Questions tagged [hit-dice]
For questions about the hit dice feature found in some editions of D&D and related RPGs. Its function has varied between editions, but it is usually functionally related to level and/or health.
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Are there any more ways to regain spent hit dice?
I am aware of the rules surrounding long rests and hit dice. What I am interested in here is whether there is any way apart from long resting to regain any number of hit dice?
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Does the Animal Companion from the Beastmaster Ranger subclass get additional Hit Dice as the ranger gains levels?
We're using the Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition players handbook only. The Ranger's Companion section (PHB p. 93) seems, for the most part, to be pretty clear. The part about hit points states:
It's ...
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How many different ways are there to use Hit Dice?
I'm trying to create the ultimate Bloodwell Vial build for D&D 5e. But I have hit a small snag...
For those who don't know, the Bloodwell Vial is a magic item that lets you regain 5 sorcery points ...
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Why record number of Hit Dice?
Brand new to D&D 5e and trying to wrap my head around the accumulation and spending of Hit Die. My understanding is that:
Hit Die are used to determine your character's Max HP
Hit Die are gained ...
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Can the Wither and Bloom spell allow an unconscious/dying PC to spend a Hit Die to heal?
The description of the wither and bloom spell states (Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, p. 38; emphasis mine):
You invoke both death and life upon a 10-foot-radius sphere centered on a point within ...
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Does the healing from the Wither and Bloom spell only happen if the target has at least one unspent Hit Die?
The wither and bloom spell reads, in part (Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos, p. 38):
[...] one creature of your choice in that area can spend and roll one of its unspent Hit Dice and regain a number ...
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Does your hit die include your Constitution modifier for purpose of Wither and Bloom?
The wither and bloom spell says, in part:
one creature of your choice in that area can spend and roll one of its unspent Hit Dice and regain a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your ...
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Change Shape cap HD?
Simple question. A succubus, an ogre mage, or any other creature with the Change Shape supernatural ability can take the form of an humanoid (Or even Giant for the Ogre mage)... It does not specify ...
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Is there an issue with making a Medium-sized monster use d10 Hit Dice?
I've been a long time DM for Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition, but I'm only now getting a solid grasp of designing monsters and monster encounters. There's a lot of hullabaloo about CR and how ...
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Can a simulacrum from the Simulacrum spell use hit dice to recover hit points during short rests?
The simulacrum from the simulacrum spell is a partially-real "illusory duplicate of one beast or humanoid" – which, if damaged, can be repaired in an alchemical laboratory.
In our game, my ...
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Can you determine the order of "at the end of a short rest" effects?
Example when being able to determine that order matters: periapt of wound closure, an attunement item that benefits spending hit dice.
Picture the following scenario: The party is beat-up after a few ...
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Selecting Hit Die for Half Casters
I'm in the process of homebrewing an arcane half-caster for one of the players in my next campaign. One point that concerns me is whether I should give a d10 or a d8 hit dice. I want it to be ...
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Must I expend a Hit Die to cast a spell using the Aberrant Dragonmark feat?
In a new Eberron game, my DM suggested that I consider taking the Aberrant Dragonmark feat. It suits me well, as I initially wanted to take Magic Initiate.
However, one word in the description is ...
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Do 1st-level-exclusive feats count class levels, total HDs, or ECL?
Some of the FORGOTTEN REALMS Campaign Setting regional feats say "Special: You may only take this feat as a 1st-level character." Dragon Magazine #319 follows up on this idea with some more ...
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Can a homebrew classes starting hit points be higher than it's hit dice? [closed]
So I was wonder if I could make a class that's starting hit points were higher than it's hit dice?
Hit points
Hit Dice: 1d10 per ______ level
Hit Points at 1st level: 12 + your Constitution modifier
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What hit dice do sages use? [closed]
I'm creating a character for DnD 5e, and I was wondering what kind of hit dice Sages use. He's a Wizard's Apprentice if that helps.
