Hit point

Hit points, also known as health points (or HP), damage points, or just health (among other synonyms), is a finite value used to determine how much damage (usually in terms of physical injury) a character can withstand. When a character is attacked, or is hurt from a hazard or fall, the total damage dealt (which is also represented by a point value) is subtracted from their current HP. Once their HP reaches 0, the character will fall unconscious and be unable to fight. In DDO, health is often abbreviated by two letter initialisms such as HP.

Unconscious

In DDO, player characters and hirelings do not die until they reach -10 hit points or lower. Getting reduced to anywhere from 0 to -9 renders you merely unconscious and dying. If you are dying, you lose 1 hp every ten seconds from blood loss until either you die or you stabilize, in one of three ways:

• Another character can heal you or grant you temporary hit points with any usual spell, item, or ability. Incapacitated Warforged characters can also be rescued with magical repair. This healing has to offset your negative hit points first. Once you rise to 1 hp or greater, you become conscious again (and stop bleeding).
• Another character can attempt to use the Heal skill on you. This uses up a healing kit. On a successful skill check, this immediately makes you conscious again and sets your hp to 1. Failure only uses up the kit. Warforged characters must be rescued with repair kits and the Repair skill instead.
• There is a 10% chance every time you would bleed that you become stable on your own. You don't recover instantly, however. There is a brief delay, become conscious with 20% of your maximum hitpoints. Warforged characters and characters with the Diehard feat stabilize automatically, but they still have this delay. A proc from an item with regeneration will also trigger a stabilization.

Incapacitated characters are still vulnerable to attacks and to damage. They can easily die from getting caught in area attacks or from enemies that deliberately keep attacking them once they're down.

Palemasters in undead shroud forms instantly die at 0 hp, regardless of range of unconsciousness.

An unconscious character cannot move or take any actions.

The following effects extend the range of unconsciousness:

• Die Harder: up to +15, Barbarian enhancement
• Don't Count Me Out: 5/10/20 hit points (Human or Purple Dragon Knight enhancements)
• Eternal Defender: 40 hitpoints
• Holding On: 40 hitpoints
• Bath House: +5/10/15 hit points
• Steel's Eternal Flask of Super Bold Blend Coffee (12th Anniversary reward) +100 Festive Bonus to Unconsciousness Range.

U18: Incapacitation has changed for characters who stabilize. Once a character stabilizes, a twenty-second timer begins. If a character is still incapacitated when the timer runs out, the character will get up with twenty percent of the character's maximum hit points returned.

Increasing Hit Points

Hit points increase by themselves when you level up. That increase is not equal for everyone and depends on many factors. However, everyone benefits from the bonus 25 HP from the free Heroic Durability feat received at creation.

Class

Your Class bonus to HP (marked as "Base" on your Character Sheet) is calculated based on the class you have taken each level in.

Melees:

• Barbarian: 12 hit points per level
• Fighter: 10 hit points per level
• Paladin: 10 hit points per level
• Monk: 8 hit points per level

Casters:

• Cleric: 8 hit points per level
• Druid: 8 hit points per level
• Favored Soul: 8 hit points per level
• Sorcerer: 4 hit points per level
• Wizard: 4 hit points per level
• Warlock: 6 hit points per level

Specialists:

• Artificer: 6 hit points per level
• Bard: 6 hit points per level
• Ranger: 8 hit points per level
• Rogue: 6 hit points per level

Epic levels: 10 hit points per level

Constitution

Your Constitution bonus to HP is calculated by multiplying your character level with your constitution modifier. This is not a static value; it's continuously recalculated as your constitution modifier changes because of buffs or debuffs. A negative constitution mod (resulting from a constitution below 10) grants a HP bonus of 0.

At level 30, your Con bonus to HP is 30 HP (1 per level) per 2 constitution over 10 constitution (your constitution modifier). As an example, 22 con at level 30 grants 6*30 hp for a total of 180 HP: ((22-10)/2)*30.

Feats

• Toughness increases your hit points by +3 at first level, and 1 additional hit point for each additional level for a total of 32 hit points at level 30. This feat can be taken multiple times, and the bonuses stack.
• Epic Toughness feat adds 50 hit points. It requires a Constitution score of 21 and the Toughness feat.
• Scion of Celestia legendary feat adds 150 hp.
• Primal EPL: +3 maximum HP and +4 per ten character levels.
• Past Life: Barbarian: +10, stacks 3 times

Enhancements

• Racial:
  • Bladeforged can get up to +20 HP from their Construct Toughness enhancement line.
  • Dwarves can get up to +30 HP from their Dwarven Toughness core enhancements, and Child of the Mountain can add up to 4% to their Maximum Health.
  • Half elves with Barbarian Dilettante can get up to +15 HP from their Improved Dilettante line.
  • Warforged can get up to +40 HP from their Construct Toughness enhancement line.
• Barbarian:
  • Ravagers can get up +340 HP total from their core enhancements Demoralizing Success, Pain Touch and Subsiding Fury and their capstone; Visage of Terror
  • Occult Slayers can get up to +350 HP total from their core enhancements Resistance, Elemental defense, Blank Thoughts and Force Ward, and their capstone Mind over magic
    • Occult Slayers can gain up to +30 additional HP and 12 Magic Resistance from their enhancement One Spirit.
  • Frenzied Berserkers can get up to +80 HP from their Frenzied Toughness core enhencements.
• Bard:
  • Warchanters can get up to +30 HP from their Fighting Spirit and Warmaster core enhancements.
• Cleric and Favored Soul:
  • Warpriests can get up to +15 HP from their Toughness enhancement.
• Druid:
  • Nature's Warriors gain +1 HP per Action Point spend on this tree.
• Fighter:
  • Kenseis can get up to +15 HP if they choose Conditioning as their Ascetic Training enhancement.
  • Stalwart Defenders gain +1 HP per Action Point spend on this tree.
    • In addition, they can get up to +20% Maximum HP when under Stalwart Defense with their Tenacious Defense enhancement.
• Monk:
  • Henshin Mystics can get up to +20 HP if they choose the Way of the Patient Tortoise as their Animal Forms enhancement.
  • Shintao monks can get up to +15 HP from their Conditioning enhancement.
    • In addition, they also can get a +3% Insight bonus to Maximum Hit Points if they train their Meditation of War enhancement, and are on Earth Stance.
• Paladin:
  • Sacred Defenders gain +1 HP per Action Point spend on this tree.
    • In addition, they can get up to +20% Maximum HP when under Sacred Defense with their Tenacious Defense enhancement.
• Ranger:
  • Deepwood Stalkers can get up to +60 HP from their Survivalist enhancements.
• Wizard:
  • Pale Masters can get up to +30 HP from their Deathless Vigor enhancement.

