In D20 games, how does your group handle increasing HP when characters level up?
Looking back over the different groups I've been in, there have been four main ways:

• You roll your hit die and add it to your previous total.
• As above, but if the roll sucks, you can roll again.
• You roll and the GM rolls, and you can pick the best.
• No rolling, just use the max of the hit die.

I'd say #2 and #4 has been the most popular. #3 is my favorite.

How about you?

Max HP possible at first level.
Sometimes I have 2nd level be the best of two rolls.
After that, 1 dice roll per level. The character should be well ahead of the average at that point.

Though Starfinder has me thinking about having just a set number per level.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1106689Max HP possible at first level.

Right, I should have mentioned that all of the four different ways did that.

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1106689Though Starfinder has me thinking about having just a set number per level.

Does it use the average of the hit die?

Max first level.  After that a roll of 1 or 2 becomes a 3.

Reroll all your hit dice in whatever class you leveled up in. Take the new roll if it exceeds your current hit points. You can have the PCs start with max hit points, or even CON hit points and it won't affect their total when they are high level.

Rerollling all of them tends to result in a slightly higher than average total over the course of the character's career. A few levels of bad rolls can be wiped out with one good roll.

I use the average on the die rounded up. I don't like the wizard getting lucky and having more HP than the barbarian.

Quote from: Aglondir;1106691Does it use the average of the hit die?

It actually has a set number instead of dice. For example, the Vesk race start with 6 hit points, the Soldier class gets 7 hit points per level. So a 1st level Vesk Soldier would have 13 hit points.

*Edit, Con affects stamina, not hit points.

For D&D I use the same method as hedgehobbit. Max* hp at level 1. Reroll all hp every level, take the new result if higher.

*If playing ad&d, Rangers start with 8 + d8 and monks get 4 + d4. As I recall, the general consensus on Dragonsfoor when I discussed this years ago was that this is wildly unfair to Rangers and Monks, but I'm not seeing it.

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1106697I use the average on the die rounded up. I don't like the wizard getting lucky and having more HP than the barbarian.

I also do this. In my experience, players aren't excited to roll their hit die - but more often just dislike rolling low.

Also, using the average makes it easy to determine what a character's hit points should be. I find that mistakes in character leveling are common, so it's nice to be able to take a character and tell if they're correct.

Pre-3e HP was usually just rolled each level. 2e introduced some optional methods. Think Unearthed Arcana did for AD&D as well.
Post 2e things have bounced around a it. In 3 and 5e you start with max HP and then have players roll for HP each level there after Additionally in 5e the DM can choose the optional use of an average each level.)
4e starts the PC off with alot of HP and then you gain a set amount each level. example the cleric, ranger, rogue, warlock and warlord starts with 12 and gains 5 per level. The fighter and paladin starts with 15 and gains 6 per level. The wizard starts with 10 and gains 4 per level.

Personally for 5e I gave the players the option of either taking the average of their HD roll, or rolling and taking their chances.

Quote from: Aglondir;1106688In D20 games, how does your group handle increasing HP when characters level up?
Looking back over the different groups I've been in, there have been four main ways:

• You roll your hit die and add it to your previous total.
• As above, but if the roll sucks, you can roll again.
• You roll and the GM rolls, and you can pick the best.
• No rolling, just use the max of the hit die.

I'd say #2 and #4 has been the most popular. #3 is my favorite.

How about you?

For 5e D&D I use the recommended system - take the high average, or roll if you're feeling lucky.
For 1e-3e/PF I generally used roll, but you always have at least the average total hp for your level.

#1, or #4.

Usually #4 at first level, then #1 at each level after first.

Quote from: Charon's Little Helper;1106697I use the average on the die rounded up. I don't like the wizard getting lucky and having more HP than the barbarian.

We've always used a variant of this: you keep rolling until you get in the top half of your die range. So everyone has above average hp, but higher HD classes most likely have higher totals.

Quote from: jhkim;1106716I also do this. In my experience, players aren't excited to roll their hit die - but more often just dislike rolling low.

Also, using the average makes it easy to determine what a character's hit points should be. I find that mistakes in character leveling are common, so it's nice to be able to take a character and tell if they're correct.

I use the same process for the same reasons.  I've got of new players that are borderline casual.  Occasionally one will level and forget to add hit points at all.