Character Hit Points

[oxo]

one thing that i have noticed since playing SoA is that when any of my characters go up a level the hit points that they are generated are always fixed. Fighter classes will always get 3 hit points, any other classes will only get 1 hit point. I'm assuming any constitution bonuses are added afterwards. I always thought, as it was in BG1, that hit points were determined randomly depending on your class. Has this changed?

As you can imagine, my party isn't the most robust party going. Although I have now finished SoA, im a little worried my party wont last long in ToB when its released (im a mac user!!!)

Does anybody know anything about this?

[Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs]

single-class characters get 1 hit die for each level they increase, up to level 9. For instance, wizards roll one d4 when they increase a level, fighters get one d10, adding the constitution bonus after. However, after level 9, they just start getting set amounts of hit points added on (wizards get 1, fighters get 3, thieves get 2, etc.).

Dual-class characters gain hit points only when their first class reactivates.

Multi-class: IIRC, they get one HD for each level they increase, but only for whichever class gets higher hit dice. So, a fighter/mage gets miniscule hit points on mage level-ups (1), but gets hit dice increases on fighter level-ups. Not sure, though.

Also, setting the difficulty to Normal or lower will make all hit dice rolls at the maximum. You can reset it after levelling up.

So, you don't have as many hit points at the end of the game as many other bad guys. At the end of SoA, my Paladin had about 140, and at the end of ToB, my Sorcerer had about 95. I'm sure you will survive, though. the start of ToB is not that difficult, and taking on the Watcher's Keep early will help you boost your levels without too much trouble (until you reach the lower levels).

[oxo]

ahhh that makes it clear

thanks for that

[SixOfSpades]

One thing I've noticed is that in BG2 (well, in my copy of BG2, anyway), Multi-classed characters seem to have WAY more HP than they deserve--even more than is legal. Gothmog said his Paladin (who I'll assume had at least 18 CON) had 140 HP at the end of BG2, let's say Level 18. Right now, I have a Level 9/11 Fighter/Mage with 18 CON. He has 148 HP. (153 with the Helm of Balduran.) What the???

His highest legal HP should be....
Fighter half: (9 x 10+4) / 2 = (135 / 2)
Mage half: ([9 x 4+2] + 2) / 2 = (58 / 2)
Added together, my character shouldn't have more than 96.5 HP. What gives?

[Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs]

my 17th level paladin only had 17 constitution. using moderate stats is much more of a challenge than 18s across the board. He had i think 141 HP.

Some guy a while ago said he took the first stats he rolled without any point-shifting whatsoever, like in PnP. I'm not sure if he survived, but he said it was fun getting no ability bonuses whatsoever.

[Nicodemus]

Originally posted by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs: Also, setting the difficulty to Normal or lower will make all hit dice rolls at the maximum. You can reset it after levelling up.

That also makes a huge difference when creating the character. For instance, I rolled up a cleric with a 16 CON wunder the BGII difficulty setting, and she had 42 hp. Then I rerolled the same character with the setting lowered to basic AD&D and she came out with 70hp. BIG difference.

[andrewas]

Originally posted by Gothmog, Lord of Balrogs: Some guy a while ago said he took the first stats he rolled without any point-shifting whatsoever, like in PnP. I'm not sure if he survived, but he said it was fun getting no ability bonuses whatsoever.

I did that in BG1. Got to durlags tower level 3 before my hard drive suffered a violent crash (I could hear it going downstairs). It was fun, quite difficult but I actualy had some decent stats. I also used to do it a lot on the old Eye of the Beholder series, but thats because I was young and naive and playing a pirated version with no manual. (Hey, when your five you dont understand copyright and a new game is a new game)