Other bonuses

• Characters can get +10 hp from Draconic Vitality, received by achieving 150 Agents of Argonnessen favor.
• Characters can wear gear with properties from the False Life line of enchantments, for between 5 and 68 HP.
• The Vitality item enchantment grants +20 to +45 more hp that stacks with all other bonuses.
• Green Steel accessories can give +10/15/20 hp for a total of +45 hp across the three tiers (Elemental Energy). Greater Elemental Energy (+20 hp) can also be found on the Alchemist's Pendant and certain sets of Dragontouched Armor (with a Sovereign Rune of Health added).
• Legendary Green Steel Items can be given +28/+28/+14 hp for a total of +70 hp across the three tiers.
• Guild bonus to maximum hit points is available on one of the Guild Airships' buffs. The same bonus was available on the guild augment Crystal of Health (used to grant +5/10/15/20 hp, depending on size). However, gear with Guild Augment Slots no longer drops as of U17.
• Constitution item enchantments (called Health on random gear).
  • Note that items that increase your hit points directly (as opposed to increasing your Constitution) don't automatically give them to you; they merely increase the maximum possible. There will still be a hole left until you get some healing to top it off. These same items will also take the extra hp "off the top" if removed. Changes to your Constitution will indirectly, and immediately, increase (or decrease) your hp. In other words, a level 20 character with 480 hp who equips a Toughness item will be at 480/500 hp, while the same character who increases his Constitution by 2 points will be at 500/500 hp. Later, the same character removing the items while at 480/500 hp will then be at 480/480 after removing the Toughness item, or 460/480 after reducing his Constitution.

Multiplier bonuses to maximum hp

Competence bonus

• Epic Defensive Fighting: up to +25%
• Sacred Stance: +20%
• Stalwart Stance: +20%
• Ultimate Enlightenment: +20%
• Ursa's Protector: +25%

Other bonuses

• Ascendant Bond: Protector: +10% sacred
• LGS Opposition set: up to +54%, stacks with all other sources
• Paragon Body: +20% racial (?)
• Strength of Vitality: +20% insight

Temporary Hit Points

Some effects award a character additional, special hp called temporary hit points. Any damage the character suffers that would normally affect his real hp applies to his temporary hp first. As their name implies, they don't last forever—only until they're used up or the buff that granted them wears off. Temporary hp appear as a number with a "+" sign, in parentheses, after the character's real hp count on top of his red hp bar.

Bonuses and penalties that affect healing amounts do not affect temporary hit point gains.

Some common effects that cause temporary hit points:

• Aid/Mass Aid: +9-18 hp for Aid, +9-23 hp for Mass Aid, depending on the caster level
• Blood Tribute: up to +50/+100/+150 plus 25 per epic level
• Brilliance: AoE temporary HP equal to Warlock's Con score (twice as much for epic characters)
• False Life spell - +13-20 hp. Note that this stacks with the more permanent False Life item enchantment.
• Feigned Health: equal to 33/66/100% of caster's Charisma score
• Flight of Glory: Leap of Faith grants 50 + 3 times character level to caster and nearby allies
• Greater Heroism: +11-20 hp, depending on the caster level
• Inspire Greatness song: +20 hp.
• Jaws of Ice: 10 times your character level
• Palliative Admixture: +20 hp, +10 sp
• Rejuvenation Cocoon: up to 150 hp for 9 seconds
• Shining Through: 8x your Constitution Score
• Shroud of the Lich: +30 hp
• Stanch: equal to 50% of your maximum HP
• Undying Vanguard: +10,000 hp for 20 seconds
• Vampiric Bond: +20 on hit, 6 seconds cooldown
• Winter's Heart: 8x Wisdom modifier

Items:

• Bodyfeeder: +15 hp for one minute.
• Concordant Opposition +30 hp.
• Demonic Shield: +30 hp, not removed on rest/quest entrance.
• Legendary Affirmation: 1,000 hp for one minute
• Lifedrinker: +25 hp for one minute.
• Life Shield: +15 hp for one minute.
• Soul Eating: +35 hp for one minute

"Show Vitals Bar Percentage Values" bug

Known bug:

If you use the "Show Vitals Bar Percentage Values" feature, then the amount of temporary hit points shown will mirror your total hit points instead of how many actually hit points you have.

Workaround:

Un-toggle "Show Vitals Bar Percentage Values".

Restoring Hit Points

• Use Cure/Repair Potions
• Use Cure/Repair Wands
• Use Heal/Reconstruct Spells/Scrolls
• Use Hirelings
• Rest at a Shrine
• Complete a quest
• Use guild airship amenity bar equipped with Banquet Hall amenity.
• Eat food items at a barkeeper in an indoor or outdoor tavern.

External links

• Wikipedia article on hit points, including references to Dungeons & Dragons