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Three Reasons to Fudge Monster Hit Points

by Mike on 12 June 2023

Fudge monster hit points whenever it leads to a more fun game. This seems an obvious answer to "when should you fudge hit points" but it's not always easy to know when fudging leads to a more fun game or makes the game feel arbitrary. Fudging at the right time helps the game stay fast, smooth, dramatic, and fun. Fudging at the wrong time breaks the players' connection to the world and removes their agency.

There are times, though, when many agree it's ok to fudge hit points – even preferable. Today we're going to look at three times it's ok to fudge hit points.

Fudge When it Ends a Battle That's Overstayed It's Welcome

Many times the characters get past the climax of a battle and yet it still drags on. The boss is dead. The main goal of the battle has been accomplished. But a bunch of bodyguards or sycophants or summoned monsters linger. It doesn't make sense for them to just quit and walk away so we keep going.

When a battle overstays its welcome is a perfect time to lower the remaining monsters' hit points — even dropping it to one just so the next damage done kills the opponent.

Players who recognize that the battle was dragging on anyway aren't likely upset that a monster who might have had three or four hits left in it dropped after one. They want to move on too. If players do complain, it's likely that they still wanted to play out the fight, so be careful not to drop hit points to speed up the end of a battle too early. Give the players a chance to enjoy their final blows when the main challenge has subsided.

When You're Beefing Up Bosses

Boss monsters have a hard life in 5e. They're a prime target. Players love to unload everything they have on the boss as fast as they can. Bosses are underpowered for their challenge rating just by the very fact that they are a boss.

There are many ways to protect bosses. Bring them out later in a multi-wave battle. Give them the ability to spread damage to their minions. But one way to keep them around a while longer is to give them more hit points. It won't help bosses deal with "save or suck" or just plain "suck" effects (I'm looking at you, force cage) but more hit points gives bosses a chance to survive the onslaught of paladin chain smiting, great weapon master fighter action surges, and rogue sharpshooter sneak attacks.

Instead of fudging up on hit points during a boss fight, consider starting high and lowering hit points if you find you don't need them. Give boss monsters the maximum for their hit dice and lower them to the average or lower if it turns out they don't need the boost. Your vampire might start with 204 hit points instad of 144 but you can lower it if it turns out they don't need them. Don't be afraid to break past the hit dice barrier either. Maybe that vampire boss needs double the hit points to be effective.

When It Makes Sense for the Story

Sometimes the hit points of a published 5e monster don't make sense for the story of that monster. A lich, for example, really should have more than 135 hit points (so little a paladin and a fighter could kill it before it ever gets to act). Other times the story we have in mind for a monster leads to it having more hit points. Dire-basilisks might have twice the hit points of a normal basilisk. When we look at the story of a monster and then at it's published hit points, it might not match up. That's a good time to consider changing those hit points. We might not even notice until we're running the monster that its hit points are low for its fiction. Changing hit points during the battle to support the story the monster's telling in the fiction is fine — keeping in mind that we might want to change it again if the monster overstays its welcome.

A Spring-loaded Dial

I imagine hit points, like the other dials of monster difficulty, as a spring-loaded dial whose natural state is the average hit points of a monster. We can turn it one way or another, but the dial likes to be at the average. We don't change hit points willy nilly or if we're mad the characters are doing so well. We change them when we have a good reason. Keep your hand on the hit point dial and be ready to turn it when it improves your game.

More Sly Flourish Stuff

This week I posted a couple of YouTube videos on Running Light of Xaryxis and Scarlet Citadel Session 26.

Last Week's Lazy RPG Talk Show Topics

Each week I record an episode of the Lazy RPG Talk Show (also available as a podcast) in which I talk about all things in tabletop RPGs. Here are last week's topics with timestamped links to the YouTube video:

Patreon Questions and Answers

Also on the Talk Show, I answer questions from Sly Flourish Patreons. Here are last week's questions and answers:

RPG Tips

Each week I think about what I learned in my last RPG session and write them up as D&D tips. Here are this week's tips:

Mix up battles against lots of monsters, a handful of monsters, and solo monsters.
Begin your prep by asking how you'll hook each character into the next session's adventure.
Lean in on the humor that happens at the table.
Aim towards what brings the most excitement and fun at the table.
Mix up simple and complex battles.
Include interesting NPCs even in the darkest dungeons.
Build battles to showcase character abilities.