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Does the Tough feat's hit point bonus apply to a Druid's wild shapes? [duplicate]
A Druid in Wild Shape takes on all the wild shape creature's physical ability scores, and those creatures have a number of listed Hit Dice, so does the Druid get to add the additional 2 hp per hit ...
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How would optional re-rolling of all hit dice on leveling up affect average hp?
I am considering a homebrew rule that would give players the option on leveling up to re-roll all of their hit dice (excluding their first level) instead of only rolling their new hit die when ...
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Can Sidekicks take the average on the Hit Die to determine the max HP increase when they level up?
Reading through the new rules for Sidekicks in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything (p. 142), it seems like they must roll for HP when they level up. Am I understanding this right? Or can I use Monster ...
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How many hit dice does a Sidekick start with?
In Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, the published Sidekick rules say (p. 142):
A sidekick can be any type of creature [...], but the challenge rating
in its stat block must be 1/2 or lower. You take ...
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Can a character somehow gain more, or less, hit dice than they have character levels?
I find the wording of regaining Hit Dice during a long rest very odd:
The character also regains spent Hit Dice, up to a number of dice
equal to half of the character's total number of them (minimum ...
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What happens when a creature with Racial Hit Dice changes creature type?
The specific example I'm working with is a creature with RHD who takes the Human Heritage feat... and then advances by HD.
The creature retains all the traits of its previous type (so far so good), ...
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How does a Circle of the Shepherd druid's Mighty Summoner feature interact with the UA spell Summon Bestial Spirit?
Our DM has allowed us to play-test the summoning spells which appear in Unearthed Arcana 2020: Spells and Magic Tattoos. I'm playing a druid, and have added the 2nd-level spell Summon Bestial Spirit (...
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How much max HP should the Demilich have?
The demilich statblock on Monster Manual page 48 says:
Hit Points 80 (32d4)
but outside of the statblock, the demilich's description on the next page says:
Undead Nature. A demilich doesn't ...
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When a druid uses Wild Shape to transform into a beast, how many Hit Dice does it have?
Suppose that, for whatever reason, my mid- to high-level druid is in a party that has decided to take a short rest. Instead of spending a use of their Wild Shape to assume a new form with full hit ...
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How does the Combat Vigor feat's maximum healing work?
The feat Combat Vigor states the following:
As a standard action, you can spend up to 1 vigor point per 3 Hit Dice you have (minimum 1) to regain 1d6 hit points per vigor point spent (maximum 7d6).
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Does Beacon of Hope cast during the last minute of a short rest maximize the healing received from rolling hit dice?
The spell Beacon of Hope lasts for one minute and states:
For the duration, each target [...] regains the maximum number of hit points possible from any healing.
If a party takes a short rest, can ...
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How does the Sleep spell work?
I just started playing AD&D 1E, and I am trying to understand how the Sleep spell works.
I'm confused by the table and the DM's advice:
HD/ Number Affected
up to 1/ 4d4
1+1 ...
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What are the mechanical implications of allowing all expended hit dice to be regained on a long rest?
Are there any mechanical implications, short of the fact players can heal more on a short rest, to a house rule allowing them to restore all their expended hit dice after a long rest (instead of only ...
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Do Monsters gain Maximum HP when they gain Hit Dice?
Player Characters gain hit points each time that they level up in addition to a corresponding increase in maximum health points.
What about monsters though? If a monster gains hit-dice, does it also ...
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Can spent hit die give a character hit points beyond their maximum?
In D&D 5e can hit die spent during a short rest increase a character's hit points beyond their maximum number of hit points, thus giving then temporary hit points?
Example: Jed the 2nd level ...
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If Ability Rip leaves you with 0 HD and 0 Class levels, what happens?
Ability rip causes its target, should they lack supernatural abilities, to permanently 2 class levels, or 2 HD if you've no class levels (what happens if you have exactly 1 class level is addressed ...
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How do monstrous hit dice work?
Continuing my recent foray into poorly-defined areas of the advancement rules, I have a closely related set of questions about how the rules work as written.
