Monster Hit Points

[dmw71]

Monster Hit Points
The kids are playing Minecraft so I decided to finally start reading the 5e Monster Manual (to this point, I have only ever looked up the specific monster that I've needed to run). I think how they determine monster hit points is really interesting, which is essentially this:

"A monster's size determines the die used to calculate its hit points."

From the Basic Rules, which are freely available online: Hit Points.

Monster Hit Points (5e).jpg (222.87 KiB) Viewed 8795 times

It kind of makes sense that larger monsters would be more sturdy, while smaller monsters are more fragile.


Just thought I'd pass this along because I could see the earlier edition DM version of myself thinking this was cool and wanting to implement it into a game I was running.


What do you guys think about this rule?

[dmw71]

Interesting.

I purchased the 'Forgotten Realms Campaign Set (1e)' off DriveThruRPG last night and was starting to read through it a bit just now. On page 15 of the DM's Sourcebook, on the topic of dragons in the realm, Ed Greenwood loosely did this to a lesser extent when detailing two new dragon ages available:

"Venerable Dragons have 9 points/die.
Great Wyrms have 10 points/die."


Here, the increased hit points were tied to age, not size (I think I prefer applying it to size), but it's the same general concept, which I still think is an interesting one.

[Zhym]

That was true in AD&D 1e, where the Monster Manual lays out a table of dragon age and HP per die—1 hp/die for a "very young" dragon of 1-5 years up to 8 hp/die for an "ancient" dragon of 401+ years.

Size determined the number of HD. Each non-unique dragon had a range of sizes. For example, a "small" black dragon would have 6 HD, an "average" black dragon would have 7, and a "huge" black dragon would have 8.

So for any non-unique 1e dragon, you could figure the hit points by color, age, and size. A huge ancient red dragon would have 88 HP. A small young adult green dragon would have only 28 HP.

I haven't checked 2e lately to see if it uses the same mechanism. I remember that they significantly beefed up dragons in 2e because they felt dragons were too wimpy in 1e, but I don't recall whether the age + size scheme remained.

[dmw71]

That was true in AD&D 1e, where the Monster Manual lays out a table of dragon age and HP per die—1 hp/die for a "very young" dragon of 1-5 years up to 8 hp/die for an "ancient" dragon of 401+ years.

Interesting. I never knew that.

For as crazy as it sounds, I've been playing Dungeons & Dragons for darn near 40 years, and I can't remember ever using the namesake monster in an adventure. I have always lived in the lower levels, so my familiarity with the more powerful monsters is admittedly limited.

Still, in 5e, the size-to-hit die rule applies to all monsters (not just dragons), and I thought it was pretty interesting.

[Zhym]

I think I can count on both hands the number of times my PCs have encountered dragons in games, and only twice on here. It's a shame, really. They're part of the name, for gosh sake. We ought to get to encounter them more.

And it's been something like 25 years since I played in a game where the DM made effective use of good-aligned dragons.

[dmw71]

I think I can count on both hands the number of times my PCs have encountered dragons in games, and only twice on here. It's a shame, really. They're part of the name, for gosh sake. We ought to get to encounter them more.

Maybe this is a calling to throw one into your new BX game.

[Zhym]

Whaddya mean, "one?"

[dmw71]

Whaddya mean, "one?"

[dmw71]

I think I can count on both hands the number of times my PCs have encountered dragons in games, and only twice on here. It's a shame, really. They're part of the name, for gosh sake. We ought to get to encounter them more.

My group is currently fighting one!

It's just a wyrmling, but they're only 2nd level themselves (soon to be 3rd ), and it's been fun! The group probably won't, but I like the 'recharge' ability it has when it comes to its breath weapon. For this guy, a baby white dragon, at the beginning of its turn, it rolls a d6 and if it rolls a 5 or 6, it's able to re-use its breath weapon.

Recharge.jpg (35.44 KiB) Viewed 8422 times

It used its breath weapon in the first round, killing an NPC, knocking the sorcerer unconscious, and almost doing the same to the cleric. It was very close to being able to use it again in round 2, rolling a 4.

We'll see what round 3 has in store. [/ooc]

[Scott308]

Hopefully the sorcerer kills it before the dragon has a chance to try recharging its breath weapon. Otherwise, it could get ugly.

[Zhym]

I think I can count on both hands the number of times my PCs have encountered dragons in games, and only twice on here. It's a shame, really. They're part of the name, for gosh sake. We ought to get to encounter them more.

My group is currently fighting one!

So we have two dragon fights going on, or will soon!

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