I recently got D&D 5e, and i was wondering what the hit die is, and is it really important? What do we use it on?
Thanks!
Asked
Active
Viewed 9.2k times
0
-
3You may want to acquire and/or read a 5th edition Player's Hand Book, it covers simple questions like these very easily and has an index in the back to locate key phrases. If you already know what hit dice are and are curious about a specific function of the hit dice, it would be better to narrow your question down to that so we can get to the real meat of the matter. Not that it's wrong to ask simple questions (or that we don't like answering them), but it may save you some time in the future :) – Premier Bromanov Dec 01 '15 at 19:23
-
3The free to download D&D Basic rules also covers this https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/basicrules – Joshua Aslan Smith Dec 01 '15 at 19:48
2 Answers
4
A hit die is the die you roll to determine how much your total hit points increase each time you gain a level.
So the size of the die affects how much HP you have, since each level you have a better chance of getting more HP. Classes that are supposed to be tough have a larger hit die, and so should have more HP. Classes that are supposed to be fragile have a smaller hit die, and so should have less HP.
Furthermore, the number of hit dice you have is equal to your level, since you roll one die for each level you have. So “hit dice” is often used as a synonym for “level.”
KRyan
- 350,913
- 58
- 915
- 1,459
-
1This is a 5e question, you may wish to include the HP recovery feature of a hit die and how that is important ... if this question stays open. – KorvinStarmast Dec 01 '15 at 19:00
2
Hit Dice are for your HP (hit points), in regards to gaining and recovery.
Each time you level up you roll your hit die and add your Constitution modifier.
You can also use hit dice to regain some health back. You can find how large your hit dice are each of the class description pages in the Player's Handbook.
How many hit dice you have corresponds to your level, so if you are a level 3 Fighter you have 3 hit dice that you can spend, and since Fighters' hit dice are D10, you can use up to 3D10 to regain some HP. You regain hit dice after a long rest.
Multi-classing gets kind of messy, as you get hit die for each class that you have. So if you have a level 3 Fighter/level 2 Barbarian (the only hit die I remember off hand) you would have a total of 3D10 and 2D12 to spend. Since you are new, I highly recommend you not multi-class yet.
