Technically 1HD = 1d8. But I say 5 just to get a high average.
+1 or +2 tacked on to the number of HD is honestly something I’ve never figured out on old school games. Does the monster get a flat +2 hp bonus, or +2 hp per HD? I’d say it’s up to the GM. A dial you can turn on encounter difficulty
It also affects to hit bonus. Google THAC0 monsters and OSE. A monster with 3HD has a +2 attack bonus. But a monster with 3+1HD has a +3 attack bonus.
I feel like this is the way the rules intended it but at the same time it feels kind of stupid to me lol. Like, what’s the point?
What I mean is - the likelihood that 1 extra hp will matter is very low. But 3 hp (or 4, or 5 etc.) is the difference between surviving a hit from a longsword or not.
I dunno - it’s not important at the end ofc the day, but dang, Old D&D - why you so nebulous all the time lol
I think you are right, but back then lots of d4 for their HD magic-users would beg to differ about the importance of one extra HP. For monsters, most modules literally rolled the HP for each individual, though I think some of the modern OSR variants still do this. Sometimes the BBE would be shockingly weak thanks to RNG. The 5e practice of taking the mean of all the HD for monsters or PCs was unknown.
Usually not my neck of the woods, but this is lovely stuff!
Is the header image on https://lonely-adventurer.itch.io/ connected to Yaloon? Did you post the image in full somewhere?
← Return to game
Comments
Log in with itch.io to leave a comment.
I'm a bit confused on HD.
1 Hd = 5 HP, right?
But sometimes the math doesn't add up. Like 2HD+1 won't be 11. What am I missing?
So sorry I missed this question!
Technically 1HD = 1d8. But I say 5 just to get a high average.
+1 or +2 tacked on to the number of HD is honestly something I’ve never figured out on old school games. Does the monster get a flat +2 hp bonus, or +2 hp per HD? I’d say it’s up to the GM. A dial you can turn on encounter difficulty
It also affects to hit bonus. Google THAC0 monsters and OSE. A monster with 3HD has a +2 attack bonus. But a monster with 3+1HD has a +3 attack bonus.
When I was a kid, we just added the HP bonus once. Thus, 3HD +1 would be 3d8+1.
I feel like this is the way the rules intended it but at the same time it feels kind of stupid to me lol. Like, what’s the point?
What I mean is - the likelihood that 1 extra hp will matter is very low. But 3 hp (or 4, or 5 etc.) is the difference between surviving a hit from a longsword or not.
I dunno - it’s not important at the end ofc the day, but dang, Old D&D - why you so nebulous all the time lol
I think you are right, but back then lots of d4 for their HD magic-users would beg to differ about the importance of one extra HP. For monsters, most modules literally rolled the HP for each individual, though I think some of the modern OSR variants still do this. Sometimes the BBE would be shockingly weak thanks to RNG. The 5e practice of taking the mean of all the HD for monsters or PCs was unknown.
Very true. I was definitely looking at it through the lens of how I use the old monster stats today. I just assume 5hp her HD.
Usually not my neck of the woods, but this is lovely stuff! Is the header image on https://lonely-adventurer.itch.io/ connected to Yaloon? Did you post the image in full somewhere?
Yaloon exists in a corner of that fantasy O'Neill Cylinder I used as a header image. :) It's my home game's campaign world.
I've posted it to Discord and Twitter in the past.