Hit Points & Hit Dice, The Gaining of

"The Knights of Nod. The Old Guard you will find in the custody of these arrogant Baron Houses. They are the charges of the remnants of the Warlords who once stormed across Nod in their conquest for power and land. There are Brotherhoods who call no Baron House their Master -- these are the Errant Brotherhoods. We have also heard tell of Mage-Knights -- an ancient discipline -- who keep the old ways in distant places from here."
-Lady Knight Elise of Suffolk, of the Black Dog Brotherhood

Just a brief post regarding the progression of Hit Points. I have retained the mechanic of Hit Dice, but in a slightly modified form. There is still rolling for Hit Points, but with some modifications. All beginning, Level 0, PCs begin with Hit Dice of 1d6+8. Hit Dice are rerolled when raising a Level and also when coming back from the Dead status (which I detail more in this post).

Seemed apropos. . .

The calculation is simple. You roll the number of six-sided die indicated and add the number to the right of the plus-sign to the total. When going up in Level, you roll your Hit Dice again -- but replace your Base Hit Points if the total is higher than the original. To these Base Hit Points you then add your Hit Dice gain by Class and also modify your Hit Dice by the new gain.

Coming back from Death is traumatizing to the body and soul (NOT from Dying -- only if you have been fully dropped to Dead and then returned to life with Major Healing -- read more about Healing works here). When this occurs you roll your Hit Dice again, but instead of retaining the higher value than your Base Hit Points, you replace your Base Hit Points with this roll if it is lower. This mechanic represents the shock coming back from the Dead has on the body -- replacing "system shock" and similar mechanics from other D&D and derived systems.

The following table includes Hit Dice gains by Class: the Classes that will be included in the playtest. A PC's Class is Commoner prior to selecting their adventuring Class at Level 1.

Level	Commoner*	Fighter	Thief	Magic-user
HD at Level 0	1d6+8	N/A	N/A	N/A
HD Gain at Level 1	N/A*	1d6+10	1d6+5	1d6
HD Gain at Level Up	0*	1d6+6	1d6+4	1d6+2

*: Commoners (Level 0 PCs) reroll their Hit Dice, keeping the higher of the roll or their current Base Hit Points, when gaining Level 1/2, but receive no further Hit Dice until gaining Level 1 and choosing a Class.

Example: Stephan is a Level 0 Commoner. He rolls a 3 on 1d6 and adds 8 to this roll for a beginning Base Hit Points of 11. Stephan then, through adventuring, gains a 1/2 Level. He rerolls his Hit Dice (1d6+8) and scores a 5 on his roll. Added to 8, this is 13 -- higher than his original Base Hit Points -- which he then replaces his Base Hit Points with.

Stephan gains a further Level and selects to train as a Thief. He first rerolls his Hit Dice and rolls a 2. Added to 8 this is 10 -- less than his current Base -- so he retains the 13. To this 13 he adds 1d6+5, rolling a 2, for a total of 7 additional Hit Points to Base. Stephan's new Base Hit Points are 20 and his new Hit Dice are 2d6+13.

Stephan, in the course of his adventuring gets killed. His companions take his body to the Hospital Main and a Surgeon applies a technique that brings him back life (Stephan makes his Death Save after Major Healing is applied). As a result Stephan must reroll his Hit Dice and keep the lesser of the result or his present Base Hit Points. Stephan rolls his 2d6 and gets a 6, which he then adds 13 to for a total of 19. Since this is less than his present Base of 20, his new Base Hit Points are 19.

In other news, I think I am pleased with the revisions I have made to the Armor system. I think this blogging process has helped in putting together my thoughts on Sophia's Children and is moving the process of a releasable playtest document more of a possibility.