CT/npc hp bug?

[dr_venture]

Perhaps I'm mistaken in how it's supposed to work, but in the 3.0.3 release, if I have the option "House Rules (GM) > CT: NPC Hit Points" set to "Average," anything dragged into the CT has 20 hit points. I assume that is incorrect behavior... is anyone else seeing that? Does anyone use the option to average NPC hit points?

[Andraax]

In 3.0.3, I see the following (statistical average is in parens after the number):

Drag a Wild Boar (2d8) to the CT, HP = 8 (9).
Drag a Bugbear (3d8) to the CT, HP = 12 (13.5).
Drag a Large Spider (5d8) to the CT, HP = 20 (22.5).
Drag a Worg (4d8) to the CT, HP = 16 (18).
Drag a Wraith (5d12) to the CT, HP = 30 (32.5).

So, it looks like what's it's doing is taking the max (numDice x maxOnDice) and dividing by 2. This is not actually average, but it's close. (The average for each die is actually (maxOnDice+1)/2, because the minimum is 1, not 0. If you roll a d8, for example, a large number of times, the average of all the rolls should be around 4.5, not 4.)

One thing I noticed - if the NPC was setup as a "Character" and a HP value was put in the HP field, then switched to "Monster" with only a HD value specified, it *always* uses the amount in the HP field, even though it's no longer visible.

[Andraax]

So, it looks like what's it's doing is taking the max (numDice x maxOnDice) and dividing by 2. This is not actually average, but it's close. (The average for each die is actually (maxOnDice+1)/2, because the minimum is 1, not 0. If you roll a d8, for example, a large number of times, the average of all the rolls should be around 4.5, not 4.)

If Moon is reading this, and wants to use the statistical average instead, the formula should be: floor(numDice x (maxOnDice+1) / 2). :-)

[dr_venture]

Huh - FWIW, I got 20 for everything, no matter what the hit die of the creature. That said, the creature I started with had a HD of 5d8, which would fit your description exactly.

[Trenloe]

Huh - FWIW, I got 20 for everything, no matter what the hit die of the creature. That said, the creature I started with had a HD of 5d8, which would fit your description exactly.

I've just tested with a few random creatures from the Monster and Treasure module and average HP works OK. I'd say clear the combat tracker completely and try again.

If this doesn't work, check the format of the HD entry it should be: X (dY) where X is the number of hit dice and Y is the type of die, e.g.: 5 (d10) which should give an "average" of 25, e.g. Ankegh from the Monster and Treasure module.

[dr_venture]

Fair enough - it's not a feature I use, I just wanted to raise the issue in case others were seeing the same bug. The HD were in the correct format... must have been some kind of one-off CT bug.

[Andraax]

Like I said, if there is a "HP" value set (even if it's not visible) it will always use that value, regardless of what the "HD" entry says.

[dr_venture]

I was actually just dragging random monsters from M&T into the CT, and they were all 20 hp. It did start with a monster from the in development Crusader's Companion module that had a HD of "5 (d8)" so that totally fits with your earlier description of the averaging algorithm (I confirmed that the monster record does have both "monsterhp" and "hp" nodes, but they are both set to 0). It cleared up after switching to "Random" hp and closing/opening the CT. I haven't really flushed out the bug as it's not a feature I use and I have other things I' spending free time on. But the issue has been floated and folks are aware that there might be an issue should it come up again. Thanks all.