Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General HP on Level up

As far as i can tell you don't get your full HD on level up and it also doesn't seem to be random on my fighter I have leveled a few times now and each time he is getting 8 HP with a +2 con bonus. This should equate to 12 hp/lvl or at least a range of that but all my companions and Myself all seem to get a set amount of HP that is nowhere near max HP. Anyone else able to get max hp on level up or at least random HP on level up?

In 5e you don't get your full HD on level up. You get the average of the HD (or you roll for it, but that isn't implemented in BG3, at least not yet) plus your con modifier.

Your fighter has a d10 as their HD. The average result of a d10 roll is 5.5, rounded to 6. And 6+2 = 8 HP.

Similar for all your companions (e.g., Wizards get average of d6 which is 4, Rogues get average of d8 which is 5, etc)

hmm not sure I approve of that implementation but I'll give it a whirl. Seems to me that rolling HP, average HP and max HP should all be options on level up to hit a wider range of players preferences.

I can understand them using the "default" way as it were for this, but yes. I'd like to see a lot of option variations based on player preferences.

For what is worth I always thought that "rolling for more HP on level up" was a garbage mechanic that videogames are absolutely right to move away from.
Even some old Infinity Engine games had the possibility to set the options to just give you the max amount of HP instead of rolling (or more properly savescamming and trying multiple times to to get the maximum roll) whiich I always gladly used.

Relying on something as random as a dice roll for a permanent upgrade you have only one chance to attempt is terrible design.

I still wish we had "Max Hp on level up"

Yes, yes, and a million times yes. In tabletop it doesn't matter, since if you roll poorly your character ends up dead, you make a new one and you really didn't lose much - still playing with your friends and having fun, only with a new face this time around. In video games however you're always some sort of "chosen one" so if you roll all 1s for levelups and have 20 hp at level 5 you can either restart the game or suffer needlessly for the rest of your playthrough.



That should be implemented as "easy difficulty", along with increased AC and saving throws...

the default in 5e isn't half. the default is a HD roll. You can choose to take half if you want to.

the mechanic right now isn't good in that you reduce the benefit of higher HD, it also dramatically increases the importance of con - which would be okay with rolled stats or more points, but right now it's kind of the worst of all worlds.

IMO, you should have the option to roll or take average on each levelup, that's inline with pnp and opens up build options a little more (especially as Larian seem to promote save scumming anyway, so you can always reload a few times till you get max or close to max).

It also impacts things a lot because enemies don't do their average damage. They roll, which actually makes everything potentially more deadly.
a level 10 wizard normally can have 60+10x con bonus hp. (they could also have 15+10x con bonus too). The rolled vs flat averages does in theory work out the same over a bunch of levels anyway I guess.

I know at most tables I've played at, GMs have tended to allow rerolling 1 for hp too, so I've probably been spoiled by that house rule lol.

Thing is as well, in a CRPG you're likely to fight a lot more than you do in pnp...


anyway yeah, I'd advocate roll or take half, make it player choice, it's not like it would be a difficult mechanic to add considering random number generation is basics with just about any programming language.

Are we also implementing rolling for stats in character creation again and the "roll again" button that you obligatorily press 50 times before you get a result you're satisfied with?

Honestly, if they include rolling stats, I'd say it's obligatory, as otherwise players will just go through an even more long winded loop of quitting out and restarting creation.

Tbh, I think giving a few more points for points buy would work just as well, in a CRPG with so much combat, higher stats become far more important, otherwise you have to make far too min/max characters which isn't a good thing either.

That part I can get on board with.

probably something like 32 points, enough that you can afford to have your key class stat(s) be high and still have a couple of other stats not suck.
e.g. a theoretical high elf bladesinger (if it were added) could get:
str: 11
dex: 16
con: 12
int: 16
wis: 10
cha:14

they need good dex and int, they need a bit of con (especially with the enforced average hp on levelup), and because main character is likely to be the one getting into most social dialogues, they need a bit of charisma too.

tbh, again I'm spoiled as the pnp groups I've played with almost always used 4d6 drop lowest for attributes. rerolling 1s has also been used at times lol.

4d6 drop lowest is standard, no?

With all the reliance on social skills, I've settled on taking just 8 str, 8 dex, 10 con, and 16 each in int, wis and cha on a half elf wizard.

I have to keep him well protected and far from enemies though.

Why the wisdom though, insight? At a certain point you're better off making a rogue and putting proficiency/expertise into those social stats

They should stick with the only balanced option of average (rounded up) HP on level up.

Rolling for HP? What is this random attribute that can completely ruin a character based on luck? How does it feel to play a Fighter who has less HP than the Wizard even though you invested in Con? How do you even roleplay that? Fighter is stronger, more agile, tough, trained in combat, heavily armored... but somehow easier to kill? I hated rolling for HP back in AD&D, and I would like it even less in BG3.

Max HP treats classes very differently. Barbarians and Fighters get much more out the deal and it overpowers them compared to Rogues and Wizards. A lot of HP on certain classes also forces the healing economy to change when you suddenly have massive HP pools of Fighters and Barbarians to heal. It's just a terrible idea.

Hi mrfuji3, I agree we should be able to roll for HP on level up.

Barbarians and fighters should have way more hp than rogues and wizards. Wizards alreayd got a boost in 5E as they are at 1d6 instea dof 1d4 so no mage should be beyyaching over hit points. This would allso push mages not to ignore con.

Anyways, BG3 should have the following HP options: Random rolling (the standard and the classic), Average (the boring and the bland), Maxium (super powered!), Minium (everyone is a glass cannon and con REALLY matters), random, but you get 1 reroll per level), Random (but you can get the average if your roll sucks). SEE. Options are good. EVERYONE WINS.


I find it funny that many people who brag about how many options BG3 has want to limit such basic options like optionally using the standard rolling for stats and hit points, standard armour rules, and more. Very weird, and very controlling of how others choose to play. Why are options like these to use standard dnd rules in a dnd game so scary?

What ya say, Larian?!?

Seriously guys... can we stop to drag 3 years old posts to the front page? It's annoying for everybody and isn't even remotely helpful at all.

Agreed. I'm locking old necroed threads.

Please don't resurrect these unless there is no current discussion to use instead. And even then, exercise extreme caution when the thread is very old as chances are the context has changed significantly.

Repeated failure to comply with basic netiquette on spamming and thread necromancy will result in suspensions and potentially bans.