 (on average). |
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Post by Finarvyn on Dec 31, 2011 18:18:16 GMT -6
Kind of like SDC in Palladium? What I don't understand is just the whole thing of "6+3". Why cant they just say 9? Others have answered the question, but maybe this makes more sense. 6+3 HD = 6d6 + 3 = d6 + d6 + d6 + d6 + d6 + d6 +3 |
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Post by leicamaster on Dec 31, 2011 20:48:39 GMT -6
Kind of like SDC in Palladium? What I don't understand is just the whole thing of "6+3". Why cant they just say 9? no, no; the + is added pips, not added dice. So lets say 6 rolls of a d6 gives a score of 21 (on average), plus 3 = 24. 9d6 on the other hand might give a roll of about 32 (on average). Thank you for clarifying this! I finished reading the box and I understand the system more, but I might attempt to get a copy of the Holmes book in order to get a better grip on the system. |
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Post by Stormcrow on Jan 1, 2012 1:31:01 GMT -6
This "level" business only really matters when calculating experience points so is not something to get too confused over. It's also used to judge how many monsters to put in a particular level of a dungeon. They also determine which column the monster attacks on, which is the real reason why monsters with "plus hit-dice" count as a level higher. The term "hit dice" still applies, because they determine the number of "hits" (i.e., hit points) you can take. |
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Please help a new OD&D DM.
