D&D 5E [Hit Points] What method do you use to determine HP after level 1?

[Oofta]

Do I sense a bias in the poll or did the OP just forget "average" exists?

Because I've used average for a few editions now, I've never cared for randomness when it comes to character build. I want to know what my character is going to be, not leave it up to the luck of the dice. There's plenty of room for randomness when it comes to resolving uncertain things; what my characters base HP are shouldn't be uncertain.

 

[Fanaelialae]

My favorite method is something a friend came up with. The DM and player both roll, taking the higher roll. If both roll the same number, the roll cascades and you roll against with a stepped down die (d8 > d6), adding the result to the previous roll.

 

[Stalker0]

Average every level, and that is average rounded up….aka d8 = 5

 

[OptionalRule]

I let my party decide between taking the average or rolling (reroll 1s) but they all have to use the same method and they have to stick with it throughout the campaign. The utility of this for me as a DM is that the players go through a very early exercise (before even session zero) of talking together and making decisions. The actual method choices are a bit of a red herring but it makes them feel some kind of way and lets them talk so I'm good with it.

 

[Marc_C]

Do I sense a bias in the poll or did the OP just forget "average" exists?

Because I've used average for a few editions now, I've never cared for randomness when it comes to character build. I want to know what my character is going to be, not leave it up to the luck of the dice. There's plenty of room for randomness when it comes to resolving uncertain things; what my characters base HP are shouldn't be uncertain.

I've added two choices to the poll.

 

[aco175]

We roll, but get to take the average rounded down if they roll low. On a d8 you would get 4 instead of 5 if you roll 1-2-3-4. Slightly more penalizing if you did not just take average, but also more HP all around unless you always roll low.

 

[Charlaquin]

After a brilliant suggestion in a thread last week, we have adopted: "You can roll, or take the class average. You must decide before you roll. If you roll, you must reroll 1s. You may make a different decision every level."

Yup, this is what I’ll probably be doing from now on, now that I know rerolling ones makes the average the same as the fixed value.

 

[Blue]

Depends on game. In one game I'm in that used to allow rolling, every character from a particular player had truly amazing HPs. Such as the rogue with more than the tank. That group has gone pure average.

 

[ccs]

Average or roll, your choice each lv.
Declare wich your going to take & roll any dice with the group.
There is no option for re-rolling a low result. Afterall, you had the option to avoid that potential & still chose to gamble on getting a higher result... If you're not OK with getting a low roll? Then don't choose to roll.

 

[Helpful NPC Thom]

Personally, I like rolling for HP, but only in an old school sense. More often than not, I give everyone average HP because it reduces problems on both side of the equation: massive HP bloat (of which 5e has enough already) or underwhelming HP numbers (which feels "unfair" to players).