Jan 15, 2016 by [ "James R. Miller"
]
Categories:
rpgs
Tags:
dnd
5e
for-new-players
My PBP party recently leveled up to level 2 and many haven’t played RPGs before. They had a lot of questions about hit dice. (Not just from Frank). Read on for a brief overview of hit dice in DND 5E.
Hit dice represent a PC’s resource regarding hit points. At each level, a PC receives one hit die per level. The size of the individual die corresponds to the PC’s class. For example, each hit dice per level for a Fighter is a d10, while a Wizard’s hit dice per level is only a d6.
Two things:
They are rolled at level 2 and later levels to determine hit points (alternately, you can take the average roll as indicated in the rules) as you gain levels. For example, a Wizard may roll a 1d6 at level-up, or a Wizard may choose to take the average roll which is a 4; and
They are a resource that may be rolled during short rests. One half of your total hit dice are replenished upon completion of along rest, with a minimum of one hit dice replenished. For example, assume a Level 2 Fighter has only 1 hitpoint remaining out of his total of 15. He decides to roll both of hitdice to see if he can get some healing out of his short rest. He rolls 2d10 and gets a total result of 11. He adds the 11 to his 1 hit point and now he was twelve total hitpoints. He then marks his character sheet to show he has no more hit dice remaining. Finally, at his next long rest, he will regain only 1 of the hit dice that were spent. If he does not spend the one the next adventuring day, he will regain his second hit die after completion of another long rest.
Why yes, yes I did! This is because (1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6) / 6 = 3.5.
Normally DND instructs us to round down instead of up. However, we round up
when it comes to hit dice averages.
Yes, your Constitution score’s modifier (CON mod). You get to add your CON mod
once at each level you have. For example, a Level 5 fighter that is taking
averages instead of rolling each level would have a base amount of hit points
equal to 10 + 6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 34 base hit points before adding in his CON mod.
Let’s see how the various CON mods play into effect:
| Levels of Fighter | +0 (10-11) | +1 (12-13) | +2 (14-15) | +3 (16-17) | +4 (18-19) | +5 (20-21) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
| 2 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 3 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 5 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Totals | 30 | 35 | 40 | 45 | 50 | 55 |
This lets you see how important a high CON score will be for your total amount of hitpoints. By level five, each +1 to CON is worth 5 hit points. So a Fighter with a 10 CON will have 15 fewer hitpoints than a fighter with 16 CON by level 5. Those extra hit points may be the difference between life and death.
Further, always keep CON in mind when it comes to the levels that your class gets to pick ability score increases. When your CON mod increases, you get to recalculate your CON mod for each level! It may make sense to give yourself a big hit point boost by going up a CON mod when making an ability-score increase choice. Conversely, losing CON makes your hit point boost decrease. This is why magic and effects that permanently reduce CON are so devastating to a PC. In other words, never make your CON less than 10.
If you extend this chart out to level 20, you can think that each +1 in CON mod (note, I said in the modifier, not +1 to the ability score), is worth the number of levels the PC has. This makes magical items that increase your CON score above and beyond the cap of 20 amazing for increasing your hit point maximum.
Hope that helps. Hit me up on twitter or email with any other questions.