Let me tell you, dear readers, a story of Hit Points. The story begins with the character creation of two PCs - a fighter and a mage. The player of the fighter wished to play a tough-as-nails warrior, with more focus on physical toughness than brute strength. So, the player decided to put his lucky roll of 18 into the PC's constitution score. At the same time, the player of the mage specifically wanted to play a sickly mage, with little in the way of sturdiness. In this case, the player gave the mage PC a constitution score of 6.

Thru many adventures, the two PCs advance to 5th level Now, you might expect that this stout fighter would have acquired many Hit Points, while the mage would still be vulnerable to being brought down with a single blow. Not so. The fighter and the mage, as it turns out, had the same number of Hit Points! Even with the fighter's exceptional toughnessm and the mage's lackluster constitution, both ended up with 15 Hit Points. Do the math, my friends - with consistently (un)lucky die rolls, this situation was made possible.

Okay, I'll admit it - this story never actually happened to me. But it does serve as an useful example of how the randomness of Hit Point acquisition can go against one's PC characterization. Does anyone really want to play a Conan-esque fighter, only to roll 1 after 1 for Hit Points? Or sickly Raistlin when rolling constant 4's? Presented below is a system to remove some of the randomness of the Hit Point system. Enjoy!

I was wanting to mention my idea about hit points. WHY roll for random hp? Do we roll for random THAC0? Random AC? Besides a PC's basic stats, hp is the only thing that is randomized in such a way. I have an idea about a hp chart, the way we already have a THAC0 chart, based upon Con and the average hp produced from the current system. For example, a fighter gains, on average, 5.5 hp per level advancement at the moment. On my chart, a fighter would gain 5 hp per level, modified by Con. An average Con fighter would still gain 5 hp, while a high-Con fighter would gain 14 (max normal by current system - roll a 10 and get +4 hp from current Con modifier).

Table X: Base Hit Points

Class	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th
Priest	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40
Psion	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30
Rogue	3	6	9	12	15	18	21	24	27	30
Warrior	5	10	15	20	25	30	35	40	45	50
Wizard	2	4	6	8	10	12	14	16	18	20

Revised Table 3: Constitution HP Adjustment

Con 1-3	base * 0.25
Con 4-5	base * 0.50
Con 6-7	base * 0.75
Con 8-10	base * 1.00
Con 11-12	base * 1.50
Con 13-14	base * 2.00
Con 15-16	base * 2.50
Con 17-18	base * 3.00
Con 19-20	base * 3.25
Con 21-23	base * 3.50
Con 24-25	base * 3.75

From Level 11 onwards, PCs stop using the above chart and gain hp's at a flat rate, as listed below (note that modifiers from Con no longer apply). If a given PC happens to advance at a slower rate than listed below (for example, an odd weakling of a fighter who normally gains only 2 hp per level), continue using the lower rate.

Class	HPs Per Level Past 10th
Priest	+2
Psion	+2
Rogue	+2
Warrior	+3
Wizard	+1

To serve as the first example, and an extreme example at that, let's look at a 5th level mage possessing a 18 Con. At 5th level, he would have a base 10 hp. With his near-godly Con multiplying the base hp by 3, the result is 30 hp for our mage. Seems like a lot, eh? Well, an equivalent mage under the standard rules could have 20 hp max (4 hp * 5th level), +2 hp per level for Con, for a total of.... 30 hp!

How about a cleric? Same conditions - 5th level, Con 18. Base hp is 20, multiplied up to 60. A standard cleric could have 40 hp, plus 10 hp for Con making a total of 50. So, my system gives classes other than mages more hp for higher Con scores. Is that so bad, tho? As already shown, a warrior benefits from a high Con more so than other classes - why shouldn't *each* class benefit differently? Shouldn't a Con 18 cleric benefit more than a Con 18 mage, but not as much as a Con 18 fighter?

While this new system does take out the randomness of hp acquisition, I was thinking of adding another element to stir things back up, while adding more options at the same time. Dependent upon campaign events, a PC might gain fewer or more hp when rising in level. For example, a fighter was severely beaten and tortured for weeks, but managed to fight his way out of captivity and, in the process, gained a level. The DM might declare that, due to extreme punishment, the fighter in question gains fewer hp than normal. This could be expounded upon as thus: whatever Con score the PC possesses for the majority of the time in the level previous to gaining a new level, that is what the hp adjustment is based upon. Basically, our theoretical fighter was reduced to a lower Con for the duration of his torture (and for most of his level), so he gets fewer hp. On the flip side, a mage spending much time in the smithy, making a hand-made sword to enchant, might have toughened up a bit and is rewarded with more hp.