hp progression in skills system

[Brian Thomas <thomas@chaupher.gsfc.nasa.gov>]

	Hi all,

	I would like to revisit this issue, and (at the end) make a 
	proposal.

	Recap --

	Its been a while (2-3 months?) since this was brought up, so a 
	brief recap is in order. 

	Under current the skills system hp are awarded on 
	the basis of the players *total* amount of experience.

	This means it doesnt matter what kind of experince a player
	may gain. Assuming they have the same Con stat A mage, a 
	fighter with the same amount of experience will have the 
	same amount of hp. 

	Problems & critism --

	   Many people argue that the mage has a right to earn (at least 
	some) hp since they are risking their lives (in this case --combat). 
	But what about those skills which gain xp, but have little or 
	no risk associated? For example, I take a character out, sucessfully 
	find alot of traps and thereby gain 'easy' hp.

	If we tied the progression of hp to just fighter ('physique') exp, 
	then I think you will quickly find that all other classes will
	become nigh on impossible to play. 

	Solutions which involve mixed systems come to mind as reasonable. 
	For example, lets try calculating hp based on the sum of 1/2 
	fighter exp + 1/4 wizard ('magic') exp + 1/4 clerical ('priest')
	exp. But I dont really like this for 2 reasons; i) which solution
	to use? Seems pretty adhoc and ii) this kind of scheme seems to 
	penalize fighters.  With this type of solution for any player to 
	obtain the maximum potential hp they will have to be "multi-classed". 


	Proposal ---

	I propose a different system: let the hp progression be based 
	on the mean value between the fighter level and overall level. 

	Thus, players who stay strickly fighters will not see a change in 
	their overall hp progression *but* this scheme will limit the 
	gaining of hit points by other, less physical combat oriented, 
	classes. 


	Comments?

						b.t.