Topic: BHT and racial max HP clarification needed

[ioticus]

I'm reading how to determine a character's max HPs on page 91 of RMC.  It says the max BHT is equal to the racial maximum given on chart 4-1.  It then says you can increase your BHT by Body Development, but not to exceed your BHT + CO bonus.  Therefore, if a character has a max BHT of 120 (say a common man) and a CO bonus of 10 would the maximum HP he could ever have (assuming no increase in CO bonus) be:
 
120 + 10 (CO bonus) + 130 X 10/100 = 143 ?

Am I doing this correctly?

[Erik Sharma]

Yeah! Those rules are a bit confusing. I am pretty sure I have seen some errata on this but by my recollection this is the correct way to do it. I am not entirely sure but this is how we do it in my group.

• Start with BHT = Temp Con/10
• Add hits from ranks but not past Max Total Hits.
• Max Total Hits = Racial Max+Con Stat Bonus.

[ioticus]

Using your method, the above example would have a max HP total of 130, correct?  I'm still not sure what the correct method is.  I'm interpreting the racial max as BHT, but maybe it's max hits?

[Arioch]

The BHT (Base Hit Points) andf the Racial Max are two different things: Racial Max is indeed the maximum amount of hits a PC of said race can ever achieve, while the BHT is the amount of hits from he/she starts.

[ioticus]

But the way it is worded in the rules makes it sound like the racial max is BHT.  It's as if whoever wrote the rules went out of their way to make it confusing.  So is the maximum HP equal to racial max plus CO bonus?

[Arioch]

The rules here are indeed extremely confusing and ill explained (RM Express and RMFRP do a better job here, and I hope the new edition will do even better), but anyway yes, maximum HPs = Racial max + Con bonus.

[kevinmccollum]

RM gave an example of how it worked. With your example above, the max hits would be 132 (120+ (120*10%)= 120 + 12.

[ioticus]

So does that mean your true max HP is not racial max plus CO bonus but is really racial max plus CO bonus plus Co bonus (as a percentage) times racial max?  Because if it was just racial max plus CO bonus then the max HP would be 130 and not 132.

[kevinmccollum]

It is simple. Your MAX BASE HITS is what is listed on your racial abilities. Your max hits is that number and an additional amount =racial base hits TIMES your con mod. as a percentage so a common man with maxed hits and a +10 con mod has a total hp of 120 (racial max) + (120*.10) which is 120 + 12= 132

[ioticus]

So does everyone agree with Kevin?

[Erik Sharma]

So does everyone agree with Kevin?

Yes he is correct. Completely forgot about the Con mod kevin mentioned. After you have calculated your starting hits (Temp Con/10) and added them with the hits from the Body Development Ranks you are supposed to modify the final result with the Con Bonus used as a percentage.

So for example a character with Con 95(+15) and Body Development of 5 ranks(+28 hits). He would have a total hits of (10+28)x1,15=43 (rounded down from 43,7) or using the formula in the book that is BHT + (BHT x (Con Bonus/100)) 38+(38x(15/100))=43 (or 43,7). As you can see the result is the same I just prefer my simpler formula over the one listed in the book.

I would claim that the Max Hits still are Racial Max+Con Bonus though. The rules are bit contradicting there. It says Racial Max only in one place and Racial Max+Con Bonus in another place. But I am pretty sure the later is the correct one. But the difference is so small so you can go with whatever you feel like.

I myself use the much simpler method from RMSS/FRP when calculating hits in RMC and giving a fixed rank bonus equal to the half the maximum dice result possible+1 for each rank. For example a character using 1d10 for each rank of Body Development would get 6 Hits for each rank. Everyone start with +10 hits and add their Con Bonus.

Taking the above character as an example. Con95(+15) and 5 Body Dev Ranks(+28 Hits). He would have 10+28+15 = 53 hits. This usually gives beginning characters slightly better starting hits. But in the long run doesn't really matter since the usual Racial+Con Mod Max apply.

[intothatdarkness]

Kevin is correct.

[arakish]

So does everyone agree with Kevin?

I third it.

rmfr

[ioticus]

Duplicate post.  How to delete?

[ioticus]

The question I've had since the beginning and still not answered is if max HP is:

1  Racial max plus Co bonus or

2  Racial max plus Co bonus as a percentage of base hits or

3  Racial max only

[OLF, i.e. Olf Le Fol]

I'm reading how to determine a character's max HPs on page 91 of RMC.  It says the max BHT is equal to the racial maximum given on chart 4-1.  It then says you can increase your BHT by Body Development, but not to exceed your BHT + CO bonus.  Therefore, if a character has a max BHT of 120 (say a common man) and a CO bonus of 10 would the maximum HP he could ever have (assuming no increase in CO bonus) be:
 
120 + 10 (CO bonus) + 130 X 10/100 = 143 ?

Am I doing this correctly?

RM2-wise (as written in the Summary for Determining the Total Hit Points p55 of the ChL&CL), you are. RMC-wise, I'm not sure and it seems everyone has his own interpretation.

[intothatdarkness]

The question I've had since the beginning and still not answered is if max HP is:

1  Racial max plus Co bonus or

2  Racial max plus Co bonus as a percentage of base hits or

3  Racial max only

\

Racial max + the CO bonus based on racial max (since that's the new Base hits when it maxes...so with a +10 CO bonus the max hp would be 132...120+12) - At least with RM2 (I can't stand RMSS so don't know how it works)

[JimiSue]

I use the CO stat/10 as if it was a stat bonus, and the racial maximum becomes the maximum amount you can develop by skill rank increase. This therefore should mean that the base hit total becomes 120 + CO/10. However, some professions get per rank bonuses to their BD, but again I keep that separate. So, if someone has rolled well, and achieved their 120 maximum in 12 skill ranks, with a +1/die  profession bonus, their base hits become 120 + CO/10 + profession bonus.

All of which is then modified to find total hits by 1+(CO modifier/100).

The reason I do it that way, is because otherwise a beefy and tough fighter could eventually have the same hits as a weedy mage (although granted, the fighter will probably get there first).

My game is Space Master, but it uses the RM2 rules for the most part. And I have a spreadsheet that does the calc for me, so complexity is not an issue So as an example...

Foaming Berserker has a CO stat of 95 (presumably foaming due to steroid abuse). He is a Transhuman type 1 (which from memory I think grants a +20 CO bonus - that's life when you're bred specifically for fighting), so his total CO bonus is a beefy +35. He has 10 skill ranks in body development, and as an armsman, has a +3 per rank bonus. He has rolled average, and has 75 skill rank bonus for BD (I think that race uses 1d10+2 as hit die). His base hits would therefore be:

75 (Skill rank) + 10 (CO/10) + 30 (profession bonus) = 115

His total hits would be 115 * 1.35 (stat bonus/100) = 155.25, which would become 156 in play as I always round towards the PC's favour - makes them feel happy and frankly in a game with weapons capable of dealing 40 hits and a quadruple critical against decent armour types, PCs getting 1 extra hit is the least of my worries).

At max development of 220 (guestimated), let's say he makes it in 20 skill ranks, he would get:

220 (skill) + 10 (CO/10) + 60 (profession) = 300

total hits are therefore 405 (!)

If his fellow Trans 1, who had broken the mould and become a telepath, managed to make it to max hits (that's a lot of DP - surely an Unpain psion would be a better choice?!), they would have

220 + 10 = 230

total of 311 (310.5)