D&D 4E HP: How do you determine HP in 4th edition?

[Aluvial]

I am having trouble figuring out HP.

At 1st level, is it your class number + your constitution modifier or your con score?

Do you add any con bonuses when you level?

and this is the biggest...

Am I to understand that you don't roll for HP each level???? What!??

Aluvial

 

[ender_wiggin]

Class # + con SCORE

No con dependence, no die dependence in subsequent level ups.

Pro stuff.

 

[Thasmodious]

At 1st, your HP = # based on your class + your Constitution score

Healing surges/day = # based on class + con mod

You gain a static number of HP based on class when you level.

If you raise your CON, you increase your HPs by that number, if you raise it to a new even number, you gain another healing surge.

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It is at first level Class Number + Con Score.

You add 1 to HP if you increased your Con Score that Level.

You don't add Con Mod when you gain HP.

You don't roll for HP. (Though you can always houserule that).

 

[Surgoshan]

Am I to understand that you don't roll for HP each level???? What!??

Aluvial

It makes characters too swingy. I've had poor luck on HP rolls before and ended up with a third level dwarven fighter with 13 HP. It made him useless as a meat shield; the bard was filling that role. By making it a static increase, you're guaranteed characters of a certain range of HP at a certain level. All first level fighters will have 25-33 HP. All 30th level fighters will have 199-215 HP. (I assumed a minimum Con of 10... what exactly is a single negative healing surge? Once per encounter you can voluntarily die?)

Basically, it means that an assumption of a certain level character having roughly a certain HP was perfectly valid and made balancing parties and designing monsters easier. To take things to the extremes, as I did above, a twentieth level character could have 20 HP in 3.5 (okay, no he couldn't; he'd never survive, but still) or 320 HP, depending on his Con and how he rolled*.

But as has been said, rolling HP can be houseruled back in.


* Check my math: d10 for HP and a con of 22 means a max of 16 per level, right?

 

[Sojorn]

(I assumed a minimum Con of 10... what exactly is a single negative healing surge? Once per encounter you can voluntarily die?)

There's a bit of confusion here.

Healing Surges are a daily resource. You cannot spend them directly any more than you can spend HP. A fighter has a base of... 9 I think? A 8 con fighter would have 8 healing surges at the start of each day.

Second Wind is a once an encounter power that ALL heroes/PCs get. It lets you spend a healing surge and get back 25% of your max HP as a standard action once an encounter.