Quick Questions

[CakeFace]

Hi everyone I have a quick (and rather stupid) question. In RPGs when you look at a monsters hit points it might show something like this: 7 (2d6+1) what does the bit in the brackets mean? Also, on the character sheet what is the difference between hit points and hit dice? I'm really knew to the game so sorry for the silly questions. Thanks!

[gtwucla]

The part in the parenthesis is the formula that got it to 7. The average result of 1d6 is 3, and 3 times 2 +1 equals 7 (though usually its the median result of the Hit Dice, which is 3.5. And any hit point bonus is usually a bonus per Hit Dice, so the example you gave would normally be 9 (2d6+2).

And the difference between Hit Dice and hit points is Hit Dice are what you gain per level. Its the maximum hit points you can gain at each level (plus bonuses). So if are a fighter with a d10, the maximum hit points you can gain for your class is 10. If you're starting at later levels you can always take the median value of your Hit Dice, so again as a fighter your Hit Die is d10, so the median is 5.5. If you are a 10th level fighter that means you have 10 Hit Dice and either 55 hit points (the median of d10 times 10 + bonuses). And hit points represent how much damage you can take before you die. The only reason to keep track of Hit Dic other than accumulating hit points is some spells and abilities will affect only a certain number of Hit Dice. So again a 10th level fighter with 55 hit points would have 10 Hit Dice (HD). So a spell that says you can only affect a certain number of HD, then you would account for how much HD you have. Generally the more you have, the harder it is to affect you.

Anywho, that's the gist. Also that is strictly for D&D, I can't speak for any other rpgs.

[Zumbs]

The average result of 1d6 is 3

Sorry to be splitting hairs, but the average result of 1d6 is 3.5. When rounding decimals to integers, 0.5 is usually rounded up, not down, at least if you care for accuracy.

Edit: The half can get important if you roll many dice. As an example the average of 4d6 is 3.5*4 = 14 rather than 3*4 = 12.

[gtwucla]

Sorry to be splitting hairs, but the average result of 1d6 is 3.5. When rounding decimals to integers, 0.5 is usually rounded up, not down, at least if you care for accuracy.

Edit: The half can get important if you roll many dice. As an example the average of 4d6 is 3.5*4 = 14 rather than 3*4 = 12.

Yeah you're right. So edit- there isn't actually difference in the median and average result. Everything I said after that comes to the same result.