PC Hit Points and Me.

[E Gray]

- -----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 :)


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...

[gandalf]

> 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.

[Neil Barnes]

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

[Neil Barnes]

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...

:)

neil

[Neil Barnes]

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

[Tim Nutting]

> 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 :) 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.

[c558382@showme.missouri.]

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

[DavTyr@aol.co]

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.