Hit-Dice (Health)

Hit-Dice refers to the dice used to determine the overall health of a character and, from it, their relative strength and power. From this, one can determine the HP of the character; a 12 -1 HD Hill Giant has anywhere from 11 to 95 HP.

Hit-Dice Size

Hit-Dice Size refers to the size of dice used to determine HP from Hit-Dice. This defaults to d8, though many characters may have a different size based on Class, Size or Template - a Fighter, for instance has a d10 HD Size.

Base HD

Base HD refers to the initial number of Hit-Dice the character has from their Race and Template. As d8 is the standard size for characters, a breakdown of Base HD is included in brackets for characters with a different size of HD. For example, an Ogre has 4 +1 HD whilst a 4th level Fighter has 4 HD (4d10).

Base Hit-Dice Modifiers

Modifiers to HD apply to total HP. For example, an Ogre rolls 5, 4, 8 and 2 for their HP on their 4d8 +1 HD. This gives a total of 19 HP before the additional +1 is factored in, giving them in reality 20 HP. Similarly, a Hill Giant with 12 -1 HD could roll 49 on their 12d8 but would, in fact, have 48 HP.

For every +3 listed to HD, increase the character's effective HD for purposes of Saves and THAC0 by 1. Inversely, for every -3 received, a character lowers their effective HD by 1 for these. These modifiers also determine the character's effective HD for determining how HD and Levels interact. Note this only applies to Hit-Dice; if a Hit-Dice's Size has a modifier to it (from Toughness or otherwise), it has no effect on Saves or THAC0.

Toughness

This is a modifier received from Constitution and it is applied to the Hit-Dice Size of the character. It applies to Base HD, however, regardless how many HD the character has but positive modifiers may only apply for up to 10 Levels of Classes. After this point, only penalties apply.

For example, a character with a d10 Hit-Dice and +3 Toughness would d10+3 HP every level up to and including 10th Level. If they were level 5, they would have 5d10 + 15 HP, for a maximum of 65.

Total HD and Class Levels

As both Class Levels and Base HD both provide HD, there are rules that determine how they are handled.

1+2 HD or Less

If a character has HD of 1 +2 or less, use their Level for determining HD and Size - at 1st Level, however, they may use either Hit-Dice Size from Class or from Race, whichever is greater. If HP is being rolled for, they may roll both and take the higher value. Any modifiers a Race or Template has are considered; ergo, a character with an HD of 1 +2 receives 2 additional HP.

For example, a Human taking a level of Wizard has an option of using either d8 HP from Human or d4 from Wizard. They roll 3 for Human and 2 for Wizard - they opt to take 3 HP from Human. A Hobgoblin, meanwhile, opts to take Cleric - they would receive d8 from either and roll both, receiving a 5 from Hobgoblin and a 7 from Cleric. As such, they opt to begin with 7 HP from Cleric but still receive the +1 bonus from Hobgoblin's 1 +1 HD.

1+3 or More

If a character has 1 +3 HD or more, their total HD is based on a combination of BOTH Base HD and Levels. Each preserves its own size; as such, a character taking Wizard levels receives d4 per Level whilst a Fighter would receive d10 per level. A character may use the Total HD to determine their thac0 and Saves but only from the relevant class table; if they wish to use another table, they must use their Base HD.

For example, a Mountain Giant Leader is a 5th level Cleric. Their Base HD is 15 +3, this gives them a Total HD of 20 +3. As Cleric and basic HD have a d8, this would give them 20d8 +3 HP and cause them to attack and save with an effective HD of 21 using the Priest Tables or 16 from their normal tables. They would only cast as a Level 5 Cleric however.

Total HD and Multi-Class

If the character is Multi-Class, a character's Total HD is determined separately for each class; an Ogre (HD 4+1) Fighter 5/Thief 6 is considered to have a Fighter HD of 9 +1 and a Thief HD of 10 + 1 for the purpose of determining Saving Throws and thac0.

In terms of HP, they divide each class's HP gain by the number of classes they posses and gain HP for each HD as appropriate. The Ogre described above, for instance, has 5d10/2 and 6d6/2 HP from class, combined. Note, any modifiers applied to a Hit-Dice (such as Toughness) are applied before the division occurs.

Total HD and Dual-Class

If the character is Dual-Class, a character's Total HD is determined separately for each class but, until they hit the Dual-Class Threshold (the highest level previously reached), they can only use Base HD or Total HD for the newly trained class. For example, a Yuan-Ti Abomination (HD 9) begins training as a Fighter for 3 Levels before becoming a Cleric. Until they reach Cleric 4, they could only use their Base HD or their Base HD + Cleric Level to determine Saves and thac0 - upon reaching Cleric 4, they could also use Fighter 3's Saves and thac0.

In terms of HP, they only gain HP for their Dual-Classing once they exceed the Dual-Class Threshold. In the above example, the Yuan-Ti would keep their HP from before becoming a Cleric, but after reaching Level 43 in Cleric, they would begin to add HP from Cleric. They may only gain 10 HD worth of HP from all their class levels combined, however, using the largest dice to determine HP. For example, the Yuanti described above would have 3d10 HP from Class levels when they begin dualclassing. Upon hitting level 4, they may add 1d8 HP from Cleric.

Hit-Dice from Level

After 10th level, Classes no longer gain any full Hit-Dice as HP, though HD continues to increase and thus impact Saves and thac0. Instead, they gain +3 if their HD Size is 10 or more, +2 if it is d6 to d8 and +1 if it is d4 or less per HD received.

As described above, HD gained from Dual Classing uses the largest dice to determine HP for this. A character with 4 levels of Thief who becomes a Fighter for 8 levels would have 2d6 + 8d10 HP from Levels.

Saving Throw and thac0 Table

A character's Total HD is used to determine thac0 and Saving Throws.

If a character has 1 HD or Less and no Class Levels, they Save and have a thac0 as though their HD is 0 on the relevant table. If a character has 1 +1 or 1 +2 HD or a single Class Level, they may treat their HD 1 on the relevant table. Otherwise, use their Total HD on the relevant Class table OR their Base HD on the relevant table to determine Saves and thac0 - use the highest value they qualify for on any tables they may use. For example, a