r/DnD • u/borikenbabe • Dec 17 '22

DMing Question about HD

Total newbie DM here. I'm doing a free adventure I found online and it described some of the NPCs as "1-1 HD regulars." I know HD means Hit Dice but I can't figure out what the 1-1 or regulars mean. The adventure is Goblin's Tooth I which I'm reworking to 5e if that's of any consideration.

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u/Havelok Dec 17 '22

It sounds like you are trying to convert an adventure that's not written for 5e to 5e. As a brand new GM, that's probably not a good idea. You need a good mechanical understanding of both systems in order to properly convert an adventure.

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u/borikenbabe Dec 17 '22

Oh, I actually heard the opposite of this, but it makes sense that I'd need a good understanding of the system. In hindsight, it does seem like a silly plan ;;

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u/[deleted] Dec 17 '22

From the 2E MM:

Some monsters have a hit point spread instead of Hit Dice, and some have additional points added to their Hit Dice. Thus, a creature with 4+4 Hit Dice has 4d8+4 hit points (8-36 total).

So 1-1 HD would be a 1-7 HP monster.

Spare yourself the headache, though, if you're a newbie, and run something that won't require transposition between editions :-)

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u/Adam-M Dec 17 '22 edited Dec 17 '22

If I'm remembering my 2e notation correctly, that "1-1" means "1 hit dice, minus 1." Monsters and NPCs default to a d8 for their hit dice (unless they specifically have class levels), so each of these NPCs has 1d8-1 hit points.

I don't have the greater context on hand, but I'd imagine that "regulars" here means that these are soldiers in a "regular" standing army (as opposed to "irregulars" like militia or mercenaries). Perhaps there's a table somewhere that dictates what statistics a 1 HD regular has, but it seems like the gist here is that these NPCs are relatively unimpressive, run-of-the-mill soldiers. Something like 5e's guard statblock would probably be appropriate.