Durability Training (3.5e Variant Rule)

Durability Training
The default of D&D 3.5e is that characters gain the maximum amount of HP for their first HD and then roll their HD type each time they level up for more HP. Low rolls have always been a problem, hindering characters with a greater die number more than characters with fewer HP to gain. Some games simply use a variant to make players use the average HP gain for their HD to keep growth even, but the static growth is often uninteresting and feels artificial for character creation (though it works great for NPCs), giving players the nagging feeling of never being able to live up to their HD's potential.

The goal with this variant rule is to provide a way for characters (PCs and NPCs) to increase their HP totals to where they're expected to be at or to put in a little extra durability without adding more HD, armor or other types of defensive padding.

This is basically retraining bad HD rolls + adding HP within an expected limit of resources and power.

This rule only deals with HP from HD and not from other calculation sources such as Constitution modifiers, size, type or other bonuses. These other alterations to HP are ignored and not factored in for the calculations below.

In games where players roll for HP, this system still rewards those lucky high rolls as values unattainable through durability training.

By default, there's no failure rate. A character pays the cash, he gets HP, just like buying a new sword or shield.

The Rules
Short Version: Purchase costly supplies for training that get used up. Train for 8 hours. Increase HP total at 1 HP per HD up to the Training Maximum value.

Regular Version: A character pays for supplies (or supplies and a trainer) that get expended during an 8 hour durability training session. Like crafting or meditating for spells, the character's focus needs to remain on the training for the duration. Interruption stops the training, which can be resumed, but extends the training by an hour and adds 1/8th of the session's cost to the total cost. At the end of the training, the durability training participant characters gain HP to their totals. A trainee gains up to 1 HP per HD up to the Training Maximum value for all his HD as listed on the table below.

To find a character's total HP Training Maximum, add up the training maximums for each HD he has as listed on the table above. For example, a level 4 rogue has 4d6 HD for a Training Maximum of 19. As always in D&D, round down to the nearest whole value. This value is the maximum value of HP from HD a character can achieve through durability training. If his rolls were good enough or if he's first level, he probably can't benefit from durability training.

A durability training session's cost can be divided for lesser HP gain (in the case a character would meet his training maximum or only wants to spend enough gp to pay for a partial session). A durability training session still takes 8 hours. To find the value of a partial session, divide the session's cost by the character's HD total and then multiply that value by the HP increase desired.

Payment Analysis
Why make characters pay for something that was simply a bad dice roll and doesn't apply evenly to the whole party (which is really D&D wealth in a nutshell)? Well, players generally don't track what their individual dice rolls for HP were when leveling. Some players also retrain class levels or gain templates or suffer negative levels or ability drain or whatever, making some of those bad rolls really stick out. Since characters can just get more cash down the road, this rule just serves as a medium to remedy a problem that's stuck around far too long.

This durability training also works for NPC combat power as it can be calculated as part of an NPC's wealth by level value.

Because of wealth gain, durability training sessions are proportionately cheaper at higher levels.

Training Session Examples
Example 1: A 13 HD character (rogue 5/fighter 8) has 5d6 HD and 8d10 HD. He's got 45 HP from his HD (well below the average of 61.5). With training, he could go up to 85 (rounding down from 85.75, his training maximum). He could gain the full benefit of 3 training sessions, gaining 13 HP each time. A fourth session would net him only a single HP gain, which he only needs a few supplies for (dividing the training session cost by the character's 13 HD, then multiplying by the amount of HP the character desires to gain, which is 1, putting him up to his maximum through training). The first three sessions would cost him 16,900 gp each, while the last session would only cost 1,300 gp to gain that last HP. (Author's first try terrible dice rolls for HP: d6s: 6, 5, 6, 2, 3 — d10s: 2, 1, 3, 1, 3, 8, 1, 4)

Example 2: A 2 HD character (rogue 1/fighter 1) has 1d6 HD and 1d10 HD. His game uses averages, with maximum HP for the first HD. Since he took rogue first, he's got 11 HP from his HD. He'd like to increase his HP with a durability training session (and is only 1 point away from his training maximum), so he pays only 200 gp for an 8 hour session and gains 1 HP (putting him at his training maximum of 12).

Variations
Here are some variations and options to adjust this rule's usage for different types of games and DMs:


 * Use the Average result as the durability training maximum to simply remedy low roll results.
 * Use the HD maximum result as the durability training maximum for games with a heavy focus on physical damage and lack of support magic or healing.
 * Paying any suitable NPC as the trainer. He takes 1/4 the gp total as payment and the other 3/4ths go to purchasing materials and supplies used up in the training process.
 * Characters with ranks in Profession (trainer) are required to participate in the training for the 8 hour session with a check (DC 20 + Trainee's HD). Failure results in expenditure of 1/4 the cost of the training session, exhaustion for the participants and no gain in HP.
 * If a DM doesn't want to give out treasure/gold to compensate for this rule (because he's attempting to control the power of the gear his players have access to), he can just make training inexpensive or free with limited access through NPC trainers.
 * Durability training participants are always exhausted afterwards. Feel the burn.