As progress on Eira continues I have been contemplating a slight but significant change to how I approach character creation, or to be more specific character health. When Eira was first conceived all classes used a single d6 with a positive or negative modifier for their health. Pixie Tricksters for instance were d6 – 2 per level, Cat-Sith Fili were d6 – 1 per level and so on. After some time I moved on to the traditional way of doing HD so Tricksters became 1d4 per level instead of the 1d6 – 2 and so on.
The reason I made this change was to make things more understandable to the individuals reading the previews on the blog and because some of the responses I received were confused or down right antagonistic. However, it never felt right to me. I was fine with it, but at the same time the original form was still in my head half begging me to use the straight d6 with modifiers. Of course me being me I have moved a little in certain directions and cannot simply go that route now.
So far my new idea for health and hit dice is showing itself to be a little overpowered and I need to work on it but as usual all thoughts and suggestions are greatly welcomed:
Health and Hit Dice
Every character, no matter race, has a base d6 for their hit dice. At first level that character receives the maximum amount of health possible (6). When the character reaches the second level they can roll 2 d6s (1 for each level). The higher of the resulting roll will be added to their collective health.
Example: Jim’s character’s Harry has reached the second level he rolls 2d6 and gets a result of 3 and 4. He adds the 4 to his current health (6) for a collective health of 10.
Every class also has a “kicker” to their health rolls. The kicker is represented by the toss of a coin and a wager by the player. If the player gets the number of “heads” required by his class he receives his wager x his “heads” requirement in health. However, if he fails to meet his heads requirement he loses the amount of health that he wagered.
Example: Jim’s character Harry is a fighter and has a x2 heads requirement. Wanting to play it safe Jim only wagers 2 health on his coin flips. Flipping the coin twice results in 1 heads and 1 tails. Jim, unfortunately, loses 2 health; his collective health is now 8. However, if Jim had gotten 2 heads his collective health would have been 14.
The player’s kicker does not increase with level and a player is only allowed to bet up to half his character’s health.
