Blanks
2008-05-22, 11:32 AM
There was a thread some time ago, about different houserules. Among them were some regarding HP and how to roll them. That got me thinking (and calculating).
So mostly people seems to want to achieve this:
Limit the possibility of getting stuck with almost no HP due to bad rolls.
Keep the average HP each class gets, but perhaps raising it a little bit.
Not change the difference between the classes.
So I made a spreadsheet and ran through some of the house rules.
I looked at the following:
1 RAW (1 die pr. level, no modifications)
2 As RAW, but you may reroll once.
3 As 2, but you use a die one size smaller (d12 becomes d10 and so forth)
4 As RAW, but there is a minimum of what you can roll
5 As RAW, but everyone gets a fixed bonus pr. level (i chose 2 for my calculation)
Everywhere I used this principle:
Players are rational agents who maximize HP (IE they understand the math and are only concerned with maximizing HP).
Max HP at first level.
No difference among the classes in Con score. THIS IS NOT A BUILD THREAD!
Here is what i found:
Rule 1 (RAW) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =136
D10 =115
D8 =94
D6 =73
D4 =52
Rule 2 (reroll once):
D12 =164
D10 =138
D8 =113
D6 =87
D4 =61
Rule 3 (reroll once, smaller die):
D12 =155
D10 =130
D8 =104
D6 =79
D4 =56
Rule 4 (RAW with minimum) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =145
D10 =120
D8 =101
D6 =76
D4 =56
Rule 5 (RAW + fixed bonus) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =174
D10 =153
D8 =132
D6 =111
D4 =90
It turns out, that both rule 2+3 (the rerolls) score higher than RAW. They also makes it somewhat more unlikely that you will end up with (12+20) 32 HP as a level 20 barbarian. Yes I know that the odds for that is3,13008639655066E-21 %. Yes, I also know that all barbarians have a con bonus making it impossible.
Rule 4 makes it impossible to get below a certain threshold, without significantly changing the average. This has been implemented as a houserule in my group as a result.
Rule 5 fails in the premises. It significantly biases in the favor of the smaller dice, while raising averages significantly and not adressing the problem of low rolls at all.
I have 3 reasons for posting this:
I hope to help others who are unclear on the effect of their houserules.
I hope to generate a discussion about which houserule is better.
I really hope, that someone will look at the distribution of the different rules. I have had courses in statistics, but its been a while and I don't have any software that can really go beyond averages and the simple stuff.
Comments?
So mostly people seems to want to achieve this:
Limit the possibility of getting stuck with almost no HP due to bad rolls.
Keep the average HP each class gets, but perhaps raising it a little bit.
Not change the difference between the classes.
So I made a spreadsheet and ran through some of the house rules.
I looked at the following:
1 RAW (1 die pr. level, no modifications)
2 As RAW, but you may reroll once.
3 As 2, but you use a die one size smaller (d12 becomes d10 and so forth)
4 As RAW, but there is a minimum of what you can roll
5 As RAW, but everyone gets a fixed bonus pr. level (i chose 2 for my calculation)
Everywhere I used this principle:
Players are rational agents who maximize HP (IE they understand the math and are only concerned with maximizing HP).
Max HP at first level.
No difference among the classes in Con score. THIS IS NOT A BUILD THREAD!
Here is what i found:
Rule 1 (RAW) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =136
D10 =115
D8 =94
D6 =73
D4 =52
Rule 2 (reroll once):
D12 =164
D10 =138
D8 =113
D6 =87
D4 =61
Rule 3 (reroll once, smaller die):
D12 =155
D10 =130
D8 =104
D6 =79
D4 =56
Rule 4 (RAW with minimum) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =145
D10 =120
D8 =101
D6 =76
D4 =56
Rule 5 (RAW + fixed bonus) gives the following at level 20:
D12 =174
D10 =153
D8 =132
D6 =111
D4 =90
It turns out, that both rule 2+3 (the rerolls) score higher than RAW. They also makes it somewhat more unlikely that you will end up with (12+20) 32 HP as a level 20 barbarian. Yes I know that the odds for that is3,13008639655066E-21 %. Yes, I also know that all barbarians have a con bonus making it impossible.
Rule 4 makes it impossible to get below a certain threshold, without significantly changing the average. This has been implemented as a houserule in my group as a result.
Rule 5 fails in the premises. It significantly biases in the favor of the smaller dice, while raising averages significantly and not adressing the problem of low rolls at all.
I have 3 reasons for posting this:
I hope to help others who are unclear on the effect of their houserules.
I hope to generate a discussion about which houserule is better.
I really hope, that someone will look at the distribution of the different rules. I have had courses in statistics, but its been a while and I don't have any software that can really go beyond averages and the simple stuff.
Comments?