Consider a PC starting as a first-level ...
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Monsters that advance by level and HD?
I am attempting to create an encounter-table generator to end all encounter-table generators. I am doing this because it seems like an interesting project.
In order to do this, I need to create a ...
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Are hit dice used to add damage?
I know it’s a stupid question, but allow me to explain. I’m a DM with a group of players who all learned how to play at the same time about a year ago, (me included). We got off to a rough start and ...
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If a Vampire Lord turns a creature with 5+ HD, does it become a normal Vampire or a Vampire Slave?
In D&D 3.5, a Vampire Lord creates vampire slaves, rather than vampire spawn. However, when a creature with 5+ HD is turned, it becomes a vampire, not a vampire spawn.
Does this mean that if a ...
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Is it possible to obtain limitless HD?
I've been reading the ever-reliable D&D Wiki and there seem to be some disagreement on whether or not Pun-Pun can attain limitless HD. It doesn't go in to much detail, but it's got my interest. Is ...
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Are non-class hit dice included in a PC's character level? If so, which ones?
In a recent comment chain, I asserted that a character who had 6 class levels and 2 non-class hit dice would be a level 8 character; this was based on my recollection that "character level" and "total ...
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How much on average does the Durable feat increase the number of Hit Points gained when spending Hit Dice?
There are other similarly mathy questions on this site such as "How much damage does Great Weapon Fighting add on average?" and "Are features that allow −5 to attack to get +10 to damage ...
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Can a character spend multiple hit dice at level 1?
If PCs short rest more than once a day, do they spend hit dice both times at level 1? Or do they have to long rest in order to get their hit dice back?
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How do the Durable and Dwarven Fortitude feats interact?
How do the Durable and Dwarven Fortitude feats interact?
While the Durable feat (PHB, p. 166) states that you gain a minimum of double your Constitution modifier from using your Hit Dice to heal, the ...
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How many Hit Dice of undead does an acquired scroll of Animate Dead raise?
Animate dead is one of the few spells which has a variable cost to its casting, as it's based entirely on the amount of HD you are going to raise with the casting, which is partly dependent on the CL.
...
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What does "2 HD of creatures" for the spell Banishment mean?
The spell Banishment says it affects:
As many as 2 Hit Dice of creatures per caster level can be banished.
I'm fairly new to Pathfinder and still haven't quite figured out what a spell means by "# ...
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Does the spell Alter Self potentially change the effective hit dice of the caster for the purpose of targeted spells?
In this question about Polymorph and Alter Self, one of the answers claims that using Alter Self might effectively reduce the caster's hit dice to match the form chosen, thus making a higher-HD ...
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Are you required to spend hit dice to take a short rest?
Are you required to spend hit dice to take a short rest?
I couldn't find this anywhere, but my DM is adamant on the idea that in order to benefit from a short rest, you have to spend a hit die. I ...
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Do intelligent items have Hit Dice?
I know that Intelligent Items are considered creatures for at least some purposes, but I have heard that they don't possess skills or feats from Hit Dice, on account of having no Hit Dice. Do the ...
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Is Inspire Greatness (Bard) the only way to gain explicit temporary Hit Dice?
The bard's Inspire Greatness ability adds 2d10 hit dice to a character for a short period of time.
The trait Magical Knack gives you bonus caster levels that cannot exceed your current hit dice.
...
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At which point does a character regain all their Hit Dice?
I have found all explanations of regaining Hit Dice after a short or long rest, but I can't seem to find at which point a character regains all their Hit Dice. Is it after a campaign? At leveling up? ...
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How do creatures spend Hit Dice after a short rest (if they can do so)?
I know that enemies can take both short rests and long rests, because there is at least one enemy which recover one of its features after a rest. See the Cloaker (Monster Manual, p. 42):
Phantasms (...
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Where are a monster’s hit dice found in the stat block?
I want to bring back to consciousness an Evil Mage that my PCs have successfully rendered unconscious. My thought is that all could use a short rest and during this time the unconscious mage could ...
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