Hit Points

As with many aspects of the world of Al’Akwannon hit points reflect a number of things heroic about a character. In it’s most basic form, hit points reflect how much damage a character can take before dying, but, does it really make sense? Why would a stout bartender at a rough and tumble bar quayside have a mere five hit points, while some 4th^ level little hobbit rogue PC has twenty-five? Can he really take five times as much punishment? Certainly not

It is important to realize that most every mortal creature has a real hit point base of about half their CON, giving the average zero level Joe on the street around 3 to 6 hit points. This reflects realism well enough, as most any weapon can kill or grievously injure most anyone. Any drunk schmuck can take a tumble down some stairs and break his neck, an accidental bumble with a broken window can cut someone’s carotid artery and kill them in minutes, etc. What about our 4^th level rogue, however? Well beyond that base of “real” hit points, the rest is meant to reflect training, durability, luck and a host of other things tied to each individual PC’s character concept. At the same time, the DM must realize that there are certain things that no amount of training, luck or anything else will help with (i.e. falling hundreds of feet from midair, being crushed under tons of rock, etc.) and in those situations, HP should be irrelevant

That said, PCs are heroes and they should have far more hit points than NPCs, shouldn’t end up getting killed by pure dumb luck (or unluck) and generally shouldn’t be getting ones or twos on hit die (HD) rolls. At first level, all characters gain the maximum hit points for their class. Below are rules on hit points for characters beyond first level

Warriors

Warriors are the tanks of the fantasy realm and via whatever concept they will always have more hit points than lesser combat classes. Warriors gain a base d10 for hit points (d12 if the appropriate ability is chosen) and should never gain less than half on a die roll (no matter what, for a d10, any roll below a five is adjusted to become a five.) Additionally, a warrior’s constitution factors heavily into hit die rolls (in addition to giving a fitness bonus if high enough!) A warrior with 11-13 CON gains minimum 60%, 14-16 CON gains minimum 70%, 17-19 CON minimum 80% and 20+ CON minimum 90%

Rogues and Priests

Rogues and Priests are the middle of the road and gain a base d8 for hit points (priests may gain a d10 with the appropriate ability.) Rogues and Priests should never get less than a three on a die roll (as with a warrior, rolls of one or two are simply adjusted to three not re-rolled.) Additionally constitution scores have the following effects on priests and rogues (note that the maximum benefit a priest or rogue can gain from fitness is +2.) A rogue or priest with 13-14 CON gains a minimum of 50%, 15-16 CON gains a minimum 60% and 17+ CON minimum 70%

Wizards

Wizards are not generally meant for melee and thus gain only a d4 hit points (d6 if the battle mage ability is selected.) Generally wizards find themselves able to dish out a lot of damage via magic but should they find themselves in combat will generally be whittled down quickly as they should be. Wizards are the only class for which a roll of one is acceptable, however even wizards with high constitution are rewarded (though, as with rogues and priests, they cannot gain more than a +2 from their fitness sub-stat.) A wizard with 15-16 CON gains a minimum of 50% on die rolls while those with 17+ CON gain a minimum of 65% (round up.)

Multi-Classing

Multi-class characters have a hybrid of their class hit points and hit dice. As with all classes, multi-class characters start with maximum hit points. Take the maximum for all classes, add them together then divide by the number of classes. Thus for a warrior/wizard d10+d4 maximum is 14, divided by two classes equals 7 hit points. For a warrior/rogue/wizard d10+d8+d4 maximum is 22, divided by three classes is 7.33 and this rounds down to 7 hit points. For all rounding .5 and above rounds to the next highest number while .49 and below rounds down

For each level above first, the appropriate mechanic above applies, including CON adjustments as normal. The resulting amount is divided by the number of classes and added to the current total. Fitness bonuses only apply to the highest level of class with the exception of warrior bonuses. If a multi-class warrior has a Fitness bonus beyond +2, the remainder of that bonus applies each time the character levels in the warrior class.

Example: Quintus is a 7th^ level wizard and a 4th^ level warrior with a CON of 14 and a Fitness of 16. His 1st^ level HP total was d10+4 divided by two equaling 7 Hit Points (HP) With his CON, the least he can get on a warrior HD is 7 and the least he can get on a wizard HD is 1. He has 28 HP from die rolls, plus 7 levels times 2 HP/level for Fitness bonus from wizard, his highest level class. From warrior he should get a +3 Fitness bonus each level, but since he’s already gained 2HP/level from wizard, he is only owed an additional HP/warrior level. As a 4th^ level warrior, that’s +4. Thus his HP total is 28+14+4 equals 46 HP