HP: where does it say...?

[oldkat]

There has been a lot of discussion on this subject on other forums of late, and if there is an extensively posted thread on the matter here please mention it, and the link.

After perusing the "accumulation" of HP as described in M&M on p.18, I have come to my own conclusion on the matter:

Ignoring, if you will, however Mr. G. or Mr. A. personally played, as opposed to what is written, the described "accumulation" seems (IMO) to simply illustrate how gained HD after level 1 increase one's HP; accumulated, because of additional dice.

I cannot find a written passage that confirms such HP are static, being derived once the level is gained and set at that amount until further gains increase HP in "set" increments according to the die roll when the HD is gained. Nor a passage that contradicts that HP are not to be rerolled when each adventure begins; example, upon reaching L5 the FM rolls a d6 and adds this figure to the "set" figure previously attained, or he rerolls 5d6+1 upon doing so, and at the beginning of each adventure.

In the example on p.18, the Super Hero is shown as rolling 8 dice +2. The wording in this section is poorly, for we know a SH does not roll 8 dice and tally them up; he rolls 1 per level that "accumulates"--or what, exactly, is the example supposed to be showing us? (rhet.)

The point being, that I have not found anything in the written word that states emphatically one paradigm over the other. (I will be embarrassed as hell if someone throws a quote up here, but I'll accept the written word any day.)

Personally, I like the idea of characters rerolling before every adventure--even if it means the result is less than they had during the previous one--because I like the idea of luck, fate, the gods, whatever, all coming into play and affecting them.

Now let's hear your thoughts.

[geoffrey]

Yep. I did that (only more so) with the optional dice conventions in Carcosa: Hit points are re-rolled before every combat!

Or at the start of each new day. Or at the beginning of each new adventure. Or at the start of each new level. Or whatever. As you mentioned, the OD&D text doesn't specify when hit points are to be re-rolled.

Even as a player I prefer to re-roll often. That way if your 5 HD character has a measly 7 hit points, you know that you aren't stuck with it for long.

[talysman]

We've covered this before. I've noted that a 9th level Lord has 9+3 hit dice, while a 10th level Lord has 10+1. That means a player rolling all 6s on hit dice should *drop* 2 points when reaching 10th level. Easier to do this as some kind of reroll of all hit dice.

I went half way and give players an option to reroll all hit dice at the start of every adventure, which also erases all damage. But I don't require it. The player who took me up on that unfortunately rolled a 1 (and he had low Con,) so that didn't work out well for him.

[Falconer]

Worth reading:

odd74.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=gotopost&board=menmagic&thread=419&post=6895

I adopted this since it was first proposed by Zulgyan, and haven’t looked back.

[oldkat]

Great link, Fal--thanks.
I also noticed this took place in 2007; there's been no talk of this in the interim?